Sophia Goodfriend in the Boston Review:
The unending wars and fortified borders fracturing much of the world have created lucrative testing grounds for the private firms tinkering with defense and security technologies. Venture capitalists scrolling through pitch decks of products seemingly lifted from blockbuster thrillers are rapidly cashing in. According to a Dealroom report released in late September, investment in defense tech startups is up 300 percent since 2019 in NATO countries; funders injected $3.9 billion dollars into the industry just this year. International relations experts Michael Brenes and William Hartung say we are on the verge of “a profit-driven rush toward a dangerous new technological arms race.” But it is more like a crowd crush—one that’s been ramping up insecurity across most of the world for a while now.
Petra Molnar’s new book The Walls Have Eyes: Surviving Migration in the Age of Artificial Intelligence offers an expansive account of how this global arms race is intensifying already violent homeland security and border regimes.
More here.
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