Automated government ?

In clear frustration about the state and direction of the country, a friend of mine jokingly suggested last week that we should consider replacing our politicians with computers. He even proceeded to explain how he would go about designing a "software government" to automate government functions.

Computer operating systems are designed to manage the hardware resources of a computer efficiently and cost-effectively, providing every programme running on the machine equal and fair opportunities to do their job productively. The Operating System (OS) does not take bribes from processes to give them more CPU time; it is not corrupt and is flexible when it comes to changes in hardware and other system resources. But can we actually write a computer programme – something logically similar to an OS – to replace a government? Of course we can't, but let's consider the options for argument's sake.

Government functions are divided into three branches – the legislature, executive and judiciary. The legislative and judicial functions of government require more cognitive ability than the executive – which is mostly about executing the decisions of the other two arms of government. Most of these functions are repetitive and predictable – the kind of tasks that computers are really good at.

Given the new Software development techniques such as object oriented methods that allow real world processes and entities to be more easily replicated and duplicated within a computer, and given the fact that the functions of government are not prohibitively complex, all else being equal, it sure seems like a good idea on the surface to automate some of these functions.

Surely, executive functions of government such as the police and armed forces can never be fully automated, even though it may be possible and indeed desirable to employ computers and communication networks to facilitate broader communication between government and citizens. This is a core aspect of the concept of eGovernance that seems to be lost on all of the Sri Lankan government's eGovernment initiatives. They are for the most part – one way channels of communication and do not provide any avenues for citizens to give their feedback to the sGovernment.

Practically and philosophically, diodes and capacitors may never be able to function in the place of human beings. Furthermore, automation may never be able to eradicate inefficiency and corruption because hardware and software are equally vulnerable to inefficient practices and corruption as people are, because they too are designed and built by people.

There are many opportunities though to use technology to reduce government bureaucracy and streamline government processes. Well-designed solutions may even be able to limit corruption and waste. But you have to have more than a sense of humour to admit that computers are still not even as intelligent or as resourceful as our politicians and government officials. But what is more important is to know that technology and automation cannot cure human weaknesses. Their strength lies in their ability to amplify the human potential to create or destroy, add or subtract, to be useful or useless and to multiply their user's capacity to do good or bad.