Taiwan's Digital Minister Has an Ambitious Plan to Align Tech With Democracy

Audrey Tang, Taiwan's 43-year-old minister of digital affairs, has a powerful effect on people. At a panel discussion at Northeastern University in Boston, 20-year-old student Diane Grant is visibly moved, describing Tang's talk as the best she's been to in her undergraduate career. Later that day, a German tourist recognizes Tang leaving the Boston Museum of Science and requests a photo, saying she's "starstruck." At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a trio of world-leading economists bashfully ask Tang to don a baseball cap emblazoned with the name of their research center and pose for a group photo. Political scientist and former gubernatorial candidate Danielle Allen, confesses to Tang that, although others often tell her that she is a source of inspiration to them, she rarely feels inspired by others.