This is not to say that people have lost interest in politics and policy-making. On the contrary, there is evidence of growing engagement in non-traditional politics, suggesting people remain politically engaged but have lost faith in traditional party politics. More specifically, voters increasingly feel the established political parties are too similar and that politicians are preoccupied with point-scoring and politicking. Disgruntled voters typically feel the big parties are beholden to powerful vested interests, are in cahoots with big business or trade unions, and hence their vote will not make any difference. Another symptom of changing political engagement (rather than disengagement) is the rise of populist parties with a radical anti-establishment agenda and growing interest in conspiracy theories, theories which confirm people's hunch that the system is rigged.

A mayoral candidate in Japan has vowed to replace politicians with artificial intelligence that he says will gather statistics on voters to create policies. Michihito Matsuda, outlining his campaign in Tama New Town, western Tokyo, insisted machines would be able to crunch data to form'clearly defined politics'. Photographs show his campaign poster, which features a picture of a metallic humanoid robot with female features, on cars and billboards in the area. Matsuda, 44, made an impassioned speech outlining his unusual political vision for the vast Tama New Town housing development, which was built in the 1960s and is the largest in Japan. He said: 'Tama New Town was the most advanced city in Japan 40 years ago.

If you had the opportunity to vote for a politician you totally trusted, who you were sure had no hidden agendas and who would truly represent the electorate's views, you would, right? What if that politician was a robot? Futures like this have been the stuff of science fiction for decades. And, if so, should we pursue this? Recent opinion polls show that trust in politicians has declined rapidly in Western societies and voters increasingly use elections to cast a protest vote.

If you had the opportunity to vote for a politician you totally trusted, who you were sure had no hidden agendas and who would truly represent the electorate's views, you would, right? What if that politician was a robot? Futures like this have been the stuff of science fiction for decades. And, if so, should we pursue this? Recent opinion polls show that trust in politicians has declined rapidly in Western societies and voters increasingly use elections to cast a protest vote.