Member-only story
ImAGIne There’s No Countries
Why A.I. will make nation-states obsolete
“Imagine there’s no countries.
It isn’t hard to do.”
— John Lennon
Of all the changes we can expect from the widespread adoption of A.I., perhaps the least appreciated is the eventual obsolescence of the nation-state.
For generations of people raised on the pomp and circumstance of national anthems, Independence Day parades, and Olympic opening ceremonies, nothing can seem more natural than the existence of nation-states. Nor in these nationalistic times is it easy to imagine, with John Lennon, that one day they may be no more.
But don’t forget: it once took a supreme act of imagination to bring nation-states into being. They were birthed for their own reasons, and when those reasons expire, it’s not outlandish to expect the nation-state to expire with them.
On the other side of the equation, it’s not obvious why A.I. should be the innovation that raises the Reaper’s scythe to flag and passport, whatever disruptions it may cause besides. Nevertheless the plenitude that A.I. promises has, as its logical consequence, the revision of our most basic political assumptions.
Let’s see why.
