Redefining state-tech relations

Presently, the only sector, more than any other, in the digital space on which governments retain tighter control is finance, which makes global technology firms toe some, if not much, line of governments’ contemplations. Notwithstanding this, the speed with which Vitalik Buterin and like-minded engineers and code experts are making headway in developing the Ethereum ecosystem — the technology behind the cryptocurrency Ether — time is not far enough when governments would not have a stronghold on the finances of technology firms. As yet, the World Wide Web (WWW) enjoys the status of the largest, decentralised communications system, but by giving birth to a brood of independent internet applications, Ethereum — the second most celebrated blockchain after Bitcoin — is expeditiously coming out as a compelling digital infrastructure. With its eye-opener syntaxes of the algorithm, it may challenge governments more than Diem — a Meta backed digital currency that had to be scaled down dreadfully as financial regulators raised their eyebrows globally. For instance, one of the code plots of Ethereum includes a smart digital contract which gives the parties involved in a project an advantage to compose their agreement in a secret and hard-to-change encrypted computerised code.

Resultantly, prospects of new businesses like new payment systems, financial derivatives, and betting markets have increased considerably. Other than supporting innovative adventures in the financial sector, all this may also usher into a new era of Metaverse where augmented cum virtual reality, digital finance systems, and advanced data networks would be transmuting the structure of a more pragmatic and mesmeric digital world by providing people with an objective platform to interact, converse, work, and trade digital products. The US is striving in this category of techno-utopian technology corporations when many governments around the globe are busy promoting their national digital firms only. However, wittingly or unwittingly, states, in a bid to liberalise the digital space for economic benefits, are weighing options to relax the legal restrictions which might stifle innovation and inventions.

That being so, new geopolitical architecture is in the making where governments and technology giants would be negotiating for greater sovereignty over the digital space. It is to see whether or not the state remains the leading manager providing security, law and order, financial regulations, and other goods and services in the new world. Thus far, natural cataclysms, such as Covid-19 and the climate crisis, have strengthened the belief that the state has the sole power to handle such baffling setbacks. To gain the confidence of the general citizenry, tech companies, in this scenario, have to align their goals with that of governments which further reinforces the latter’s authority. The services provided by the government through the use of technology in health care, education, and other sectors improve its legitimacy in the eyes of citizens. The tech companies, in this process, further lay off their independence and become more and more national in their external outlook. Ironically, it is beyond one’s understanding that tech companies with national ambitions can cooperate on complex international issues, making it harder for governments to continue with the imposed curbs on them. Ultimately, this paves the way for the paramountcy of global technology corporations by giving them a globalist posture of nation-states.

Thenceforth, the technology giants oppose governmental checks to hold them back from their international operations. Commensurately, governments, fearing the loss of job opportunities, research and innovation, and failing to meet digital challenges, are taking steps to roll back their restrictive policies on tech firms. Instead of a technology war, the cooperation in creating an international tech market where they can serve universally without taking care of geographical borders is encouraged by the private technology firms. With the spur of global demand for digital products and services, national tech campaigners are under transformation to change their outlook as global technology corporations, catering for all without any national motive. Both China and the US understand that it is difficult to stop and reverse the process of globalisation of their tech firms as it would break off the wave of scientific research and innovation that majorly supports their economies. Thus, confusion at reining in tech corporations results in erosion of states’ sovereignty over digital space and sovereign control of geopolitics, strengthening the concept of global governance.

Given this emerging order, with time, the oft-professed attrition of state control might speed up, giving rise to the scenario of techno-utopian corporations working freely around the world. Already, around the globe, downright disillusionment with the state that has considerably failed to manage human affairs has eroded public confidence in the state’s apparatus, drawing the general citizenry closer to the digital economy. Today, cryptocurrency under wider acceptance has considerably damaged the state’s financial territory, undermining the regulators’ authority to exercise control over it. The intermediary role of the state is slowly diminishing, and the idea of nationalism in the technology sector has run out. Ingenious and insightful technologists like Elon & Mark have assumed a paramount role in determining how to travel the space for extensive exploration and how people should communicate between them.

However, states would not let tech firms rule their sphere of influence without constraints. But, the less the governments confront them, the more the tech firms would be able to construct the new digital world order. A generation ago, the internet was a mere source of communication; today, it has revolutionised every sector of life. Ergo, the process of digital evolution could not be curtailed or controlled for a long time. Before long, nation-states were to accept mega technology companies as prominent international actors. For Pakistan, understanding the dynamics of the exponentially evolving digital world is the need of the hour, especially as policies pursued and measures taken by Big Tech and other technology corporations around the globe have implications for its economic, social and security landscapes. By broadening its horizons to evolve to its maximum potential, Pakistan’s digital space requires a clear, concise and well-defined strategy to act upon the much-celebrated comprehensive digital policy. Candidly, no plan is result-oriented unless one synchronises its ends and means in a well-calibrated fashion. Pursuing a set of long-term objectives is no less than a Herculean task in the digital world, particularly when the professional human force does not have the required tools, skills and capabilities. In our case, goals are very high; the means linger in doll drums. Through improving our educational standards, particularly restructuring engineering syllabi on modern lines, we can attain the objective of digital Pakistan, which, by creating maximum employment opportunities and enormous wealth, may become the basis of a thriving modern economy.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 23^rd, 2022.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.