Bipolarization of Tech

Today, states and individuals face the challenges and benefits of emerging technologies that have both helped and posed difficulties in society.

In small villages, technology has begun to spread like a Christmas gift, providing connectivity and a sense of keeping up with innovations. A family that once struggled with long-distance communication can now connect even faster through a 5G network.

In rural areas, technology has helped farmers detect crop conditions, aided agriculture and aquaculture, and provided solutions for various sectors. However, it has also given rise to cyberattacks, online fraud, surveillance, and violations of privacy.

Technology has facilitated diplomatic connections between states, yet it has also strained relations due to growing suspicions.

The current bipolarity in technology, I argue, revolves around two opposing forces: the democratization of technology and authoritarian control over technology.

The Freedom on the Net 2018 report highlights a worldwide decline in internet freedom, with many authoritarian governments expanding their digital control through censorship, surveillance, and the use of technologies like facial recognition.

China leads this trend, employing extensive tools such as the Great Firewall, which other regimes are increasingly adopting.

Additionally, the report points to the growing challenges of disinformation and privacy violations, which threaten freedom of expression and personal data security online (Freedom House, 2018; Digital Watch Observatory, 2018).

In the 2023 article of the World Economic Forum, experts discussed the importance of democratizing access to technology.

Key points include:

(1) Technology’s potential to solve global issues is hindered by unequal access; (2) Expanding digital inclusion fosters economic growth and social equity; and (3) Collaboration between public and private sectors is essential to bridge the digital divide (World Economic Forum, 2023).

From this, we can see how authoritarian technologies are characterized by censorship, surveillance, disinformation, and privacy violations.

In contrast, democratized technologies are characterized by equal access for everyone, which fosters economic growth and facilitates collaboration between the private and public sectors.

But what if I told you that even in China, technology contributes to economic growth? Private-public sector collaboration is very common, especially when considering mega-projects like the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

And what if I told you that technology developed in so-called democratic countries has also been involved in numerous privacy breaches?

For example, in the United States, the ACLU article discusses concerns over NSA mass surveillance under Section 702, which allows warrantless surveillance of Americans’ communications, often without transparency or accountability. This practice has led to violations of privacy and constitutional rights, and the ACLU is calling for reform or repeal in Congress (ACLU, 2023).

Authoritarian or democratized tech, does it really matter?

Or is it just jargon thrown around by industries and policymakers to win today’s tech races?

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