If I had any say in determining geopolitics in any country, I would have a dedicated wing for technologists and predicate all policy-formulation in compliance with their recommendations. Not silly fighter jet & missile tech, but along the lines of Gartner’s Tech Hype Cycle.

Unfortunately, countries like Pakistan, that are too beholden to this old idea of military deterrence, technology simply means improving weapons armaments to neutralize physical threats. But the digital world doesn’t have physical threats. In fact, it isn’t even about threats.

The digital economy requires looking 10-15 years ahead and figuring out how technologies of the future will shape every aspect of our lives. Be early adopters & innovators in these spaces and that will automatically leapfrog you into the future & give you competitive insulation.

Take example of the internet. When it came about, how many saw the internet becoming a means to conduct trade? Ordering merchandize online was novel. It’s the norm now. Emerging technologies like Blockchain, AI, AR etc are what states need to look into to future-proof themselves.

Countries that moved faster and adopted digital trade are way ahead now. Meanwhile, Pakistan is still celebrating how our next iteration of a missile can hit country X that is Y miles away. This is an anarchist view of nation-building. And it is outward-looking.

It shows that our idea of success is by hurting others. We take pride in being able to inflict pain on others (while forgetting others can do exactly the same). What it doesn’t do is address the issues within. Issues of governance, creating wealth, increasing productivity etc.

Lastly, it’s not the job of the govt alone to do this. In fact, businesses and private enterprises will have to play a bigger role. But before they can do that, governments have to create that enabling environment. And that is what lacks in states that have a “NatSec” obsession.