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1 week ago | 
brookings.edu | Darrell M. West
It is a glorious time for the tech sector. Many of its top chief executive officers accompanied President Donald Trump on his recent trip to the Middle East and garnered multi-billion dollar contracts for artificial intelligence (AI), data centers, and other emerging technologies. Some of the sector’s leading lights have been given top administration positions overseeing areas like AI, cryptocurrency, and space exploration. And these leaders don’t just have greater access—they have fewer obstacles.
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2 weeks ago | 
brookings.edu | Darrell M. West
After many years of delays, self-driving cars, trucks, and buses are appearing on the roads of major American cities. There are currently autonomous taxis in Phoenix, San Francisco, and Austin, and self-driving trucks in Texas. Washington, D.C. is also testing the vehicles, and it will be interesting to see how they navigate the city’s complicated traffic circles.
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1 month ago | 
brookings.edu | Darrell M. West |Eric Lipton
TechTank, a biweekly podcast from the Center for Technology Innovation at Brookings, explores today’s most consequential technology issues. Moderators Nicol Turner Lee and Darrell West speak with experts and policymakers to share data, ideas, and policy solutions that address the challenges of our digital world. As ambitious efforts to return humans to the moon advance, other developments in space exploration continue.
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1 month ago | 
brookings.edu | Darrell M. West |Allison Stanger
TechTank, a biweekly podcast from the Center for Technology Innovation at Brookings, explores today’s most consequential technology issues. Moderators Nicol Turner Lee and Darrell West speak with experts and policymakers to share data, ideas, and policy solutions that address the challenges of our digital world.
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1 month ago | 
brookings.edu | Darrell M. West
A major question about President Donald Trump’s first 100 days of his second term is whether Americans truly want a policy revolution. The chief executive has thought big, pushed through major procedural roadblocks, and implemented extraordinary cutbacks in budget and personnel for key agencies.
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1 month ago | 
brookings.edu | Darrell M. West
Artificial intelligence (AI) offers many promising applications. Algorithms and machine learning can help and target treatment in effective ways. AI also plays a role in tracking climate change by monitoring weather patterns. Wildlife experts have coupled AI with satellite imagery to monitor how endangered species are faring and where threats are appearing. But there is a dark side to AI as well, given its potential for nefarious purposes.
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1 month ago | 
brookings.edu | Darrell M. West |Kathryn Dunn Tenpas
... ultimately, we can outvote wealthy people because they are a relatively small part of our society and a small part our electorate. But it takes a recognition about what is happening, about the wealthification, about the benefits that wealthy individuals have gotten out of our political system. Darrell West Over the past 50 years, the U.S. has seen a sharp rise in both income inequality and the political influence of ultra-rich Americans.
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2 months ago | 
brookings.edu | Darrell M. West
In 1968, Professor Michael Lipsky wrote an influential article titled “Protest as a Political Resource,” in which he compared effective and ineffective movements. He argued that successful movements have clear strategic goals, use protest to broaden coalitions, seek to enlist more powerful individuals in their cause, and connect expressions of discontent to broader political and electoral mobilization.
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2 months ago | 
brookings.edu | Darrell M. West
Elon Musk has called Social Security a “Ponzi scheme” rife with fraud, waste, and abuse. President Donald Trump argued in his State of the Union address that there are millions of people over the age of 100 who are fraudulently on the Social Security rolls, with some receiving government benefits. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffers are calling Social Security Administration workers inefficient and threatening to make major reductions in its workforce based on that argument.
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Dec 10, 2024 | 
brookings.edu | Darrell M. West
American politics is facing a challenging period marked by polarized elections, intense candidate rhetoric, and increasingly extreme leadership. In this situation, it is important to move toward electoral reforms that encourage more moderate candidates and enable politicians to build majority coalitions that address important issues facing the country. In this paper, I examine ranked-choice voting (also known as instant runoffs) to see how it affects campaign discourse and election outcomes.
