TheBridge profile: David Ryan Polgar
Name: David Ryan Polgar
Current city: Manhattan, NY & West Hartford, CT
Current job: Founder of All Tech Is Human and member of TikTok's Content Advisory Council
Past job: Co-founder of the Digital Citizenship Summit
**Don’t miss TheBridge and All Tech Is Human’s next livestream discussion on Thurs, Jan 21: "Improving Social Media: Content Moderation”**
Q. Favorite spot for a coffee meeting? Gregorys at 20 East 40th Street, right near Grand Central. It has great coffee, a convenient location, and a warm yet energetic vibe. COVID Update: Right now, like everyone else, I am having a lot of virtual coffee meetings over Zoom.
Q. Job advice in three words? Own your narrative
Q. Why do you think it's important TheBridge community exists for tech, policy and political professionals? TheBridge is such a valuable organization because it, well, bridges people together across tech and policy. Community matters because it builds the underlying knowledge base that allows us to create a better tech future. The technology that we develop and deploy must be considerate of individual civil liberties and the public interest, and this requires a collaborative, community approach. By bringing these individuals together, TheBridge creates an invaluable network that can be tapped into to ensure that important decisions around technology are being made with everyone at the proverbial table. There has often been a disconnect between tech and policy, with policymakers and politicians having to clean up the mess of ill-considered roll-outs. I strongly believe we can reduce "unintended consequences" by adequately wrestling with the potential consequences early in the process, and that's why I find TheBridge community so important.
Q. Can you describe how a skill you learned in a previous job helped you in your current job? Networking really is half of my job, as I am constantly meeting new people and cultivating relationships. A major skill I have honed from previous jobs is how to balance authentic connection with needed efficiency. It is very easy to become transitional with networking, which builds numbers (of connections) without truly building a powerful network that you can rely on.
Q. How are you (or your company, org, nonprofit) currently bridging the gap between politics and tech / innovation and regulation? Our tagline for All Tech Is Human is: "Let's co-create a more thoughtful future towards technology." Our organization is committed to building the Responsible Tech pipeline by informing and inspiring the next generation of responsible technologists and changemakers (check out our "Responsible Tech Guide"). We bridge the gap between policymakers and the tech industry by uniting a diverse and inclusive group of stakeholders committed to collaboration and knowledge-sharing. Right now we need to bring together a broad range of people--people who may passionately disagree--to tackle the thorny issues facing tech that have profound societal ramifications (privacy, speech regulations, algorithmic bias).
Q. What can innovators learn from policymakers? Policymakers can teach innovators to incorporate diverse opinions and a more structured process to expose blind spots. While an innovator is often thinking of the best-case scenario stemming from the intended use of a product, policymakers specialize in considering oversights, misuses, and unintended consequences.
Q. What can policymakers learn from innovators? American ingenuity is something we should be proud of. Why has America been so dominant globally with tech? That is a question we should never lose sight of, because the United States should always be a place that cultivates creativity and risk-taking to develop world-changing ideas.
Policymakers provide the necessary oversight and safeguards, but policymakers can learn from innovators the need to be bold.
Q. Favorite book/podcast/long-form article you recommend? Platformer by Casey Newton (formerly of The Verge) is a daily newsletter on Substack that I consider essential reading. He provides breaking news, insider analysis, and long-term thoughtfulness around the thorny tech issues.
Q. Morning routine? I like to feed my brain and belly in the morning. My morning is not complete until I have a strong coffee, the New York Times, and a full breakfast. I tend to think of ideas and people to contact while reading the paper, which I jot down.
Q. If you had to live in another city, which would it be? I was in Bratislava, Slovakia a few months before Covid to speak at FutureNow and was blown away by both the beauty of the city and the genuine enthusiasm of the tech community. I like the idea of thinking about emerging tech while also having a castle up on the hill. You are also close to Vienna and Budapest, so it is a cool part of the world.
Q. Startup to watch? I have been having a few conversations with people from the NYC sextech community recently, and I am starting to think they are sitting on a goldmine. As people become more comfortable talking about the products, there will be a lot of potential consumers who realize they have been underserved for years.
Q. Last time you were completely unplugged? I like to have a yearly vacation sitting on a beach in the Caribbean to fully unplug for a few days. Without it, I feel like I am just maintaining my career as opposed to building new ideas. Unplugging on the beach allows my brain to wonder and to wander. Covid Update: Lately I have been dreaming of the beach in between endless Zoom calls.
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