Demographic Death and Revolution of Security in Technopolitic New World

“Demographic Death and Revolution of Security in
Technopolitic New World“

Allow me, I want to start with some information and announcements like every year as required by the president of TASAM. This year we closed meetings for free participation; we chose a work-shop oriented approach that participants and guests were interested in. We thought that this would be much more effective and more productive, I especially want to underline this sentence.

Every year, when one meeting ends another meeting starts immediately. This year's ‘ Technopolitic New World, Security of Security, Mind, Generation, Family, Faith and State Security’ concept paper might be the most time consuming research that includes me and our precious professors in 10 years. The document's maturation was achieved through intensive effort that continued between 2 or 3 years; many times looked at the research. Because of the freshness of research and compromise in such an important area. In the area newly discussed by the world, I am grateful to our TASAM Vice President, Retired General Prof. Dr. Fahri Erenel, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Muharrem Hilmi ÖZEV, and all our other precious professors.

This program, prepared by a young team. They are the grand heroes. I would to thank, Büşra BÜYÜK, Hanife Şeyma SAY, Verda ŞENSOY KARAGÖZ, Beyza BEYENAL, Zeki AYDIN and others heroes that I cannot mention in this speech. Additionally, I would sincerely thank all the institutions that sent professionals through the relevant ministries that contributed with institutional support; ASELSAN who is the main sponsor, TÜBİTAK, and all individuals and institutions that provided financial and moral support throughout this process.

The value of knowledge, strategy and thought are the evidence that shows the general situation of the state. We seriously need to have criticisms about this issue. Every state could create a scale on themselves. Because we made it a slogan; If a country could not create its own ecosystem or does not claim to will, the state has no chance to exist today nor in the future.

There are some successful patterns in various countries. Here we can see obvious fluctuation. We recently had a meeting with the RAND Corporation in Washington. I said some sentences after my statements to be a little bit provocative: In the next 10 years, at least 50% of think-tanks will be closed down, including the think tanks in Washington. The reason behind this is we still sustain the research with the academic practices. Actually, when every corner of life is changing, think tanks functions and meanings are also changing. Because, the universities practice the research that many think tanks perform today. Therefore, an idea of what is the purpose of its organization is not the subject of this meeting, but it has an ecosystem of thought that being, with all its different views - including opponents- is as important as bread, water, fire and salt by living with it.

10. Istanbul Security Conference contains, 3. Istanbul Cyber Security Forum, 6. Marine Security Forum, 7. Turkey-Africa Defense, Security and Space Forum, 8. Turkey-Gulf Defense and Security Forum and first time regulated Re-Asia Security Forum (name given for support of Re-Asia initiative of Türkiye), style of workshop behavior in three different halls, led and performed by approximately 100 speakers and 30 moderators. I would sincerely thank all our professors, experts and elders who will be here in two days and who will take part in these programs.

Related to the meeting, proper to usual tradition, I would like to draw a general horizon. Already, you and professional attendants will complete the research. Today, the level we reach in the world, the picture is getting clearer: the location of yours in technopolitics, where it determines where you are in geopolitics in the world. Thereby, in addition to the popular topic of chip crisis, we know that in semiconductors up to 1 nano millimeter is approached. Probably in the near future full conductors will also start to be discussed. Within the scope of techno political competition, the export of chips below 7 nano millimeters was banned to China. However, it is necessary to emphasize that such bans, as in Turkey, lead the relevant countries to work harder and improve themselves.

The main issue, the location of you in technopolitics, and the geopolitics that determine your location moving forward to the world. This includes numerous areas, from soft and hard security to the functioning of every aspect of life. You know that very well this transformation will accelerate even further, especially with the rapid development of artificial intelligence and its asymmetric takeover of control. We had previously published the views of an expert with a strong career on this subject at TASAM. His main argument was: This process is now out of control. He claims that this is not a conspiracy theory and that artificial intelligence, which should have been isolated in laboratory environments, was released too early. Recently, the only option to regain control of AI is to shut down all the internet. However, since shutting down the internet would mean stopping life, this professor argues that we must be prepared for serious surprises. I have read his assertive and well based opinions too.

The transformation created by artificial intelligence is a significant indicator of what the future holds for technopolitics and the nature of life. The issue is not just about producing technology but also about how the culture created by that technology transforms all areas of life. Within this scope, we have been conducting a program called “BRAINS2 Türkiye“ for approximately 6-7 years. The letters in this program represent six sectors: biotechnology, robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, space, and the second “S“ refers to strategic services. These sectors contain the fundamental codes of techno political and geopolitical transformation. These areas also show the critical issues. However, serious problems arise in the creation of states when it comes to linking these sectors with practical implementation. This is because the workers educated by traditional practices -both decision-makers and security producers -own a specific infrastructure. As a result, we face significant difficulties in establishing a timely connection between these new paradigms and their practical applications. This situation also has a philosophical dimension. I will not go into huge detail, but after the Industrial Revolution in Europe, positivism reached its peak, and science replaced religion. Since then, religious views-regardless of the belief system-have been not considered in the European experience. As an example, the Soviet Union experienced a communist life experience and the core ideology was atheism. In many cultures and countries, references based on religion were pushed back. When we look at the reflections that techno politics brought into life styles, today we see a critique risk about the faith of security. For that reason, we are entering an era that every state needs to take more initiative in their cultural areas about faith and faith security. The ethics get involved here; because the ethic brings a existence that lacks moral borders; art brings decay. In today's world, initially the Russian-Ukrainian War, we are faced with a nuclear crisis that can happen at any time. Nuclear Threat is the heritage of 1945’s, but we are facing entirely greater risks that existence of humanity by newer methods.

We are moving toward a period in today’s world where being human takes the top priority. This process, rising with the asymmetric velocity. After being human, the other phenomena- religion, nationality or different cultures- will be gaining meaning. However, we are facing a serious challenge to the process of human existence. Especially when we consider that technology has gotten out of control, it becomes possible to better understand the dimensions of this process.

It is predicted that the current democratic systems based on majority votes cannot continue, and serious discussions about this will start in the next few years. One of the reasons for this is a serious drop in IQ levels in many countries because of technology addiction and cultural uniformity. Along with this drop, the average quality of elected political leaders is also falling, which is not manageable. Hollywood has already started making some movies about these topics.

There is a concept I have been working on for the last few years: meritocratic democracy. This concept is between elitism and democracy. Because if you cannot protect key crossroads, it is not possible to protect the social immune system, the state, and international law. For this reason, the transformation of democracy will be discussed more in terms of security for the future of the world.

For example, in the US elections, an aggressive and unpredictable businessman like Trump (this situation has often been criticized in our meetings with Pentagon related institutions) caused the system to freeze. Officials said that decisions and processes, which took years to develop, were ignored, and the president's single word created serious chaos. However, today, Trump's cabinet is described as the most reasonable person in media headlines. This situation appears as a sociological reality that affects the American government, society, and international politics.

Another important topic, directly related to advancing technology, is climate manipulation. Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson (whose grandfather is Turkish, as you know) explained 6 points about the current world system. He talked about topics that people have mentioned for at least 30 years but were mocked as conspiracy theories. He presented them as reality.
We discussed the issue of climate manipulation during the first Istanbul Security Conference and invited well known experts from the US. At that time, this topic was seen as a conspiracy theory, but today it is part of the US government’s agenda and has become a policy to stop it. Who is behind this? The realization of this points to a will beyond national governments. As I mentioned in previous conferences, we are facing the concept of a decentralized center. This structure has many distributed tools, and it is almost godlike-there is no one to address, no clear definition, and no real identity. There are conspiracy theories about who they are, but they come from places where nation-states have never worked, and you cannot manage them. Proving their existence takes a lot of time. You may remember that vaccinated people blamed unvaccinated people, saying, you are putting our health at risk. But today, many people believe that the unvaccinated made a good choice. Many authorities have started connecting rising death rates, falling birth rates, and chronic diseases to vaccines. Therefore, the tools of the decentralized center and distributed systems are used for techno political superiority.

For example, the crises caused by drugs like fentanyl and amphetamines show that security threats are not limited to physical areas. In 2023, the number of people who died from fentanyl overdoses in the US was 100,000. This led the Biden administration to declare a national emergency. The Ovax company is working on a vaccine for this problem. After a certain number of seconds, once the drug reaches the brain, it is impossible to stop death. They are working on a vaccine to prevent this, and they are also collecting investments from international investors. This company is also supported by Trump’s supporters. It is said that in the new period, this vaccine and similar projects will be much more effective. According to experts we consulted from the Ministry of Interior, heroin production in Afghanistan has dropped significantly with the Taliban government. Because of this, drug use is shifting towards fentanyl and amphetamine-based substances. It is very hard to predict the security impacts of this change, such as the loss of generations, workforce, safety, human lives, and IQ levels. Additionally, unhappiness has turned into a kind of epidemic.

In the 1980s, there were 1 million drug addicts in Iran. Iran has a religious government with very strict rules. Anyone caught with 30 grams or more of drugs is executed without appeal or pardon. Despite all these harsh rules, there are now around 10 million addicts in Iran. Why?

Because people are hopeless, the system is uniform, and they see no future. Once someone tries a drug and their brain learns it, it turns into an addiction. Even stopping an antidepressant is difficult and can only be done under a doctor’s control over 15 days to a month. Today, it is estimated that the number of serious addicts in the world is 100 million, and 10 million of them are in Iran. Iran’s share of the world population is much less than 1%. I am giving this as an example. Therefore, I wanted to highlight that issues we try to manage with classical methods like narcotics departments and drug seizures are actually processes that consume countries' energy and future generations and will have even greater impacts.

Another topic I brought up last year is hidden hunger. Today, 90% of people's illnesses come from not getting the natural vitamins their bodies need. This problem happens because of issues in agriculture, food, and livestock production, as well as artificial methods and the disruption of natural production processes. Around 3 billion people face hidden hunger (they eat physically, but their bodies do not get enough nutrition). As a result, this gap affects the immune system, reproductive problems, and many chronic diseases. There are so many issues pulling us and humanity down. Another important topic is virtual gaming and gambling addiction. For example, in Turkey, it is reported that the revenue from virtual gambling alone reached $50 billion in 2023, according to official data. When a young person gets involved in this, they are given big credit even if they don’t have a job. After they lose, that virtual money turns into real money. Some organizations collect the money from families or individuals, with or without their consent. Turkey’s export profit rate is 4.7%. This means an amount several times higher than Turkey's annual export profits is transferred abroad as a security weakness. Of course, these activities also bring dirty relationships, and stopping them within the law becomes even more difficult.

In summary, we are experiencing demographic death and a process of demographic disaster. So, we are in a process of self-destruction without needing armies or nuclear bombs. If these words sound too strong, please understand, but I speak this way because I don’t think it can be expressed differently. Therefore, I believe we need a security revolution in the context of mind, generation, family, faith, and state security. This is necessary for both the international system and nation-states, in harmony with macro policies. I specifically use the word "revolution" because "reform" is not enough. Reforms have been tried many times before.

Look, starting from 2024, we mentioned the possibility of a pandemic related to mental illnesses. When we look at the violence, insanity, and suicide statistics in 2024-although some countries do not share these numbers-there are abnormal increases. In Turkey, we see a very serious rise, and we predict this situation will increase even more in 2025. The possibility of this turning into a pandemic is not far away. However, we don’t know how this is happening. Are people being exposed to something? Are they being given something unseen? Or is it just hopelessness being pumped into them? These questions are surely on the agenda of the related units and intelligence agencies. But this situation cannot be explained only by economic problems in countries. Therefore, we are facing a “mental pandemic“ and countless factors that trigger it. When there is a problem with the mind, there is no need to discuss anything else. In this context, when we talk about the concept of “security of security,“ we are not trying to act smart. Because we are in a sophisticated period where even those responsible for security—such as the police, soldiers, gendarmerie, and intelligence—now need their own security. This situation requires a very radical mental transformation and revolution.

There are countless areas shaping this transformation. In the vision document, which can be downloaded from the QR code in the program, these areas are discussed in detail. Some examples from my notes include new and debated topics such as neurodiversity and neurotalents, consciousness science, technology and space, chaos mathematics, reverse mathematics, emotional mathematics, and biomimicry. The main discussion topics include how this new techno political world will take shape, through which competitions, in which regions, through which countries, and under whose leadership. Currently, the techno political structure is divided into techno-autocracies and techno-democracies. Traditional Western countries led by the USA and the more anti-democratic governance models led by China are examples of this division. The main technological areas in technopolitics include artificial intelligence and collective intelligence, robotics, swarm systems, the blockchain ecosystem, digital currency and finance, quantum technologies, thermonuclear fusion, gene technologies, biotechnology, and nanotechnology. Russia, in particular, is doing remarkable work on thermonuclear fusion. We observe that technopolitical transformation is developing and changing rapidly in these areas. In this broad overview, I hope I have been able to share something useful. I hope that this conference, the discussions over the next two days, the declarations, and the book that will result will help both us and decision-makers in our countries to make more informed decisions. I offer my respects.

(21 November 2024, Wish More Istanbul Hotel, Opening Session Transcript of the 10th Istanbul Security Conference and Related Events)