In the last post, we did our bit to pump up projects like The Voicebot as saviours of politics. But at the back of our minds are a lot of questions about what projects like this mean, many of which cut to the heart of the kind of democracy we imagine in a connected future.

The Voicebot pt II from sidekick studios on Vimeo.

There are some things we’re pretty sure of. The current system is broken. Engagement with Westminster politics is falling. The public – not least young people – are unlikely to change their views of politicians unless the system dramatically changes (and we’re not just talking a change of government). We think the internet offers a way forward (The Voicebot is just one solution, but there are others here and here and here).

But then we get stuck, and we find it hard to see much further.

Whether the internet makes things better, we just don’t know. How the technology gets used, we can’t imagine. What types of applications or services become popular, we wouldn’t place any bets. Sure, you can’t predict the unpredictable. When the future happens, it’ll feel inevitable. Nevertheless, we think there are important questions that we need to start asking ourselves. And upfront, we want to say that we love the web, but it’s no panacea and we think it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Take The Voicebot project. Yes, it’s cool that we have found a different way to give young people a voice in Parliament. Yes, we are creating a direct channel to MPs in a way that has never been done before. And yes, we are proposing prototypes that point the way towards a new seam of possibilities. But a robot that lets you talk directly to MPs throws up lots of questions too.

In an age, where the internet can enable direct democracy, who gets direct access and who doesn’t?

How do politicians handle being targeted directly by such a diverse range of individuals, each with their own hyper-niche agenda?

How can they make sense of such a broad, rapidly changing conversation from all these different people, effectively shouting at them?

In a world of one-to-one digital services with constituents tweeting their MPs, does the cult of personality become even more important?

And how does that contribute to the death of the political party?

And if that is the case, what does that mean to our current democratic system, which has so long been built around the 2-party system, government whips, lobbies, divisions and so on?

So many questions, and no answers I’m afraid. These are just thoughts bubbling around in our heads at the moment. We doubt they’ll be resolved anytime soon. We’ll keep thinking and will of course, encourage your thoughts too. Maybe we should just list questions at this stage, rather than try to answer them. That’ll be a place to start.

PS Of course, we still think The Voicebot is ace. We don’t know what it means yet but you should still have a go.