I could not have written this book without the help of my friends, colleagues, and family.
Most of Future Politics was completed during a Fellowship at Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society. The Center is a special place, and its staff and Fellows are a constant source of inspiration. I am also indebted to the staff and members of Littleton Chambers, who have tolerated my absences and supported my work with great patience and loyalty.
I have been lucky to find, in Dominic Byatt, the ideal editor: always insightful, frequently critical, and generally indulgent of my foibles. My agent, Caroline Michel, has looked after me from the beginning and I am always thankful to have her on my side. It has been a pleasure to work with the fine teams at Oxford University Press and Peters Fraser + Dunlop: Tim Binding, Alexandra Cliff, Tessa David, Kate Farquhar-Thomson, Phil Henderson, Dan Herron, Erin Meehan, Laurie Robertson, Sarah Russo, and Olivia Wells. Chris Summerville expertly copy-edited the final text.
I am grateful to Luciano Floridi, Vicki Nash, and Susannah Otter, whose early guidance helped to get the project off the ground. Fred Popplewell’s research was enormously useful. I have benefitted deeply from conversations with Yochai Benkler, Alex Canfor-Dumas, Amber Case, Matt Clifford, David Cox, Primavera De Filippi, Gabriella Fee, Howard Gardner, Josh Glancy, Philip Howard, Laurence Lessig, Andrew Perlman, Michael Sandel, Bruce Schneier, Carina Namih, Beth Simone Noveck, David Weinberger, Owain Williams, Ellen Winner, Tom Woodward, and Jonathan Zittrain. David Wilkins has been an invaluable source of wisdom and counsel.
Suzanne Ashman, James Boyle, Lizzie Gaisman, Nicholas Gaisman, Dorita Gilinski, Philip Howard, and Martha Minow offered invaluable commentary on various drafts, and Ifeoma Ajunwa and Maxine Mackintosh provided feedback that dramatically improved Part V. I will always be grateful to Olivia Wollenberg for her encouragement and advice as the writing process got underway.
Several readers were kind enough to read the manuscript in full: Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Matt Clifford, Alex Canfor-Dumas, Kim FitzGerald, Matthew Flinders, Howard Gardner, Beeban Kidron, Laurence Mills, Marius Ostrowski, Fred Popplewell, Susannah Prichard, Dov Seidman, Daniel Sleat, Owain Williams, and Tom Woodward. Their many (many) points of criticism have made it a much better book. Throughout, Pavithra Mahesh encouraged me, for better or worse, to write with my own voice. Philippa Greer made a big difference in a short space of time.
The great Matt Orton has been an unfailing source of writerly wisdom, feedback, and motivation. Chris and Diana Orton kindly let me squat in their Edinburgh cottage while I finished writing.
If there is any good political theory in these pages, it is down to Simon Caney, who fired my passion for the discipline as an undergraduate and, ten years later, reviewed the manuscript of this book with his customary rigour.
Finally, I wish to thank my family. I am always amazed by how fiercely my mum, Michelle, believes in my work. I would be nowhere without her love and support. She is my surest source of strength and encouragement. My sister Ali has been a rock: I trust her judgement entirely and have leaned on it countless times. Her painstaking labours in the closing stages helped me to get the manuscript over the line (just about) in time.
Writing about the future has become a kind of weird family business for the Susskinds. Some readers will know that my dad, Richard Susskind, has been writing about the impact of technology since the early 1980s; and that he and my brother Daniel Susskind (an economist) co-authored a book called The Future of the Professions in 2015. If you read that book, you will see the extent of my intellectual debt to them both. Daniel has been my most thoughtful and generous reader, as well as my fiercest supporter.
I do not have the words to describe what I owe to my dad or how grateful I am to him. It’s been the greatest joy and good fortune of my life to have him as my best friend, mentor, and guide. We’ve been in constant conversation for nearly thirty years, and for the last few we’ve mostly been talking about this book. His influence and inspiration are present on every page.
Jamie Susskind
London
May 2018