Part 14/16:
Zion reflects on the historical relationship between military spending and technological progress. Traditionally, defense investments spurred innovations—telecommunications, aerospace, early computing—that later benefited civilian sectors. Today, however, the landscape has shifted.
The private sector, especially Silicon Valley, now dominates technological innovation, making military-led technological leaps less central to civilian progress. Fields like artificial intelligence are promising, but their development relies on global supply chains, international partnerships, and open markets. The ongoing "delobization"—fragmentation of supply chains—poses a risk to rapid technological development in AI and other emerging fields.