The article is the third of six insights dedicated to the main themes of the book “The Sovereign Individual”, the work written by William Rees-Mogg and James Dale Davidson.
The transition from industrial society to information society represents one of the most profound and disruptive revolutions in human history. According to the authors of the book “The Sovereign Individual”, this transformation will have social and economic consequences of historic scope, characterized by an ambivalent nature that promises both opportunities and risks at the same time.
The ongoing change will redraw the map of global inequalities. Within individual nations, we will witness an increase in economic disparities. Cognitive skills and innovation capabilities will become the new gold of the digital economy, rewarding like never before those who know how to navigate cyberspace. On the contrary, manual and repetitive jobs—pillars of the industrial era—are destined to disappear, replaced by what the authors call “digital servants”.
Automation will no longer be limited to blue-collar jobs. Artificial intelligence systems and interactive databases are already beginning to supplant professions traditionally considered safe and regulated: lawyers, doctors, accountants. The very concept of “work” is transforming into specific tasks or “piece work”, further fragmenting the market.
Paradoxically, while inequalities increase within countries, those between nations will tend to decrease. Digital globalization is breaking down geographical barriers, allowing even less developed nations to actively participate in the cyberspace economy. This phenomenon could revolutionize the global economic balance, offering unprecedented opportunities to developing countries.
On the social level, we are witnessing an equally disruptive phenomenon: the decline of traditional state control. This power vacuum is leading to an increase in local violence and its granularization. With governments increasingly unable to guarantee security on a large scale, organized crime is growing, exploiting the fragmentation of power to impose extortion, kidnapping and illegal trafficking.
Traditional politics is progressively being eclipsed by markets. Income redistribution, the foundation of the 20th century welfare state, is collapsing. Social institutions are reorganizing around efficiency rather than coercion.
According to Davidson and Rees-Mogg, what makes this revolution unique in history is its speed and universality. Unlike agricultural and industrial revolutions, which took centuries to unfold their effects, this transformation will be completed within a generation. Its global scope will involve almost every corner of the planet, making it one of the main transformations in human history.
This rapidity amplifies both opportunities and risks. On one hand, “the genius will be freed”—referring to the creative and innovative potential of humanity that will finally be able to express itself without traditional constraints. On the other hand, what experts define as “the nemesis” emerges: the dark side of change, accompanied by social unrest and a growing gap between winners and losers.
The winners will be those who manage to adapt to the new digital landscape, thriving in an economy based on ideas and innovation. The losers, instead, will be those who remain anchored to the social myths of the 20th century: equality guaranteed by coercion and the myth of socialism in all its forms.
