SANTA CRUZ
Tech meetup to spotlight democracy
About 190 people have registered to attend the Santa Cruz New Tech MeetUp, which will shine a light on tech and democracy 6 p.m. Wednesday at a new venue, Santa Cruz Vets Hall, 846 Front St. Presentations start at 7 p.m.
Author Ed Tenner will talk about his new book “The Efficiency Paradox,” what big data can’t do and how artificial intelligence negatively impacted Cambridge Analytica. Also speaking:
• Neesha Tambe of Tech Crunch on tech companies focused on political and security issues.
• David Ernst of United.Vote on a way for everyone to vote on policy and for elected officials to be graded on how votes reflect those of constituents.
• James Rigassio of RoBhat Labs, a Berkeley startup that created an algorithm to identify automated accounts on Twitter that retweet politically polarizing messages.
• Amit Thakkar of LawMaker.io, created by a Democrat and a Republican to crowdsource new policy ideas.
• Carson Kelly of Santa Cruz Indivisible, focused on a progressive political agenda with plans to launch Citizenship 2.0 in 2019.
• Manu Koenig of Civinomics, who plans to launch a new platform for interacting on matters that impact your community.
Early bird entry fee at eventbrite.com is $10, or $15 at the door. Admission includes food and live music by Cruz Control.
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