The scars of the two WW's are still visible on maps in 2026. A lot of the present lines don't make the most sense historically. Kaliningrad is one such place. Many such examples from the former USSR.
AI becomes conscious? Impossible to say. However what is clearly happening in real time is that AI is developing a Scott Adams ‘Talent Stack’.. a lot of 90%+ specific intelligences cobbled together that are going to look indistinguishable from AGI and consciousness to humans.
AI will do to everyone what the Internet has been doing for 20 years, just more so: it'll make the smart people smarter, and the dumb people dumber. It'll empower those with agency, and turn the slothful into NPCs.
No amount of 'alignment' or policy will much change that.
Reminder: inflation is a relatively recent phenomenon. When the dollar was on a fixed gold standard we had no persistent inflation.
We can go right back to price stability the moment we choose.