Rapid technological change is revolutionizing our world, offering new opportunities for global growth and strengthening national power—but it is also creating risks.
The global race for technology supremacy could derail efforts to reach sustainable development goals. Governments must remain agile enough to identify and establish appropriate norms and rules to oversee these innovations.
Globalization
Globalization has changed how companies collaborate. Businesses now look beyond national borders for customers, revenue streams, and the skilled talent available there. This can present unique challenges for smaller firms that have more resources for international staff hires. However, global employer of record (EOR) solutions make this easier with timely hires in other countries that comply with legal compliance standards.
Globalization has dramatically expanded the size and scope of the world market and made trade between nations more accessible than ever before, helping many developing countries catch up to industrialized countries in terms of economic development and growth. Furthermore, globalization has led to various social movements dedicated to environmental conservation and women’s rights – driving further economic development and progress.
One of globalization’s hallmarks is deterritorialization, or the process by which traditional geographic borders no longer dictate where human activities take place. While this aspect is undoubtedly crucial, viewing globalization merely as its manifestation is inaccurate. Instead, think of globalization as an expanding social space that encompasses traditional geographic boundaries.
Many people fear that globalization has not been beneficial to all. They believe multinational corporations’ expansion will cause social injustice and fail to provide workers with safe working and living conditions, leading them to fear AIDS/HIV spread through globalization. To allay such fears, policies must be implemented to ensure its benefits are distributed equally among humanity.
Trade
Technology can be both liberating and terrifying, helping us do more with less effort while increasing fears of being replaced. Technological change becomes even more divisive when combined with international trade: while it accelerates innovation, adoption, and economic growth, at the same time, it depresses global productivity by decreasing the availability of scarce materials used for high-tech products as firms invest less money in research to remain competitive; additionally, it may increase domestic anxiety among workers struck by foreign goods and services flows as they perceive their losses with gains for foreign workers.
Technology’s impact on global trade extends beyond new services like cloud computing. It has also enormously affected trade in goods, allowing faster production of electric vehicles and other advanced goods by shortening supply chains and creating greater autonomy between companies. Unfortunately, this challenges governments trying to regulate data and trade flows.
Technology development has historically been driven by both scientific curiosity and industrial demands. Many transformational advances—from artificial intelligence to robotics—may seem intangible, yet their creation requires tangible physical assets: ever-more-powerful microchips and massive data storage capacities. Trade liberalization for such goods was essential in their creation—and will remain so.
Tech globalization holds great promise for developing countries, though they must actively embrace it to take advantage of it. That means not simply relying on foreign knowledge flows and imported equipment but investing in indigenous innovation to leapfrog technological leader countries—East Asian NICs that have not relied heavily on imported technology are an example of how this can be accomplished.
Security
Technological advances pose serious threats, risks, and vulnerabilities that must be addressed. Their potential to be used for malicious purposes and worsen existing social, economic, and environmental disparities makes them highly disruptive and has far-reaching implications for humanity. They present regulatory difficulties as their effects tend to be less localized; moreover, their dual-use nature means they can equally serve excellent and evil purposes.
Emerging technology management demands an innovative, holistic approach that goes beyond traditional regulatory structures and governance hierarchies. Given the global nature of many emerging technologies, their oversight must incorporate public-private partnerships and nongovernmental cooperation arrangements for greater effective engagement with the public.
Policymakers and civil society must develop the capacity to assess the societal impacts of technology. At the same time, new mechanisms must be implemented so that technologists can access policymakers who can help them incorporate societal implications in the design process. This could involve such measures as including civil society representatives on boards of technology companies or providing training so that technologists can better consider long-term implications in their work.
Technological innovation is outpacing national governments’ ability to respond effectively. Still, strategic competition among world powers in high-tech areas may further fragment and delay efforts at setting global norms or rules for these technologies. This must be avoided to avoid dangerous unintended consequences and advance global development goals more rapidly.
Privacy
Modern information technologies provide privacy benefits to hundreds of millions in the US and billions globally. However, they have also raised serious privacy concerns due to their advanced information processing capabilities and potential use in mass surveillance or control of individuals. Concerns over potential negative consequences have fueled calls for strict data protection regimes and consumer expectations regarding how businesses use personal data.
Critics have noted that such claims rely on an idealized concept of privacy that ignores its subjectivity in a democratic society based on equal rights; indeed, Allen (1988) suggests that it can be redescribed or modified in ways compatible with democracy (i.e., China’s social credit system). A complete abandonment of privacy would open the domestic sphere up for endless scrutiny from government and industry (such as social credit systems).
Policymakers must adopt an objective, moderate approach when discussing information collection and usage that recognizes that collecting and using it are integral parts of innovation and creating value for both individuals and society. Any calls to drastically scale back these activities are unnecessary as such actions could create false economic and technological scares with long-term effects on technology development.
At the same time, we must remember that global policies are rarely universal; instead, they tend to be made locally and implemented within regional or bilateral contexts, limiting their potential and effect on global development. Therefore, the international community must find a way to foster an adequate global public space that includes diverse voices and interests while encouraging the emergence of technology policies with broad support among society at large.
Data
Technology has disrupted the operations of many industries, leading to significant process shifts and job displacement. Much of this transformation can be attributed to technological advances like automation, digitalization, and data analytics; therefore, governments have become increasingly concerned with regulating these technologies. Technologists have also become more aware of their designs’ social impacts; thus, pressure is growing for them to account for these impacts early in design processes.
Although this is encouraging, incorporating social impact assessments more broadly across systems would be even better. Gaining a clearer understanding of a technology’s social impacts allows technologists to make more informed decisions and avoid unintended or negative consequences by failing to foresee its effects. Furthermore, engaging social scientists, policymakers, and key stakeholders as early as possible in development processes ensures their expertise can be leveraged during design processes.
As technological developments make our globalized world more interdependent, we must strive towards global technology governance. This involves creating a framework to govern new technologies, standards, and norms to ensure safe development and deployment.
New technologies have brought many benefits, from renewable energy and online learning platforms to urban planning applications that improve efficiency. These advancements allow us to gain a deeper understanding of both the environment and society, opening doors for innovation. However, when misused irresponsibly, they also pose serious threats to humanity, risks that are compounded when private companies or individuals wield these technologies for purposes that go beyond their original intent.