Global technopolitics--The new grand bargain 

Without teaming up, democracies will not be able to establish a robust alternative to China’s autocratic technosphere

Let us cling together 

Until last month, such ideas seemed premature. But with Joe Biden soon in the White House, they have become more realistic: IT will be high on the agenda of the “summit of democracies” he has promised to convene. Closer co-ordination and some new institutions to back it up are also more needed, and not just because of the Chinese threat. The coronavirus, by pushing much of human activity into the cloud, has emphasised the importance of the digital realm and its governance. Left alone, the world of technology will continue to disintegrate into a splinternet in which digital protectionism is widespread much as the global financial system fell apart before the second world war.

Cling  v. /klɪŋ/  

1.~ (on) to sb/sth ；~ on/together 抓紧；紧握；紧抱 •survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者 •She clung on to her baby. 她紧紧抱住她的婴儿。

2.~ (to sth)  粘住；附着•a dress that clings 紧身连衣裙 •The wet shirt clung to his chest. 湿衬衫紧贴在他的胸部。

3.~ (to sb) ( usually disapproving )（尤指情感上）依恋，依附 •After her mother's death, Sara clung to her aunt more than ever. 萨拉在母亲去世后比以往任何时候都更依附于她的姨妈。

4.ˈCLING TO STHˌCLING ˈON TO STH不愿放弃；坚持

•Throughout the trial she had clung to the belief that he was innocent. 在整个审判中，她都坚持相信他是清白的。

•He had one last hope to cling on to. 他还抱着最后的一线希望。

Premature  /ˈpremətʃər/ adj. 早产的；不成熟的；比预期早的；n. 早产儿；过早发生的事物

Summit  /ˈsʌmɪt/n. 顶点；最高级会议；最高阶层adj. 最高级的；政府首脑的

Convene  v. /kənˈviːn/  

1.召集，召开（正式会议）•to convene a meeting 召开会议

2.（为正式会议而）聚集，集合•The committee will convene at 11.30 next Thursday. 委员会将在下星期四上午11:30开会。

Disintegrate  v. /dɪsˈɪntɪɡreɪt/ 1.碎裂；解体；分裂 •The plane disintegrated as it fell into the sea. 飞机坠入大海时解体了。 2.衰微；瓦解；崩溃

Splinternet：The splinternet (also referred to as cyberbalkanization or Internet Balkanization) is a characterization of the Internet as splintering and dividing due to various factors, such as technology, commerce, politics, nationalism, religion, and interests. 各种原因导致互联网各个势力割据，分裂

To make sense of all this, it helps to see the political world as one in which technology is beginning to look ever more like geography. The geopolitical way of looking at the world, which was born in the 19th century and revolutionised strategic thinking in the 20th, was based on the idea that the geographical aspects of the physical world could be crucially important to the relations between states. Mountains that blocked transit and plains that permitted it; oilfields and coalfields; pinch-points where maritime traffic could be constrained.  Where a state’s territory stood in respect to such geographical facts of life told it what it should fear and what it might aspire to, whose interests conflicted with its own and whose might align with them. In other words, geography was destiny.

pinch-point N 夹点，关键点，道路变窄让路提示       in respect to 关于，涉及

The units of analysis for today’s nascent technopolitics are platforms: the technologies on which other technologies are built and alongside them, increasingly, businesses, governments and ways of life. The platform of all platforms is the internet. Some of the things which stand upon it are huge and widely known, such as Facebook, others small and obscure, such as Kubernetes, a sort of software used in cloud computing. Like geographical territories, these platforms have their own politics. They have their own populations, mostly users, coders and other firms. They have their own laws, which lay out who can change code and access data. They have a position with respect to other platforms which underpin, compete with or build on them, just as territories have defined relationships with their neighbours.

nascent  adj.   /ˈnæsnt/  新生的；萌芽的；未成熟的

Obscure  /əbˈskjʊər/ adj. 昏暗的，朦胧的；晦涩的，不清楚的；隐蔽的；不著名的，无名的；vt. 使…模糊不清，掩盖；隐藏；使难理解；n. 某种模糊的或不清楚的东西

Underpin  v. /ˌʌndəˈpɪn/  1.加强，巩固，构成（…的基础等） •The report is underpinned by extensive research. 这份报告以广泛的研究为基础。2.加固（墙）基

And they have their own governance systems. Some are “open”. The most famous is Linux, an operating system created and maintained through co-operative efforts to which all are, in principle, free to contribute and from which all are welcome to benefit. Others are “closed”, as is the convention among many corporate-software makers, such as Oracle. Some are run like absolute monarchies, such as Apple under Steve Jobs, who was the final arbiter over the smallest details in his tech empire.

monarchy  n./ˈmɒnəki/ 1.君主制；君主政体•plans to abolish the monarchy 废除君主政体的计划；2.君主国；3.君主及其家庭成员

arbiter  n. /ˈɑːbɪtə(r)/ ~ (of sth) 仲裁人；公断人；裁决人；决定者；权威人士 • an arbiter of taste/style/fashion 鉴赏╱款式╱时装权威

译文

Let us cling together 团结就是力量

Until last month, such ideas seemed premature. But with Joe Biden soon in the White House, they have become more realistic: IT will be high on the agenda of the “summit of democracies” he has promised to convene. Closer co-ordination and some new institutions to back it up are also more needed, and not just because of the Chinese threat. The coronavirus, by pushing much of human activity into the cloud, has emphasised the importance of the digital realm and its governance. Left alone, the world of technology will continue to disintegrate into a splinternet in which digital protectionism is widespread much as the global financial system fell apart before the second world war.

就在上个月，这样的设想还是不切实际的。但随着拜登即将入驻白宫，设想变成现实的可能性变强：拜登承诺在他召集“民主国家峰会”中IT将会是重要议题。此外，还需要更加紧密的合作、新的支持机构等，不仅仅是因为中国的威胁。新冠疫情推动人类活动大部分走向云端，显示了数字领域和其管理的重要性。置之不理，技术世界将继续瓦解成数字保护主义盛行、四分五裂的互联网，就像全球金融体系在二战前分崩离析一样。

To make sense of all this, it helps to see the political world as one in which technology is beginning to look ever more like geography. The geopolitical way of looking at the world, which was born in the 19th century and revolutionised strategic thinking in the 20th, was based on the idea that the geographical aspects of the physical world could be crucially important to the relations between states. Mountains that blocked transit and plains that permitted it; oilfields and coalfields; pinch-points where maritime traffic could be constrained.  Where a state’s territory stood in respect to such geographical facts of life told it what it should fear and what it might aspire to, whose interests conflicted with its own and whose might align with them. In other words, geography was destiny.

为了理解这一切，把政治世界看作科技因素开始越来越像地理因素的世界是有帮助的。以地缘政治角度分析世界诞生于19世纪，20世纪其战略思维革新。它的观点基础是物质世界中的地理因素可能成为国与国之间关系的关键。高山阻碍交流，平原允许流动；油田与煤矿；海运可能受到限制的咽喉要道。一个国家的国土领域立足自身地理地貌，则知道自己需要害怕什么，追求什么，自身或与其相关的利益冲突。简而言之，地理环境定命数。

The units of analysis for today’s nascent technopolitics are platforms: the technologies on which other technologies are built and alongside them, increasingly, businesses, governments and ways of life. The platform of all platforms is the internet. Some of the things which stand upon it are huge and widely known, such as Facebook, others small and obscure, such as Kubernetes, a sort of software used in cloud computing. Like geographical territories, these platforms have their own politics. They have their own populations, mostly users, coders and other firms. They have their own laws, which lay out who can change code and access data. They have a position with respect to other platforms which underpin, compete with or build on them, just as territories have defined relationships with their neighbours.

现今新兴地缘政治分析的单位是互联网平台：基于平台开发新技术或者其他与平台共存的技术。特别是越来越多的商业活动、政府、生活方式基于平台进行技术开发。互联网是所有平台的归宿。有一些基于互联网的产品非常庞大并被世人所知，如facebook；还有一些微小而隐秘，比如kubernetes，一款云计算软件。如同地缘疆土，这些平台有自身的政治体系；有自己的人口-用户、码农以及其他企业；有自身法律--展现为谁有权更改编码，访问数据；就像领土定义了国家与邻国的关系一样，它们对其他支撑、竞争或建立在它们基础上的平台安排有适当的位置。

And they have their own governance systems. Some are “open”. The most famous is Linux, an operating system created and maintained through co-operative efforts to which all are, in principle, free to contribute and from which all are welcome to benefit. Others are “closed”, as is the convention among many corporate-software makers, such as Oracle. Some are run like absolute monarchies, such as Apple under Steve Jobs, who was the final arbiter over the smallest details in his tech empire.

他们也有自身的统治体系，一些是开源的，比如Linux，一款通过合作创建并运营的操作系统。原则上，无门槛，所有人都可以贡献自己的力量，也欢迎所有的人从中受益。有一些是封闭的，是一些软件开发商老传统，例如Oracle；还有一些就像君主国家，例如乔布斯在位时的苹果公司，他是自己科技帝国中即使最微小事务的最终决裁者。