e are living through unparalleled times of disruption, invention, new risk, and a breakdown of legacy governance. And yet, as Charles Dickens timelessly stated in the first paragraph of his 1859 novel “A Tale of Two Cities”:
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…”
Or as Jean–Baptiste Alphonse Karr, another 19th–century (French) author, coined more succinctly in his 1849 piece Les Guêpes (The Wasps) when talking about French politics and governance:
"plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose" (the more things change, the more they stay the same)
So, what is it with exponential technological change in the late 2020s? Is it the best of times or the worst of times? Is it more of the same despite the deep disruptive change?
Yes to all of that.
Yes, we are running in place and quickly falling behind on tech and other (geopolitical) governance.
Yes, the human condition is such that the full spectrum of behaviors, from altruism to sociopathy, are fully on display.
Yes, the innovation taking place is nothing short of breathtaking and may end up curing dreaded diseases, fixing aspects of climate change and feeding the hungry everywhere.
Eventually.
If we don’t kill ourselves before with uncontrollable agentic AI, automated robotic weapons gone wild, or criminally deployed synthetic biotech diseases.
Yes, we are facing a world of uncertainty and unknowable, potentially scary risk.
But here’s the good news:
There are many millions of people and points of light innovating, formulating, advocating and/or implementing responsible tech change all over the world:
- From NGOs like the Africa AI Observatory, the Center for Humane Technology and All Tech is Human
- From leading tech companies that take responsibility to their stakeholders more seriously than others - like Anthropic, Cohere, Mozilla
- From governments and their agencies protecting vulnerable populations from toxic tech impacts - from Australia and Spain all the way to New York City’s public high schools
- From litigation and juries beginning to hold tech companies long used to impunity accountable (like Meta/Facebook, YouTube)
- From international cross-border organizations developing best practices, processes and protocols including UNESCO, the UN High-Level Advisory Body on AI, the Council of Europe, ASEAN, the G7 Hiroshima AI Process, G20 AI Principles, IEEE, OECD and many more
- From think tanks and universities developing research, best practices, repositories and guidance for all to use including MIT Risk Repository, Stanford HAI, World Economic Forum, IPCC
We have never lived in a time of greater, potentially scalable, asymmetrically arrayed positive change.
The greatest opportunity in this period of global fragmentation is the opportunity for novel collaboration and ecosystems to flourish.
What are you waiting for? Join one of these efforts and contribute your skills to building a more responsible tech future.
a global affairs media network
For exponential tech: best of times, worst of times, or more of same?
Image via Adobe Stock.
June 18, 2026
Exponential tech brings breathtaking promise and existential risk alike. Traditional governance mechanisms are failing, but millions are filling the gaps and building a more responsible future, writes Andrea Bonime–Blanc, PhD.
W
e are living through unparalleled times of disruption, invention, new risk, and a breakdown of legacy governance. And yet, as Charles Dickens timelessly stated in the first paragraph of his 1859 novel “A Tale of Two Cities”:
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…”
Or as Jean–Baptiste Alphonse Karr, another 19th–century (French) author, coined more succinctly in his 1849 piece Les Guêpes (The Wasps) when talking about French politics and governance:
"plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose" (the more things change, the more they stay the same)
So, what is it with exponential technological change in the late 2020s? Is it the best of times or the worst of times? Is it more of the same despite the deep disruptive change?
Yes to all of that.
Yes, we are running in place and quickly falling behind on tech and other (geopolitical) governance.
Yes, the human condition is such that the full spectrum of behaviors, from altruism to sociopathy, are fully on display.
Yes, the innovation taking place is nothing short of breathtaking and may end up curing dreaded diseases, fixing aspects of climate change and feeding the hungry everywhere.
Eventually.
If we don’t kill ourselves before with uncontrollable agentic AI, automated robotic weapons gone wild, or criminally deployed synthetic biotech diseases.
Yes, we are facing a world of uncertainty and unknowable, potentially scary risk.
But here’s the good news:
There are many millions of people and points of light innovating, formulating, advocating and/or implementing responsible tech change all over the world:
- From NGOs like the Africa AI Observatory, the Center for Humane Technology and All Tech is Human
- From leading tech companies that take responsibility to their stakeholders more seriously than others - like Anthropic, Cohere, Mozilla
- From governments and their agencies protecting vulnerable populations from toxic tech impacts - from Australia and Spain all the way to New York City’s public high schools
- From litigation and juries beginning to hold tech companies long used to impunity accountable (like Meta/Facebook, YouTube)
- From international cross-border organizations developing best practices, processes and protocols including UNESCO, the UN High-Level Advisory Body on AI, the Council of Europe, ASEAN, the G7 Hiroshima AI Process, G20 AI Principles, IEEE, OECD and many more
- From think tanks and universities developing research, best practices, repositories and guidance for all to use including MIT Risk Repository, Stanford HAI, World Economic Forum, IPCC
We have never lived in a time of greater, potentially scalable, asymmetrically arrayed positive change.
The greatest opportunity in this period of global fragmentation is the opportunity for novel collaboration and ecosystems to flourish.
What are you waiting for? Join one of these efforts and contribute your skills to building a more responsible tech future.
