While it may key its usual alignment with US positions, it will not accept a US hegemony over the AI era. France has proved time and time again that it will stand alone if it needs to.
This seems wrong to me. France was able to “stand alone” for a long time thanks to a relatively large population (less true now) and lots of farm land and other key resources. But that hardly means it has or can choose not to accept US hegemony. I mean, it can say it will reject it, but it has little real power to do anything about it other than try to opt out (and be left behind), and it seems clear that France will continue to backslide in relevance unless it manages to grab more real power instead of simply trying to maintain a level of autonomy that it imagines it deserves based on stories about the past.
(If this seems mean, I think I have equally mean critiques about how every other country is screwing up. I’m just calling out France here because the claims in the post are about France.)
Its population advantage had vastly reduced by the end of the 19th century already, as France was the first country to go through a demographic transition in the 18th century. AFAIK its relative population compared to other western countries has been stable since WWII.
(If this seems mean, I think I have equally mean critiques about how every other country is screwing up. I’m just calling out France here because the claims in the post are about France.)
Yeah I realized this post did make me sound like a patriot lol. I’m not convinced of France’s relevance, nor its irrelevance. I’m writing those posts for myself to figure out whether France matters, and to help other people working in AI policy to have a good model of France’s motivations in the AI race.
This seems wrong to me. France was able to “stand alone” for a long time thanks to a relatively large population (less true now) and lots of farm land and other key resources. But that hardly means it has or can choose not to accept US hegemony. I mean, it can say it will reject it, but it has little real power to do anything about it other than try to opt out (and be left behind), and it seems clear that France will continue to backslide in relevance unless it manages to grab more real power instead of simply trying to maintain a level of autonomy that it imagines it deserves based on stories about the past.
(If this seems mean, I think I have equally mean critiques about how every other country is screwing up. I’m just calling out France here because the claims in the post are about France.)
Its population advantage had vastly reduced by the end of the 19th century already, as France was the first country to go through a demographic transition in the 18th century. AFAIK its relative population compared to other western countries has been stable since WWII.
Yeah I realized this post did make me sound like a patriot lol. I’m not convinced of France’s relevance, nor its irrelevance. I’m writing those posts for myself to figure out whether France matters, and to help other people working in AI policy to have a good model of France’s motivations in the AI race.