redistribution-of-power
The chapter discusses how emerging technologies cause a massive shift in political and social power, disrupting existing nation-state authority.
2 chapters across 1 book
The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-first Century's Greatest Dilemma (2023)Mustafa Suleyman; Michael Bhaskar
Part 3 of the book analyzes the profound political consequences of a massive redistribution of power caused by an uncontained technological wave, emphasizing the weakening of the nation-state amid new threats such as misinformation, job loss, and potential violence. It highlights the paradoxical centralization and decentralization of power, the strain on traditional institutions, and the urgent dilemma this creates. The chapter also frames the broader challenge of technological failure not as a malfunction but as societal harm arising from governance and power dynamics, setting the stage for Part 4's exploration of possible containment strategies.
This chapter argues that AI's improvement rate far exceeds exponential growth, enabling machines to replicate diverse human skills and creating new job categories while simultaneously displacing many existing roles. The labor market faces significant friction due to skills mismatch, geographic immobility, and identity tied to work, leading to widespread job insecurity, economic disruption, and strained public finances globally. These labor market disruptions act as amplifiers of societal fragility, weakening nation-states and transforming the foundational structures of society through a pervasive redistribution of power driven by a general-purpose technological revolution.