Can Technology Help Avert World War III?

European Straits #37

Dear all,

This week I’m spending a few days in the Bay Area. I’m here mostly to meet executives at Facebook, which is a key partner of the Chair of Technology, Governance, and Institutional Innovation (TGII) that I’m co-heading at Sciences Po Paris.

But being here is also an opportunity to get to know singular individuals such as Watsi’s Chase Adam and 21.co’s Balaji S. Srinivasan. You all know Facebook of course, but if you know these other people, their work and their interests as well, you can see there’s a common thread here: how the power of ubiquitous computing and networks can be harnessed not for the worst, but for the better.

In truth the world is currently (and rightly) preoccupied with the possibility of Donald Trump kicking off World War III on Twitter. And there would be a cold irony in our technological ability to instantaneously connect everyone on the planet leading directly to instantaneous planetary destruction. It’s enough to keep you up at night—and to wonder if techn…