Human Computation and Conflict

As human computation tools and techniques increase in power and pervasiveness so too does their impact on factors affecting the likelihood of armed conflict, and on armed conflict itself. Some factors such as rapid economic decline, environmental stress, private motivation, a failure of the social contract, and social distance to potential enemies have been shown through empirical studies to increase the likelihood of armed conflict. The same studies have identified full democracy and high levels of education as decreasing the likelihood of conflict. Informed and inspired by this growing body of research, we discuss the current and future impact of human computation taking a socio-technical perspective. In particular we focus on ways human computation can facilitate novel forms of interaction between humans toward specific objectives. Topics include the potential of human computation to influence interactions that in turn support democracy, consumer awareness, human connections, education, poverty reduction, citizen journalism, crisis informatics, digital archives, reconciliation, and warfare.