PARAG KHANNA ON HYBRID REALITIES AND CONNECTOGRAPHY

Luis Francisco Martínez Montes

Born in India and educated in ree connents, Parag Khanna is a cosmopolitan globetroer wi a roving sensor and an analycal mind to spot and en transform disparate data into strategic visions and bestselling bks. When he is not on e news or scoung around e world in search of new trends and big ideas he keeps busy lecturing in e Centre on Asia and Globalizaon at e Lee Kuan Yew Schl of Public Policy, in Singapore. Togeer wi his wife, Ayesha, he was also a co-founder of e Hybrid Reality Instute, envisioning e co-evoluon of humans and technology as a challenge and oppounity raer an a reat. One of e editors of TGSM met him in Madrid in 2009 when he was presenng e Spanish edion of an earlier essay – The Second World: Empires and Influence in e New Global Order- at e Rafael del Pino Foundaon. Eight years and several ousand miles later, e auor is introducing anoer of his successful bks to a Spanish-speaking audience: Connectography: Mapping e Future of Global Civilisaon (recently published in Spanish by Planeta de los Libros). TGSM converses wi Parag Khanna about his current and future projects:

—LIKE US, you love maps and it shows in your books. In Connectography maps based on political geography are superseded by functional maps showing connectivity networks with lines representing not borders, but physical and digital infrastructure crisscrossing continents and oceans and creating truly astonishing images, the question then is to what extent are these functional maps present in the visual and mind fields of voters and decision-makers? With Brexit and all sorts of nativist and protectionist tendencies looming large on our political landscapes it seems that we need another revolution in the way we perceive and represent the world akin to the one provided in the past by the likes of Ptolemy or Mercator, are we ready for it? —The very purpose of the functional maps of CONNECTOGRAPHY is to provide the navigational utility that the great medieval cartographers did. Today, however, we need to do more than just navigate nature but

THERE IS NO GLOBAL HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE, AND THE UNITED NATIONS IS ALMOST POWERLESS

infrastructure. We have to navigate through our dense volumes of connectivity. This is why the maps are not only in the book but also online and regularly updated as new high-speed railways, pipelines and fiber-optic cables are laid down. Part of the reason we have these fringe populist movements is that Western publics are blind and ignorant as to the extent to which their own prosperity depends on trade and investment connectivity. If they saw it on their maps, perhaps they would not vote for Brexit or right-wing parties. In this way, maps are part of our fundamental education as citizens. Note that the populist antiglobalization backlash in the West is indeed only in a few small Western countries; it is not a worldwide phenomenon.