Technology is the only power Frontiers are cleantech, health and ai Dual use technologies are the central pillar
The governments are no longer in control.
There was a time when military and defence led. Civilian use followed. The tables are now turned. Defence contractors around the world are obsolete. Same in India. Tatas, L&T, Bharat Forge, (bad) Half of Reliance, BEL, BHEL, Mazagoan Docks, ECIL, BEML… even ISRo are all obsolete. They are no match to BigTech or even Startups (some small some Musk sized). These are innovation free, technology free parasites chasing govt subsidies, cost plus contracts, bribe procured orders, gamed tender documents …..
It is now the time for dual use technologies. Defence business is just not attractive enough compared to anything that can go to a smartphone or the cloud. 90% of mankind is tethered to their phones which have ubiquitous connectivity. The rest are in jail, in hospital or too poor to be relevant. The dynamics of economics in the digital world are irreversible.
The governments are suddenly not in control. It doesn’t matter whether you are the President of the United States or the Premier of China or the Prime Minister of India. They are all in denial. President Trump who I admire deeply is trying to use Twitter to try to prove he is in control. He is not. Prime Minister Modi who is probably the greatest leader the free world has seen in history is visibly lost.
Cybersecurity challenges have made banks and economies vulnerable. The governments try none the less. Quad, UN, WHO, iCET …. And now ACITI are all in line to join the hall of shame of failed endeavours. They are useful to the extent that they serve as a guide on what not to do.
India brings the worlds largest and only scaleable talent pool to the table. In the U.S., the best become lawyers and chase dead bodies. Canada is a global heavy weight in AI research but Waterloo and Toronto have a long way to go to get anywhere near the IITs.
We are now in an age where technology is the primary currency of power. And that currency is going to be designated in Bitcoins (forget the peaks and troughs) or anything trustless. No single country or leader is trustworthy. They have too many constraints and legacy issues which prevent migration.
As prof Sneha Bhagat wrote in the Indian Express today, “the weaponisation of interdependence has exposed the vulnerabilities of nations that rely on single source geographies”. The era of unbridled globalisation where supply chains were dictated solely by economic efficiency is effectively over.
Few realise that it is not land and votes that make a country. Land is dispensable. If the iit alumni were to be a country – they would be the second largest economy in the world after the Jews.
The concept of a nation state as we know it is history. A country is just a large hotel for technologists to check into. And Dubai is doing the best on that front.