A Replica for our Democracies? On Using Digital Twins to Enhance Deliberative Democracy

37 Pages Posted: 24 Apr 2025 Last revised: 4 Apr 2025

See all articles by Claudio Novelli

Claudio Novelli

Yale University - Digital Ethics Center

Javier Argota Sánchez-Vaquerizo

ETH Zürich - Department of Humanities, Social and Political Sciences (GESS)

Dirk Helbing

ETH Zürich - Department of Humanities, Social and Political Sciences (GESS)

Antonino Rotolo

University of Bologna - Department of Legal Sciences

Luciano Floridi

Yale University - Digital Ethics Center; University of Bologna- Department of Legal Studies

Date Written: March 23, 2025

Abstract

Deliberative democracy depends on carefully designed institutional frameworks-such as participant selection, facilitation methods, and decision-making mechanisms-that shape how deliberation occurs. However, determining which institutional design best suits a given context often proves difficult when relying solely on real-world observations or laboratory experiments, which can be resource-intensive and hard to replicate. To address these challenges, this paper explores Digital Twin (DT) technology as a regulatory sandbox for deliberative democracy. DTs enable researchers and policymakers to run "what-if" scenarios on varied deliberative designs in a controlled virtual environment by creating dynamic, computer-based models that mirror real or synthetic data. This makes systematic analysis of the institutional design possible without the practical constraints of real-world or lab-based settings. The paper also discusses the limitations of this approach and outlines key considerations for future research.

Keywords: digital twin, deliberative democracy, regulatory sandboxes, simulations, artificial intelligence

Suggested Citation

Novelli, Claudio and Argota Sanchez-Vaquerizo, Javier and Helbing, Dirk and Rotolo, Antonino and Floridi, Luciano, A Replica for our Democracies? On Using Digital Twins to Enhance Deliberative Democracy (March 23, 2025). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5190735 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5190735

Claudio Novelli (Contact Author)

Yale University - Digital Ethics Center ( email )

85, Trumbull Street
New Haven, CT 06511
United States

HOME PAGE: http://https://dec.yale.edu

Javier Argota Sanchez-Vaquerizo

ETH Zürich - Department of Humanities, Social and Political Sciences (GESS) ( email )

Computational Social Science
Stampfenbachstrasse 48
Zurich, Zurich 8092
Switzerland

Dirk Helbing

ETH Zürich - Department of Humanities, Social and Political Sciences (GESS) ( email )

ETH Zurich - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
Clausiusstrasse 50
Zurich, 8092
Switzerland

HOME PAGE: http://www.coss.ethz.ch

Antonino Rotolo

University of Bologna - Department of Legal Sciences

Bologna
Italy

Luciano Floridi

Yale University - Digital Ethics Center ( email )

85 Trumbull Street
New Haven, CT CT 06511
United States
2034326473 (Phone)

University of Bologna- Department of Legal Studies ( email )

Via Zamboni 22
Bologna, Bo 40100
Italy

HOME PAGE: http://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/luciano.floridi/en

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