Video: Can computational science help save democracy?

By modeling the future, we can design repairs to democracy - and avoid pitfalls that make things worse.

I recently had the honor and pleasure of being the guest of at Rockefeller University. Their president, Rick Lifton, hosted me for an Insight Lecture. Insight Lectures bring important technical topics to a broad audience. My subject: using science to help repair democracy.

A major theme was “pivot points”: places where focused citizen action can do the most to make democracy more representative and responsive. Examples include (1) independent redistricting, (2) ranked-choice voting, and (3) redirecting the efforts of organizations like No Labels in a more productive manner.

Here’s the lecture. Rewind to the start to hear President Lifton’s introduction. Or you can fast-forward to 4:49 to hear right away about ranked-choice voting and No Labels.

Data to Bridge the Divide: How Computational Science Can Save Democracy

Sam Wang, Ph.D.

Professor of Neuroscience
Princeton University

Democracy as we know it is at a historical pressure point. Not since the Gilded Age has America seen such bitter polarization between its two main political parties, with friction in day-to-day governance, close and divisive elections, and a loss of public trust in government. Can these concerning trends be halted or even reversed? In an Insight Lecture titled Data to Bridge the Divide: How Computational Science Can Save Democracy, Princeton University neuroscientist Sam Wang will discuss his development and use of statistical tools to shed light on American politics and elections. With hard data, he notes, solutions can be implemented to ensure that the government more accurately represents public sentiment, responds to its constituents, and repairs trust between the citizenry and its elected officials.

Dr. Wang has a long-standing interest in elections. He pioneered statistical methods for analyzing U.S. presidential elections in 2004, when he developed tools for the aggregation of state polls. These tools led to the establishment of the Princeton Election Consortium. In 2012, he recognized new, systematic distortions in representation in the U.S. House. Understanding the causes of these distortions launched his interest in voting rights and led to the creation of the Princeton Gerrymandering Project. In 2020, these projects grew into the Electoral Innovation Lab, which Dr. Wang directs. With a mission to create and apply a practical science for repairing American democracy, the Electoral Innovation Lab has become a key resource for redistricting commissions, courts, journalists, and all citizens with an interest in reform.

A member of the Princeton faculty since 2000, Dr. Wang holds a B.S. with honors in physics from the California Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Stanford University. In his neuroscience research, he investigates how brains learn from sensory experience during adulthood and development, with relevance for autism. He is the author of two popular books, Welcome to Your Brain: Why You Lose Your Car Keys but Never Forget How to Drive and Other Puzzles of Everyday Life (2008), which was named Young Adult Science Book of the Year by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Welcome to Your Child’s Brain: How the Mind Grows from Conception to College (2011).