The Digital Global Condition

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Acknowledgements 5 Contents 7 Notes on Contributors 9 List of Figures 15 1: The Digital Global Condition 16 Introduction 16 Digital Challenges and the Pervasive Impact on Global Affairs 19 Our Long Digital Tail 23 References 31 2: The Imagined Latent Zone: How the Myth of Cultural Authenticity Survived the Covid-19 Lockdowns 36 Introduction 36 Cultural Authenticity: Scholarly Critiques Versus Popular Realities 40 Integrative Relations, Digital Technology and Disembodiment 43 Space, Place and the Imagined Latent Zone 47 A Few Stories 55 Disney’s ‘Encanto’ 55 FIFA World Cup in Russia 56 Hilaria Baldwin as Cultural Imposter 57 YouTube Accents at Home 59 Conclusion 61 References 64 3: Disruptive Technologies and New Threat Multipliers 68 Introduction 68 Drones: The Precursory Driver 70 Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS): The Intensifying Dimension 72 Debates in the Discourse 74 Cyber Security: The Porosity of Threats 76 Artificial Intelligence: The Accelerator 80 Futuristic Technologies: There Is No End in Sight 83 Conclusion 86 References 87 4: Digital ‘Natives’: Unsettling the Colony Through Digital Technology 92 Introduction 92 Indigenous Public Spheres 94 ‘Recognition’ in the Australian Constitution 99 Bla(c)k Lives Matter 105 The Implications of Digital Intensification 111 Conclusion: Digital Solidarities 114 References 115 5: Dangerous Misogyny of the Digital World: The Case of the Manosphere 122 Introduction 122 The Nature of Online Spaces 123 Swallowing the Red Pill 126 Men’s Rights Activists (MRA) 128 Pick-up Artists (PUA) 129 Men Going Their Own Way (MGTOW) 130 Incels 131 The Danger of the Manosphere 133 Unsafe Digital Spaces 133 Online Misogynistic Radicalisation 135 Translation of Online Violent Rhetoric to Real World Violence 136 Conclusion 138 References 139 6: Technology and Lawyering: On Legal Practice and Value in a Digital Age 147 Introduction 147 The Adoption of Digital Technologies in the Legal Profession 151 Exploring the Lawyers’ Value in the Face of Digital Transformation 158 Expertise Value 159 Ethics Value 162 Human Value 164 Final Reflections 166 References 169 7: The Digital Power Paradox: U.S.-China Competition, Semiconductors, and Weaponized Interdependence 171 Introduction 171 Military-Civil Fusion and Made in China 2025 173 Semiconductor Competition 178 The Limits of Weaponized Interdependence 182 Conclusion 185 References 186 8: The Political Economy of Digital Educational Content and the Transformation of Learning and Teaching in Global Higher Education 192 Introduction 192 Who Chooses? The Lecturer as Content Curator 196 Who Pays? The Economics of Digital Content 197 Student-Licensed Content 197 University-Licensed Content 199 Open Educational Resources 201 Conclusion 204 References 205 9: Becoming Digital? University Learning and Teaching in the Digital Information Ecology 208 Introduction 208 A Framework for Discussion 210 Scarcity → Ubiquity 212 Authority → Contested 214 Isolated → Connected 216 Textual → Multimedia 218 References 223 10: Digital Inter-est: On Being Together in a Global Digital World 226 Introduction 226 Connecting with Students Online 229 As a Counsellor 232 On Email 235 Algorithms 239 On Social Media 242 By Way of Conclusion 246 References 248 This book explores how globalization and ubiquity of digital technology combine to create specific global impacts, challenges and opportunities. Although globalization is already associated with the speeding up of interactions and change, digital globalization is characterized by immediacy. The utter pervasiveness opens new global vulnerabilities at international, national, social and personal levels. The Digital Global Condition examines the nature of digital globalization, enabling us to not only inhabit a digital world, but also to understand it, even to live well in it. Elizabeth Kath is a Senior Lecturer in Global Studies at RMIT University, Australia. Thematically, she is interested in how people traverse boundaries of difference in the global era, including theories of migration, intercultural communication, reconciliation, and social inclusion/exclusion. Regionally, she specialises in Latin America and the Caribbean. She is the editor of Australian-Latin American Relations: New Links in A Changing Global Landscape (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016). Julian C. H. Lee is an Associate Professor in Global Studies at RMIT University, Australia. He is the author and co-author of several books including Monsters of Modernity: Global Icons for our Critical Condition (2019) and editor of several volumes including Narratives of Globalization: Reflections on the Global Condition (2016). Aiden Warren is Professor in Politics and International Relations at RMIT University, Australia. His teaching and research interests are in the areas of international security, US national security and foreign policy, US politics, great power politics, issues associated with weapons of mass destruction (WMD) proliferation, non-proliferation, arms control, and emerging technologies. He is the co-author of US Foreign Policy and China (2021), Understanding Presidential Doctrines (2022), and editor of Global Security in an Age of Crisis (2023)