The History of the Future: Tracing the Roots of Tech Policy
A History & Theory of New Media lecture, presented as part of BCNM's New Media & Oceans program
with Hubert Han
Digital Counsellor, Embassy of Singapore to the United States
From the 7th to 11th centuries, the orang laut – literally “people of the sea” in Malay – were indigenous seafaring communities who played an important role in the Srivijaya Empire, in what is today western maritime Southeast Asia. They did so by patrolling seas, repelling pirates, and directing traders to selected ports. A millennium on, and even as technology grows exponentially (c.f. Moore’s, Edholm’s, and Metcalfe’s respective laws), these same actions continue to underpin digital connectivity across continents and oceans, which in turn forms the basis for our entire way of work and life. Protecting digital infrastructure assets like subsea cables and landing stations, making strategic investments to attract productive use cases, and setting the rules of the road (or sea!) are just some of the issues that every tech policymaker grapples with.
This talk will draw on Hubert’s experiences, from being involved in endless debates on how to define Singapore’s ambitions in AI to international negotiations on digital connectivity, to answer or better yet elicit more questions on the following: What is good tech policy? When does history matter in making tech policy? How is tech used in making tech policy? All this comes together to reflect upon perhaps the most puzzling question of all, why do different governments come up with such different policies if we’re all dealing with the same technology?
About Hubert Han
Hubert Han is Singapore’s first and, to date, only tech diplomat. As Digital Counsellor at the Embassy of Singapore to the United States, Hubert leads on tech policy across AI, data, communications infrastructure, cyber, and quantum. He is concurrently Senior Tech Policy Advisor at Singapore’s Ministry of Digital Development and Information. This is Hubert’s second overseas posting; his first was to Beijing from 2019 to 2021 where he was the lead officer on US-China relations, China’s political economy, and China’s tech scene. Between his two postings, Hubert co-led the team that developed Singapore’s National AI Strategy 2.0 and was lead Ministerial speechwriter for new online safety legislation. He graduated from the University of Oxford with a Bachelor of Arts in History, with a thesis on the African American response to the Spanish-American War of 1898, as well as a Postgraduate Diploma in Diplomatic Studies. He was also a 2024 Fellow of the Schmidt Futures International Strategy Forum.
Accessibility
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