Last weekend, at the Takshashila webinar on Technology and National Power, Aditya introduced me to the concept of creative insecurity. It is the positive difference between the threats of economic or military competition abroad and the dangers of political-economic rivalries at home. Explaining further this, Aditya argued that creative insecurity forces countries to innovate things, as it is a matter of existential crisis in a few instances.
A corollary to this would be that countries without creative insecurities might be content with current technological progress and might be blind to rival countries progress. Our External Affairs Minister, S. Jai Shankar, once said that at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the American occupation of the Middle East might have blinded them to China’s progress but not to us. This gave enough space for the Chinese to make progress in Artificial Intelligence, 5G, Quantum Computers, etc. Ironically, American capital and academicia only fuelled this growth. American liberal elites thought that economic modernization in China might lead to political reforms. Not only were they proved wrong, but Chinese Premier Xi Jinping took it to the other end by curbing dissent further.
Chinese deployed these technological advancements not only for economic modernisation but also for military modernisation. This made Americans wary. Now, we see a bipartisan consensus to stop this further. This can be seen in the semiconductor arena. Not only is the Biden administration stopping transactions between American and Chinese corporations related to Semiconductors, but it is also providing enough incentives to local American companies to produce semiconductors locally. Folks in the geo-economic circles are calling it onshoring. Pranay Kotasthane, Deputy Director at Takshashila, even wrote a book named Chip War, detailing silicon politik.
I once read Joseph Schumpeter’s creative destruction concept. It advises destroying existing things so that it will provide space for new creations. This should be carried out in a pretty creative manner, as change without stability might lead to chaos.
I started watching Ravi Kishan’s Maamla Legal Hai web series. I loved it so far for its accurate depiction of the courtrooms. Inspired by real-life incidents, It satirically points to the bizarre court cases.
P.S.: I found this quite interesting.