Seismic Rupture

A perfect storm: events are converging to generate a disruption that is changing this world. The geopolitical and technological convergence is shaking everything.

¿Haven’t you felt the recurring quakes and their aftershocks?

Don’t feel bad if you haven’t. There are still people who never heard about the more than 6,400 earthquakes recorded in the sea between Santorini and Amorgos between January 26 and February 3 of last year.

And yes, although we don’t see or feel them physically, these “quakes” don’t only happen in nature.

Many believe that these events are either too far off or merely the exaggerations of feverish minds. Worse yet, others swear they know historical cycles by heart and that we are nowhere near a paradigm shift. This paradigm — like the shocks and aftershocks of great tectonic movements — catches many completely off guards.

Our history proves it: when a real disruption occurs, only a handful take action; the rest simply surf the waves of change.

So, will you really let everything explode in your face, or will you read to the end seeking some answers — or at least questions — that will allow you to stay afloat?

A World in Flux

When everything evolves everywhere, all at once, nothing remains the same. We are standing before a geopolitical and technological convergence within a world moving toward an era of raw transactionalism and the dismantling of the multilateral system. We face new-generation wars, increased nuclear proliferation, and a trend toward a democratic recession.

Additionally, we see the positioning of three poles of power: the United States, India, and China. And no, Russia is not a center of economic or technological power; it only has one dramatic force left: its capacity to destroy us with nuclear power. Clearly, the depths of this political situation go beyond these notes. However, visualizing and internalizing them is vital to understanding the paths we will travel.

Technology is not an isolated island. The development, presence, and growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI) or quantum computing are deeply linked to the political vision of these powers. They are in a struggle to impose their prevalence in the future. We will take it one step at a time, but we cannot lose sight of the consolidation of these three world power poles. It would be catastrophic to think we are immune.

Let’s focus now on breaking down this geopolitical and technological evolution, its actors, and the possibilities of this new era.

The Technological Foundations of the Future

Don’t adjust your comfortable seat just yet, nor recline your sofa too much. We are riding a geopolitical and technological convergence that shatters everything we’ve lived through.

The key: a new human cycle is in full development.

Envisioning the future and risking predictions about the greatest risks and opportunities requires a vision that assimilates today’s world. Connected, integrated, and deeply interrelated — that is the world evolving now. No aspect is isolated; nothing operates alone.

Think about it. Go back to 2021 — just five years ago — and ask yourself: ¿where was AI or quantum computing then?

Leave the financial bubbles to the speculators. Look at AI and other disruptive technologies as the real keys to the near future; don’t beat around the bush.

Aside from the disruption AI represents, its growth has no patterns, no exclusive actors, and certainly no definitive terms. It grows without obstacles.

Remember the saying: “None so blind as those who will not see”.

Several thinkers, scientists, and philosophers speak of “exaggerations” regarding AI and quantum computing. They represent those who continue to live in a dying world. Despite their experience, they fail to assimilate the transition we are experiencing.

As researcher and physicist Ignacio Cirac states: “Quantum computing is not a theoretical curiosity; it is a new way of processing information”. Even conservative estimates suggest we will have operational quantum systems within 10 years. But beware: its development alongside AI leads us down completely unexplored paths.

This convergence is not a game for children or a roll of the dice. It is a tangible and explosive reality, advancing with practical applications every day.

Geopolitics and Trump

Narrow your focus on the U.S. and President Donald Trump. Strip away the marketing and look at the essence, the facts, and the actions. The old order is leaking from all sides. “America for Americans” — including Greenland — is the beachhead of a territorial, spatial, and political realignment of a new order.

A complex redefinition of democracy and authoritarianism, mixed with total and exacerbated pragmatism, breaks standard schemes and opens endless questions. Trump, at the helm of the still most powerful nation in the world, started the year by setting the agenda. What is coming is unprecedented in its timing and expansive in its consequences.

China and India are also playing, but beware: we are neither in the era of American decadence, nor is the U.S. alone in this global tsunami.

A First Approach

The keys to the near future place us at the edge of a seismic rupture, dismantling the multilateral system and the established old order. This disruption is not an isolated event, but a paradigm shift driven by the consolidation of three great power poles — the United States, China, and India — and the unprecedented acceleration of AI and quantum computing.

We find ourselves in an unprecedented human cycle where total pragmatism and the erosion of traditional democracies define a new reality. Ignoring what lies ahead would simply be cataclysmic.