Congress is finally turning its attention to Silicon Valley. And it's not hard to understand why: Technology impinges upon every part of our civic sphere. We've got police using AI to determine which neighborhoods to patrol, Facebook filtering the news, and automation eroding the job market. Smart policy could help society adapt. But to tackle these issues, congressfolk will first have to understand them. It's cringe-inducing to have senators like Orrin Hatch seem unaware that Facebook makes money from ads. Our legislators need help. They need a gang of smart, informed nerds in their corner. Which means it's time to reboot the Office of Technology Assessment. You've likely never heard of it, but the OTA truly rocked. It was Capitol Hill's original brain trust on tech. Congress established the office in 1972, the year of Pong, when it realized the application of technology was becoming "extensive, pervasive, and critical." The OTA was staffed with several hundred nonpartisan propellerheads who studied emerging science and tech. Every year they'd write numerous clear, detailed reports-What happens if Detroit gets hit with an atom bomb? What'll be the impact of automation?-and they were on call to help any con-gressperson. It worked admirably. Its reports helped save money and lives: The OTA found that expanding Medicaid to all pregnantwomen in poverty would lower the cost of treatment for low birth weight babies by as much as $30,000 per birth. It pointed out the huge upsides of paying for rural broadband, and of preparing for climate change. With a budget of only $20 million a year, the little agency had an outsize impact.
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