Comment by dismalaf

The real problem is that the west is fractured and sees itself only as individuals, corporations and nations.

China sees itself as a civilization. Russia does too, ish (look up Dugin's Eurasian Empire).

The West has a hard time believing anyone wants to destroy it, so doesn't take the threat seriously. Meanwhile other civilizations are working to both destroy the west and ensure their own place in the future.

So we were OK outsourcing our production and knowledge for a quick buck and it's coming back to haunt us.

Even now, we still don't see ourselves as a civilization, actively work to undermine ourselves and help our enemies who openly want to destroy us, and are barely doing anything to defend ourselves. We seem to have also given up on the idea of a "democratic world", which was in vogue when I was growing up (Bush 2 years).

As for the thesis of this article, the positive is that code and knowledge, because of the fact preserving it is basically free, is still there. AI hasn't been good enough to displace it. And our technological advantage is still pretty wide and our military industrial complex is, for better or worse, coming back.