Lessons from Ukraine

No matter how connected the world gets any country seems just one step away from disconnection. The latest country to meet that fate is the once mighty Russia. Technology is playing a big role in crippling that country with Big Tech matching the sanctions of Western governments. Even something as old and reliable as SWIFT is being cut off. The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication was formed in 1973 and such instances are indeed rare.

But then what about the distribution of oil and natural gas? That still flows out of Russia because no matter what you think, new smart energy technology is still no match for fossil fuels. Depending on which survey you see, still 80-85% of the world’s energy needs are met by fossil fuels?

Then what about supply chains? No matter how much tech you pump into the network, that too is just one step away from falling apart in crises like Covid and Ukraine. The term “Global Village” is a cliché, but is that really the case? Are we a Global Village, or are we thousands of small villages scattered all over the world in a fine global network? Any village can fall out of this global network, no matter how high tech it gets.

Tech is not just a unifier but can be a great separator too. Just look at China. Winston Churchill called the USSR the Iron Curtain. The term Bamboo Curtain was created for China. Well, what do we have now? The Great Firewall of China? The Virtual Curtain? The Great Online Island? China has effectively used tech to cut off the rest of the world and keep its own citizens under strict surveillance.

The world is divided into the Silicon Valley sphere of influence and the Beijing-Shenzhen sphere of influence. They don’t mix like oil and water. American companies have very little influence within China and have limited success only by strictly playing by the rules. If Chinese tech companies get spectacular success outside China, then they get their wings clipped. Just look at Huawei and TikTok!

It is not a done deal that tech is going to go ahead and unify the world. If China was in tech isolation, then Russia is going to get even more isolated once the Ukraine conflict ends. India is another story. Right now, we are fully dependent on US apps and software. If we manage to rise as a nation and get our own search engines, social networking sites, GPS ecosystems, then we too may enter a different kind of isolation.

If tech can be a great unifier, then it can prove to be a great divider too.