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The largest problems that humanity faces in the twenty first century are ones we all share.

 

Global warming, environmental degradation, nuclear weapons, the threat of pandemics, runaway artificial intelligence – all these things pose threats to our very existence as a species. At the same time, power structures  are more complex than ever before, and some corporations are financially bigger and more powerful than many countries.

 

Yet through technology we are all much more interconnected – there are globally pervasive cultures as well as national ones. We may have far more in common with someone from the other side of the world than with our next door neighbour. It's a complex web of power, technology and capital that shapes our social world.

 

Our geo-political world is built on the co-ordination and competition of nation states - countries that battle for influence and supremacy. As new technologies are developed, how countries act and compete using this soft power will be fundamental to how we live. Already we see governments impose limitations around how people can access and use technology, such as how some US-developed technologies are restricted in China. If this approach is continued for biotechnology, transhumanist and other future topics, it could mean borders put in place affecting how we live and travel.

 

How we as individuals and societies identify where we belong - be it a community, a city, a country, a continent or elsewhere - will affect the ways in which the world operates and the borders that we construct.