The Next Global Superpower Isn't Who You Think | Ian Bremmer | TED

Who runs the world? Political scientist Ian Bremmer argues it's not as simple as it used to be. With some eye-opening questions about the nature of leadership, he asks us to consider the impact of the evolving global order and our choices as participants in the future of democracy.

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[Evoque]

No matter who is in power; the world is losing morality, we are becoming polarised and greed is the new superpower.

[djankoulrea]

" It used to be just nature and nurture determining our identities, now its nature, nurture & Algorithms " Well said !!

[Grnsurfer]

"Question the algorithm" is a very important thought as it forms your "bubble" and most of the information you will get access to. Therefore independent media is still important and even more today than before.

[herryhubert]

I am from Amsterdam, Netherlands, so some of my experiences may be a little different from most of you here.
When I was in my teens, I was a punk and DIY was a very important part of it. This was in sharp contrast with the disco-kids, who were following fashion as much as they could. As a disco-kid you had to wear either Nikes or Adidas, Cool Cat, Kappa, etc etc. When I look back at this, it feels like if we were in some giant social research program. As if we were studied to see how easily we would adopt brands. How we would embrace a certain brand of shoes and next tell everybody about how much better these new shoes were. It turned out we were largely willing to be advertisement poles. We actually thought we were part of a higher species if we were able to buy the more expensive brands. I think this is where it all started.

If I look at how willing people are to buy a new smartphone by Apple or Samsung and spend an incredible amount of money on a device, while you have exactly the same functions in a device which is ⅓ of the price, but doesn't have the brandname on it. And when you point this out to them, they will defend their choices with a lot of religious sounding reasons, as if they are Jehowa Witnesses. Sometimes these more expensive phones have options that maybe handy, but it turns out they are hardly ever used. Or they want these highly annoying digi-watches, that are so convenient. I really hate it when I am together with someone, who's constantely checking his wrist. Back in the days, when you looked at your wrist, it meant you were getting bored, and were trying to use time to get away. Sometimes you don't even need such a watch. People are always staring at their screens, and I feel like shouting: "Hey, I am here!!! In real life! On the seat next to you!" But there's always something "important" they are afraid to miss.

Then on these phones there are apps. People hardly ever check what kind of personal information is stored by the companies that make those apps. I remember the conspiracy thinkers during Corona, who were afraid the government were to inject chips in them through the vaccination program. While those same conspiracists walked around with a smartphone in their pockets.
People accept cookies without giving it a second thought. Why do you think there's so much money involved in these tracking-companies. And why are there so many of these companies. And moreover, WTF is Legitimate Interest?

Last week my (dutch) bank send me a notice. They're going to stop "contact free payment" and replace it with "google pay". Why on earth do they think I would like some company like google, to serve my payments? Google already knows more than enough about me, and they have no right to peek into my spendings to personalize advertisement (which I think it the whole idea). But I am fairly sure that just about everybody will accept this because they either don't really think about the consequences or feel like they are powerless.

To cut a long story short: it is just us humans, addicted to consumerism and supposed luxury, who gave all the power to these companies.

[MI-rmkz]

"...The US increasingly didnt want to be the world's policeman, or the architect of global trade, or even the cheerleader for global values..." said without even a hint of irony! Amazing!

[jpzhang]

Summary: Bremmer argues that we now live in a leaderless world, but he predicts that the future will consist of three overlapping orders a unipolar security order dominated by the US, a multipolar economic order with various influential players, and a digital order shaped by technology companies.

[scottjacobsen]

We are getting to the point where we can’t trust ANYTHING we see online anymore. Words, pictures or videos. Very, very scary!!

[Susieq]

Ian Arthur Bremmer (born November 12, 1969) is an American political scientist, author, and entrepreneur focused on global political risk. He is the founder and president of Eurasia Group, a political risk research and consulting firm. He is also founder of GZERO Media, a digital media firm.

[churabhok]

There was one incident in Bangalore, India, where in a man from one community responded by mocking another persons religion as his was mocked by this other person, it all happened on Facebook, soon the posts were shared rapidly, one community took major offence and burnt down an entire police station because of all this, that is what social media can do

[alkers]

I remember while getting my MBA over 45 years ago, the author of the book, "The Global Reach", lectured at our graduate school and said pretty much the same thing as Ian just said about multi-national corporations. Bought the book and poured over it at the time. What it and Ian stated has been progressing all this time, and quite possibly will come completely true some day. After being around as long as I have, I highly doubt I'll still be alive when it happens though.

[willishammell]

Techno-Polar Order sounds like a wicked Canadian electronic band

[barkleychance]

Those that have power will always seeks to maintain and grow power. No matter people's best intentions, power is like a drug and not easily given up. It will inevitably end badly for citizens and government is the power is not regulated/checked. It's a story as old as time

[FreddieVee]

In 1975, the movie "Rollerball" was released. It pictured a world where countries no longer dominated the world, but large multinational corporations were in charge. Instead, in the first quarter of the 21st century, Social Media companies are kings and digital tools, psychology, AI and algorithms are their weapons.

[ambition]

0:12: 🌍 The world is currently in a leaderless state with three different overlapping orders.
2:33: Many citizens in wealthy democracies feel left behind by globalization, leading to a sense of illegitimacy.
4:06: The current global security order is unipolar, with the US and its allies as the most powerful players.
5:56: 💡 The speaker discusses the three world orders: global economic order, national security order, and digital order, highlighting the power of technology companies in shaping the digital world.
6:46: The European Union has the largest common market and sets the rules for profitable business.
8:18: The digital order, run by technology companies, holds significant power in determining military support, political discourse, and individual identities.
11:13: 🌍 The speaker discusses the potential outcomes of the digital order and the role of technology companies in shaping the future world.
13:22: The speaker raises questions about the accountability of technology companies in relation to artificial intelligence, data collection, and advertising models.
Recap by Tammy AI

[fhogfrb]

Just one thing, It's not the US increasingly "didn't want to be a policeman", it's the US doesn't the ability to do that anymore.

[IBumpg]

It's interesting to hear this lecture. The funny thing that you did not mention is that none of these so-called powerful individuals, groups, governments, know what will happen in the next five (5) minutes. So, people worry about what those who are not in charge will do, whilst completely ignoring who is in complete control. Amazing!

[RobertMillerJustme]

Professors Martin Gilens (Princeton University) and Benjamin I. Page (Northwestern University) looked at more than 20 years worth of data to answer a simple question: Does the government represent the people?

Their study took data from nearly 2000 public opinion surveys and compared it to the policies that ended up becoming law. In other words, they compared what the public wanted to what the government actually did. What they found was extremely unsettling: The opinions of 90% of Americans have essentially no impact at all.

[rustworker]

Even before technology, multi-nationals were separate uncontrollable power. Tech has made that stronger.

[uoqsbvh]

The speech certainly packs a wallop and gives you a mindful to think about. Thank you for these stimulating ideas. I believe we need more of these as the masses continue to erode in terms of intelligence!!

[nicknamelesso]

"The united states increasingly didn't want to be the world's policeman" - seriously?