IN HIS SEMINAL work “The Open Society and Its Enemies,” Karl Popper championed societies open to criticism and peaceful change. Such openness, he argued, allows democratic institutions to identify and address their shortcomings. That capacity is being tested as never before. The twin pillars of democratic knowledge creation—journalism and science—are undergoing profound structural changes that threaten their ability to perform their essential functions.
The transformation of scientific research offers a telling example. The cutting edge of fields like artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and biotechnology has shifted from academia to industrial laboratories. Companies like Google, IBM, and their ilk now drive progress in these domains, backed by resources that dwarf those of traditional universities. This shift raises questions about preserving the open, falsification-based scientific process that Popper identified as crucial to knowledge creation.
Journalism faces an equally fundamental challenge. The rise of digital platforms has eviscerated traditional business models while simultaneously creating new vectors for misinformation. The irony is sharp: Tech giants undermine journalism’s economic foundations while training their artificial intelligence models on journalistic content. These same AI systems can generate legitimate news and sophisticated fake content.
Yet, there are grounds for cautious optimism. As Jonathan Rauch argues in The Constitution of Knowledge, journalism, and science operate as social systems of organized criticism and error correction. These institutional structures have proven remarkably adaptable over time. The challenge is to preserve their essential functions while adapting to new technological and economic realities.
Some experiments are already underway. News organizations are exploring alternative funding models, from foundation support to member-based journalism. Scientific institutions are developing frameworks for public-private research collaboration that maintain openness while accommodating commercial interests. These efforts suggest that democratic societies retain their capacity for institutional innovation.
The stakes could hardly be higher. Quality journalism and open science are not merely nice-to-have features of democratic societies—they are essential infrastructures for informed decision-making at both societal and individual levels. As Yuval Noah Harari has recently observed, while these systems remain functional, they are not as robust as needed.
The path forward requires clear recognition of the challenges and bold experimentation with solutions. Democratic societies must find sustainable ways to finance independent journalism, maintain scientific openness, and support fundamental research. New technologies, including AI, need not undermine these institutions—if thoughtfully integrated, they could potentially strengthen them.
Popper’s insight about the self-correcting nature of open societies remains relevant. The question is not whether democratic institutions can adapt to these challenges but how quickly and effectively they can do so.
The challenge runs deeper than institutional adaptation. Since Kant, philosophers and scientists have recognized that human knowledge involves active interpretation, not passive reception. Modern cognitive science, particularly theories of predictive processing, suggests our minds constantly construct models of reality rather than accessing it directly. Yet these models must answer to reality—failed predictions lead to quick and sometimes harsh corrections.
George Soros’s theory of reflexivity adds another crucial dimension. Our understanding of reality—however imperfect—in social systems helps shape reality itself. When beliefs about financial markets affect prices, which in turn affect beliefs, a dynamic feedback loop emerges. The same principle applies more broadly: journalism and scientific research don’t merely describe society; they influence how society evolves.
This understanding proves crucial in an age of “alternative facts” and competing narratives. The goal is to develop increasingly reliable models through rigorous testing and criticism and to recognize how these models shape the world they describe. Quality journalism and open science thus serve dual roles: as society’s mechanisms for understanding reality and as crucial participants in reality’s ongoing construction.
The answer will shape the future of journalism and science and the possibility of maintaining reality-based democratic discourse in an age of artificial intelligence and digital disruption.
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