Briefing (September 2026)
Thirty years ago, information set out to conquer the global economy against the backdrop of the triumphant—and relatively stable—Pax Americana.
The “information age” was reshaping the landscape in terms of the automation of production and service processes, as well as in the areas of communication and the cognitive envelopment of societies.
The IT industry was then rising to the forefront of global industry, while the microprocessor was entering into close synergy with matter, energy, and human intelligence.
At the same time, new nanoscopic artifacts were emerging in laboratories, giving rise to bio-nanotechnological interfaces.
New Bio-Cyber-Physical Convergence
The convergence of biology, physics, and computer science is now a reality. This marks the beginning of a new “biopolitical” era—or, if you prefer, a “bio-cyber-physical” era—in which living organisms, as well as certain aspects of human cognition, can be networked with bionanotechnological systems.
Individuals and collective organizations are no longer merely designers or users working in synergy with a computerized system. Their biological, social, and cognitive metabolism can itself be computerized. A “Universal Internet” (IoE) is now in its infancy.
An Illusory Multipolarity
This expanding agenda is taking shape within a geopolitical balance that is no longer what it was a few decades ago.
The international climate that followed in the wake of the “war on terror” launched in 2001 appears to be one of a “return of the great powers,” against the backdrop of the erosion of the Pax Americana.
A nonconformist perspective, however, suggests that multipolarity is an optical illusion. The resurgence of conflict observed in recent years stems primarily from a superstructural orchestration of interstate frictions, rather than a dispersion of power. In other words, the major powers are coordinating with one another under the guise of managed conflicts at least in certain areas—to reshape the geopolitical landscape and force structural changes.
In practice, the shift of the geopolitical center of gravity toward China and India is shaping a new Pax Sino-Americana, supported by global industry at the unacknowledged cost of destabilizing and deindustrializing the West.
Dataism and Algorithms
This approach of apparent compartmentalization and coercion is clearly visible in the “bio-cyber-physical” domain.
Over the past decade, scientific collaboration between China and the United States in the fields of artificial intelligence and biotechnology has surpassed that of the Euro-Atlantic region.
In 2020, COVID-19 aligned all political regimes around a biometric agenda deployed on a global scale, far beyond sovereignist reflexes and national particularisms.
At the same time, “dataism”—that is, political and administrative action automated by algorithms—is taking root here and there within the workings of governance, while being caricatured by its own architects as a new threat.
Upcoming Triggers
This biopolitical era is intertwined with the tangle of crises taking shape before our eyes, particularly since the Russia-Ukraine war.
For better or worse, various countries are buckling under the weight of sovereign debt and food, financial, and energy crises, the onset of which is already underway.
Both history and the current development of new technological and institutional arrangements indicate that these crises are highly likely to be exploited as triggers.
The medium-term outlook that emerges is one of tighter control and increased predation of individuals and societies, consistent with a cybernetic governance framework.
Intellectual Frameworks Under Scrutiny
Dunia pointed this out last year. It is clear that the intellectual tools used to understand this environment have become anachronistic.
Traditional bodies of historical, strategic, and economic intelligence are no longer relevant to these deeper issues.
Worse still, by ignoring the hidden dynamics at play, they accelerate this trend and reinforce the compartmentalization introduced into the international system for the sake of conflict.
In many respects, the leap in understanding required to grasp these developments is most likely to be achieved by individuals with atypical backgrounds and sensibilities, rather than by organizations.
Roadmap
Dunia is, of course, far too modest to have an impact on such issues.
Its roadmap, however, incorporates these elements and has translated them into three areas of focus:
- Provide organizations with digital and informational tools that meet concrete needs while guarding against the prevailing data-driven mindset.
- Support strategic breakthroughs and innovations by stakeholders in Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia (through training, networking, reflection, seminars, and conceptual development).
- Lay the foundations for a geostrategic school of thought 3.0, fostering a renewed relationship with reality.
- To integrate risk management more deeply into the aforementioned areas and into the digital infrastructure.
