Plurality

The Future of Collaborative Technology and Democracy

E. Glen Weyl, Audrey Tang and the Plurality Community

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About the Book

Technology for Collaborative Diversity

Plurality describes an emerging technological paradigm that recognizes and harnesses the power of collaboration across social differences. Instead of allowing technology to tear apart the social fabric, Plurality shows how digital tools can strengthen democracy, bridge divides, and unlock the potential of human cooperation.

Written collaboratively by E. Glen Weyl, political economist and technologist, and Audrey Tang, Taiwan's first Digital Minister, this book charts a path between the extremes of techno-libertarianism and centralized AI governance. It draws on Taiwan's experience as a global leader in digital democracy to show how technology can be designed to serve the public good.

The book itself embodies its principles: written openly on GitHub, translated by a global community of volunteers into more than a dozen languages, and released into the public domain under CC0.

Plurality book cover

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Plurality is available for free online, as a downloadable PDF and ePub, and as a physical book from major retailers.

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Audiobook
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Individual parts

Part 0 Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Credits

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Chapters

Explore the Book

Before You Read

0-0 Endorsements 0-1 About the Authors 0-2 Finding Your Dao 0-3 Credits

Preface

1 Seeing Plural

Information Technology and Democracy

2-0 A Widening Gulf 2-1 A View from Yushan 2-2 The Life of a Digital Democracy

Plurality

3-0 What is ⿻? 3-1 Living in a ⿻ World 3-2 Connected Society 3-3 The Lost Dao

Freedom

4-0 Rights, Operating Systems and ⿻ Freedom 4-1 Identity and Personhood 4-2 Association and ⿻ Publics 4-3 Commerce and Trust 4-4 Property and Contract 4-5 Access

Democracy

5-0 Collaborative Technology and Democracy 5-1 Post-Symbolic Communication 5-2 Immersive Shared Reality 5-3 Creative Collaborations 5-4 Augmented Deliberation 5-5 Adaptive Administration 5-6 ⿻ Voting 5-7 Social Markets

Impact

6-0 From ⿻ to Reality 6-1 Workplace 6-2 Health 6-3 Media 6-4 Environment 6-5 Learning

Forward

7-0 Policy 7-1 Conclusion

Endorsements

What People Are Saying

In a technologically advanced, politically challenging, and rapidly evolving 21st century, what does a free and open future look like? Glen, Audrey and their coauthors offer a compelling view of a way forward.

Vitalik Buterin

Founder of Ethereum

They offer us a portal into a future where technology supports democracy, pluralism, and broad human flourishing. We know this future is possible because Tang has been building it in Taiwan.

Danielle S. Allen

Political philosopher, James Bryan Conant University Professor at Harvard, MacArthur Fellow

Plurality reads like optimistic sci-fi, already happening in real life! Can democracies around the world follow in Taiwan's footsteps to upgrade free society for the digital age?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Emmy-winning artist and founder of HITRECORD

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Join the Community

Plurality is an open, collaborative project. There are many ways to contribute.

Contribute on GitHub → Join the Discord → Start Reading →