THE KEY TO THE FUTURE IS TECHNOLOGICAL INDEPENDENCE AND HUMAN WILL
· Halil ETYEMEZ
The world is undergoing a profound transformation, not only technologically but also politically, economically, and humanly. Artificial intelligence, big data, digital platforms, and quantum technologies, while making our lives easier, are also reshaping state sovereignty, societal values, and human will.
The world is undergoing a profound transformation, not only technologically but also politically, economically, and humanly. Artificial intelligence, big data, digital platforms, and quantum technologies, while making our lives easier, are also reshaping state sovereignty, societal values, and human will.
In such times, the real issue is to see where humanity is heading before predicting which technologies will be used in the future.
Selçuk Bayraktar's assessments on technology, digital sovereignty, and the future of humanity are a strong reading of the future directed from Turkey to the world. These words are not just a warning highlighting dangers; they are a roadmap presented to states, societies, and individuals.
For years, we have heard grand statements about the future from thinkers in other countries and executives of technology companies. Today, the statements made by people raised in Turkey are resonating globally. This development shows that the National Technology Move not only produces tools and systems but has also begun to form its own thought and vision for the future.
Selçuk Bayraktar says:
“The biggest threat to our independence is not conventional armies massed on our borders. It is the techno-capitalist global hegemony that infiltrates our supply chains, data centers, and the devices in our pockets.”
This assessment reveals that we need to rethink the concept of independence. The domain of sovereignty in the new era is not just land. Data, software, algorithms, communication networks, and technological infrastructure are also integral parts of independence.
A country can protect its borders. However, if its citizens' data is stored on servers of companies in other countries, if its critical institutions are dependent on externally sourced software, and if it cannot control its communication infrastructure itself, its independence remains incomplete.
Therefore, Turkey needs to launch a comprehensive Digital Sovereignty Mobilization. Domestic and open-source software should be supported, national data infrastructures should be established; and foreign dependency in technologies such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, semiconductors, communication, health, and agriculture should be reduced.
Because those who are not independent in technology will find it increasingly difficult to remain fully independent in politics, economy, and culture.
Bayraktar's second major warning is that the new form of hegemony is established without the use of force:
“This hegemony does not come with brute force like the dictatorships of the past. It enters our lives as a 'voluntary servitude' through a system that makes billions of people addicted like a drug.”
Past regimes of domination were established through oppression and fear. The new order manages people's attention, time, choices, and behaviors.
The system doesn't force us to stare at screens. It establishes a regime of addiction where we don't want to look away from the screen. Invisible algorithms can guide what news we read, what we get angry about, what we like, and what we buy, while individuals feel free.
A person who cannot manage their attention cannot manage their time, and a person who cannot manage their time cannot manage their life. The choices of a person who cannot use their will increasingly cease to be their own.
Therefore, digital addiction is not just an individual habit. It is a national issue concerning the family, education, children's development, mental health, and the society's ability to think.
We must teach our children not only how to use technology but also to recognize how technology guides them. We need to include algorithmic literacy, attention management, and technology ethics in our education system. Addictive designs on platforms for children and the use of personal data should be subject to stronger regulations.
Bayraktar's following sentence directly brings the discussion to the essence of humanity:
“I'm not just talking about machines imitating humans; we are heading towards a dark age where humans are rapidly becoming mechanized.”
Today, we talk about how much artificial intelligence resembles humans. But we overlook a more important question:
As machines resemble humans, are humans also becoming like machines?
Humans are not just biological machines that process information. Humans believe, love, miss, show mercy, seek meaning, and sacrifice their self-interest when necessary. What makes a human human is not just computational power, but their conscience, will, morality, and sense of responsibility.
We should not diminish humans in the face of the growing power of artificial intelligence. Technology should be an opportunity in the service of humanity, not its rival.
The fundamental principle of our understanding of technology should be clear:
Technology will serve humanity, not humanity serve technology.
This understanding should also guide our education policy. Instead of turning our children into repositories of information competing with machines, we should raise them as individuals who ask questions, think critically, make meaning, and can exercise moral judgment.
It is not enough to teach our youth only coding. We must also make them think about why they are coding, who the technology they produce will serve, and within what ethical boundaries it will be used. We must reunite knowledge with wisdom, technology with ethics, and reason with conscience.
Bayraktar also makes an important call regarding the approaching quantum age:
“We must equip our communication networks with quantum-resistant encryption algorithms and build autonomous national architectures that global monopolies cannot penetrate.”
Turkey should prepare a Quantum Security Roadmap starting today. Systems used in defense, banking, energy, health, and public communication should be reviewed; joint research centers should be established between universities and technology companies; and qualified human resources should be trained in this field.
Technological independence cannot be achieved merely by purchasing advanced systems from abroad. A country that does not develop its own software, cannot protect its own data, and does not know how the systems it uses work is not secure, even if it possesses the most expensive technologies.
Technological independence is not bought; it is built with knowledge, labor, production, and national will.
Selçuk Bayraktar's description of our youth as 'a noble generation of freedom that has shattered mental shackles, saying 'we can do the best',' is our greatest hope for the future.
For many years, Turkey was intended to be seen not as a country that produces technology but buys it, not one that designs but uses it. The most important success of the National Technology Move was to shake this mental dependency before the emergence of tools.
However, our goal should not be merely to compete with global technology companies. We should also aim to establish a more just, human-centered, and compassionate technological order than theirs.
Turkey's proposal to the world is as follows:
Technology should be an instrument of solidarity, not domination; of sharing, not exploitation; of empowering human will, not directing humans.
The future will not come by itself. It will be the product of those who prepare it, produce it, and shape it according to their own values.
We must protect our own data, develop our own software, and raise our youth with as much moral responsibility as technical competence. We must formulate our own statements, produce our own concepts, and build our own vision for the future.
Because the key to the future is not in the hands of others.
That key lies in our minds, our knowledge, our unity, and our human will.
May you be entrusted to God. Forgive me my shortcomings.