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Chapter Three - 2022

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 February 2025

Bruno Maçães
Affiliation:
Flint Global
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Summary

This chapter begins with the sombre matter of world destruction. Almost by definition, the fully artificial worlds described in this book are ontologically fragile. They can be pulled apart or undone, as easily or more easily than they were put together. Whether they are replaced by a natural world of power politics involving different ethnic groups or whether no more than chaos and disorder can be expected in such a scenario is no doubt an important question, but it does not affect the real possibility of world destruction. This chapter argues for an alternative to hegemonic wars and the threat of nuclear annihilation, an alternative to be sought in the dynamics of world building. Today competition between the superpowers is organised around the capacity to build new technological worlds; those unable to compete must eventually become elements in a world built by others. The emergence of these artificial worlds opens up possibilities for state actors to change the global power distribution without the risks arising from direct action against their rivals. In Ukraine, while Russia seems determined to bring the current world order tumbling down, it also has to face the full brunt of that world order’s power in a succession of system wars ranging from a new form of technological warfare to the uses and abuses of the global energy, financial and trade systems.

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World Builders , pp. 120 - 164
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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  • 2022
  • Bruno Maçães, Flint Global
  • Book: World Builders
  • Online publication: 13 February 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009397414.005
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  • 2022
  • Bruno Maçães, Flint Global
  • Book: World Builders
  • Online publication: 13 February 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009397414.005
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • 2022
  • Bruno Maçães, Flint Global
  • Book: World Builders
  • Online publication: 13 February 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009397414.005
Available formats
×