Tech World And Global Politics: How Will History Judge Us?

In its July/August edition, Foreign Affairs makes a valiant attempt at explaining and understanding the forces driving the historic change that is underway. The articles flows like a good book that is both urgent and necessary to read.

Just as the Industrial Revolution turned out to be more important to history than other events that occurred in the nineteenth century, so will today’s geopolitical developments turn into “mere footnotes” in the face of artificial intelligence, states Mother Jones’ Kevin Drum in Foreign Affairs magazine. In his article titled “Tech World”, Drum predicts that “the digital revolution is going to be the biggest geopolitical revolution in human history.” In his opinion we should interpret our complex world through a technology lens. It is also technology that should guide global politics and economics.

But just like in the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, Foreign Affairs sees the possibility of other worlds too. And thus, the magazine proposes five other prisms through which we can view today’s reality and tomorrow's perspectives: “Realist World” by Princeton University Professor Stephen Kotkin, “Liberal World” by Johns Hopkins University Associate Professor Daniel Deudney and Princeton University Professor G. John Ikenberry, “Marxist World” by Open Society Foundations Associate Director Robin Varghese, “Tribal World” by Yale Law School Professor Amy Chua, and “Warming World” by University of Texas Associate Professor Joshua Busby.

“Life today seems like a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying something. Take your pick as to what,” writes Foreign Affairs Magazine editor Gideon Rose in the introduction to the issue.

I'll also say this without any exaggeration: the July/August edition of Foreign Affairs with a cover theme of “Which World Are We Living In?” is one of the most thorough journalistic analyses of the current world order that I've ever come across.