power-concentration-and-dispersion
The chapter discusses the paradoxical trend where power is simultaneously becoming more concentrated in some entities and more dispersed across new actors and infrastructures.
1 chapter across 1 book
The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-first Century's Greatest Dilemma (2023)Mustafa Suleyman; Michael Bhaskar
Chapter 11 explores how seemingly small technological innovations, exemplified by the stirrup, can radically reshape power structures and social orders, such as the rise of feudalism in medieval Europe. It then connects this historical insight to the present and future, highlighting how exponential technologies and AI are amplifying both concentrations and dispersals of power, with megacorporations increasingly rivaling nation-states in influence and capability. The chapter warns of a turbulent future where nation-states face centrifugal and centripetal forces, risking instability and a reordering of global power dynamics.