The Role of Human Computation in Sustainability, or, Social Progress Is Made of Fossil Fuels

Human computation includes the accumulation of social wisdom in the form of progressive social agendas. These agendas developed rapidly during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries through the distributed intelligence made possible by advanced information technologies. Progressive social agendas build toward equality among groups differentiated by race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and similar factors. It is no accident that these trends, distinctive in human history, occurred during an era in which national and international communication and the creation and widespread dispersal of information were enabled by advanced technologies. In this chapter I discuss future threats to social progress and the importance of maintaining the information and communication technologies and infrastructures that underpin such progress.