Union external affairs minister S Jaishankar said no one should pretend technology is neutral and said India cannot remain agnostic regarding technology since there are strong political connotations attached to it.
Jaishankar’s comments came during an address on Tuesday at the seventh edition of the Global Technology Summit in New Delhi co-hosted by the the Ministry of External Affairs and Carnegie India.
The Union minister was addressing India’s annual flagship event on geotechnology and the theme for this year’s event is Geopolitics of Technology.
“We have to stop pretending that there is something neutral about technology. Technology is no more neutral than economics or any other activity. You may speak about data being the new oil and we need to understand that there is a very strong political connotation that is inbuilt into technology,” Jaishankar said while adding that several nations have fashioned their national security policies based on the technology, technological advancements and where modern technology is headed, according to an ANI report.
He also pointed out that Indians are now aware and question who handles the data of millions of Indians and if they are being harvested, then who is harvesting the data.
“India in the last two years, woke up to the (question regarding) where does our data reside? Who processes and harvests our data and what do they do with it?” Jaishankar said.
He said that it is important to look at the quality of partners India has in the arena of technological spheres.
‘What Kind of Globalization Do You Support?’
The minister said that divisions on the basis of pro-globalization or anti-globalization should not be made. Jaishankar said the correct question to ask would be if everyone supports collaborative globalisation.
“I think that the right argument is that you are for collaborative globalisation or are you for a globalisation model that allows domination by a few players. How flat and broad is your globalisation? I think that to my mind is the real debate. And that debate will be very much driven by technology,” Jaishankar was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Jaishankar said he considers technological issues as issues related to political science and not as issues related to economics. He also said that the “era of the Westphalian model of international relations is over.”
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