Oct 7, 2026 · 23 min · 9 segments
*"We are already more dependent on US digital services, such as Microsoft and OpenAI, than we were ever dependent on Russian energy and we’ve seen the risks of that.”* The most powerful empires were…
It's a, a Belgian, uh, entrepreneurial platform and in this role, I help companies and other organizations make sense of what the future will look like in general, assisting them in, uh, in strategy sessions and especially focusing on our, our changing geopolitical environment that's having increasingly an big impact on businesses, on the economy, on our, on our lives in general.
Thank you very much.
To kick off the episode, I think let's get into the first question.
If historical empires were defined by land and borders, what defines a digital empire today?
I think if we see, uh, an empire as, um, by definition, as a large-scale hierarchical political entity that compromises a dominant central power and then exercises formal or informal control over, uh, peripheral territories and populations, I think we can say a digital empire should be some kind of actor or state that uses, uh, digital networks or services to, uh, exercise its formal or informal control.
So I think this is something we are seeing increasingly because of throughout the '90s to the early 2000s, we've, uh, experienced a period of, uh, hyperglobalization.
We've seen increased streams of goods, money, people, and increasingly, uh, data.
Throughout history, we have seen that the control over mainly maritime choke points was ess-essentially being able to control, uh, your empire, so it was the, the small sea straits that were very important in having, uh, control over the rest of your, uh, empire.
These, uh, these maritime choke points are still, uh, very important, but you in s-in see- increasingly are seeing that there are new types of, uh, choke points that are becoming important, and that are these choke points that determine the, the, the supply of goods, money, people, and increasingly data.
And it is a control of these new, uh, types of choke points that, uh, that have, uh, arisen, uh, throughout this, uh, globalization period.
That's giving p-people, uh, giving people, organizations, states, uh, power over others because when you're able to, uh, choke off these choke points, uh, and stop the supply of goods, but also data to other countries, this, uh, gives you an, a very important power over, uh, what they are doing today.
And this is becoming increasingly important for these, uh, digital, uh, data, digital services because of we've seen that our complete economy is getting more and more digitalized and our, our lives are completely determined by this, uh, digitalization and this, this, this means that this control over these digital streams becomes, uh, very important, and that's, I think, why we can talk now about, uh, digital empires emerging.
And with that said, when you look at the current landscape, do you see governments in the lead, big tech in the lead, or a kind of an easy partnership between the two?
two?I think we are seeing it's, it's, it's not really clear what we are, uh, what we are seeing today.
Uh, I think for example, in, in China, there's a very strict government control over digital space, over also over the digital, digital companies that are, uh, active around the world.
Um, in the United States for a few years ago, we would have said that it, uh, is a very liberal market where there is a lot of, uh, opportunities for these companies to, to make their own, fight their own way and, and without, without much government oversight.
We've seen that there's a lot more government intervention in the, in the economy, um, by regulation, but mainly by also at this moment, by, by companies that are bullied, that are pushed to, uh, observe, um, not always formal rules, but to do what is important for the government.
So I think we are seeing that is, in the United States is, is been, uh, changing quite, uh, quite hard in the maybe especially last year.
It's a, a Belgian, uh, entrepreneurial platform and in this role, I help companies and other organizations make sense of what the future will look like in general, assisting them in, uh, in strategy sessions and especially focusing on our, our changing geopolitical environment that's having increasingly an big impact on businesses, on the economy, on our, on our lives in general.
Thank you very much.
To kick off the episode, I think let's get into the first question.
If historical empires were defined by land and borders, what defines a digital empire today?
I think if we see, uh, an empire as, um, by definition, as a large-scale hierarchical political entity that compromises a dominant central power and then exercises formal or informal control over, uh, peripheral territories and populations, I think we can say a digital empire should be some kind of actor or state that uses, uh, digital networks or services to, uh, exercise its formal or informal control.
So I think this is something we are seeing increasingly because of throughout the '90s to the early 2000s, we've, uh, experienced a period of, uh, hyperglobalization.
We've seen increased streams of goods, money, people, and increasingly, uh, data.
Throughout history, we have seen that the control over mainly maritime choke points was ess-essentially being able to control, uh, your empire, so it was the, the small sea straits that were very important in having, uh, control over the rest of your, uh, empire.
These, uh, these maritime choke points are still, uh, very important, but you in s-in see- increasingly are seeing that there are new types of, uh, choke points that are becoming important, and that are these choke points that determine the, the, the supply of goods, money, people, and increasingly data.
And it is a control of these new, uh, types of choke points that, uh, that have, uh, arisen, uh, throughout this, uh, globalization period.
That's giving p-people, uh, giving people, organizations, states, uh, power over others because when you're able to, uh, choke off these choke points, uh, and stop the supply of goods, but also data to other countries, this, uh, gives you an, a very important power over, uh, what they are doing today.
And this is becoming increasingly important for these, uh, digital, uh, data, digital services because of we've seen that our complete economy is getting more and more digitalized and our, our lives are completely determined by this, uh, digitalization and this, this, this means that this control over these digital streams becomes, uh, very important, and that's, I think, why we can talk now about, uh, digital empires emerging.
And with that said, when you look at the current landscape, do you see governments in the lead, big tech in the lead, or a kind of an easy partnership between the two?
two?I think we are seeing it's, it's, it's not really clear what we are, uh, what we are seeing today.
Uh, I think for example, in, in China, there's a very strict government control over digital space, over also over the digital, digital companies that are, uh, active around the world.
Um, in the United States for a few years ago, we would have said that it, uh, is a very liberal market where there is a lot of, uh, opportunities for these companies to, to make their own, fight their own way and, and without, without much government oversight.
We've seen that there's a lot more government intervention in the, in the economy, um, by regulation, but mainly by also at this moment, by, by companies that are bullied, that are pushed to, uh, observe, um, not always formal rules, but to do what is important for the government.
So I think we are seeing that is, in the United States is, is been, uh, changing quite, uh, quite hard in the maybe especially last year.
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