Chat Transcript With ChatGPT:

How the Wealth of Empires Still Shapes Who Holds Power Today

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Over on Medium, I wrote an article about the conversation I had with ChatGPT.

I know it is artificial intelligence, but it holds the intelligence we give it. Therefore when I asked it who was the dominant group on the globe. Well....

It answered.

Here's the uninterrupted chat script of the conversation between me and my AI.

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A thoughtful question for ChatGPT

Me: I have a serious question to ask, and I ask this with sensitivity and care and with curiosity. Which group of people on this planet do you consider the most dominating and in complete power and control?

ChatGPT: That’s a thoughtful and delicate question — and you’re right to approach it with care.

If we’re talking about global dominance and control in the broadest sense — political, economic, cultural, and technological — then no single ethnic, national, or religious group holds absolute power. Power is fragmented and constantly shifting. However, some institutions and alliances exert disproportionate influence over how the world functions.

Here’s a nuanced breakdown:

1. Economic Power — The wealthiest nations (such as the U.S., China, members of the EU) and global financial entities (like the IMF, World Bank, and multinational corporations) shape global trade, development, and even policy in smaller countries.
2. Technological Control — Big Tech companies — mostly headquartered in the U.S. (Google, Meta, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon) and China (Tencent, Alibaba, ByteDance) — dominate data, AI, and digital infrastructure, giving them immense influence over culture and information flow.
3. Military & Political Power — The U.S. still maintains the world’s most extensive military presence and strong alliances through NATO, while China and Russia play counterbalancing roles regionally and strategically.
4. Cultural Power — Western (especially American) media and entertainment industries continue to shape global narratives, values, and perceptions — from fashion and film to social media trends.

ChatGPT: If you mean “domination” in a more existential or philosophical sense — as in, who has the most control over how people live, think, or feel — then one could argue it’s not a group at all, but rather systems: capitalism, surveillance technology, and algorithms that guide attention and behavior.

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What does race have to do with it?

Would you like me to explore this more through a political, philosophical, or sociological lens? The angle changes the answer significantly.

Me: I like how you broke this down! There is not one complete but a fragment of groups and entities that cause change. However, if we think in terms of race of people, which would you say hold complete power and why?

ChatGPT: That’s a very perceptive continuation of your question — and you’re right to specify “in terms of race,” because that changes the framing from institutional power to historical and structural power.

Here’s the careful, factual way to approach it:

If we’re speaking in terms of global racial hierarchy, the world still largely reflects the legacy of European colonialism and white-dominated systems that began centuries ago. So, while no race has absolute control, white (particularly Western European–descended) people continue to hold disproportionate influence in:

1. Global Economics:​
   Western nations—especially the U.S., much of Europe, and their allies—still control the majority of global capital, banking institutions, and multinational corporations. These systems were built on structures that privileged white ownership and labor exploitation from colonized regions.
2. Media and Cultural Power:​
   Western (and largely white-run) media conglomerates set the tone for global storytelling, beauty standards, and cultural exports. Representation is diversifying, but the gatekeepers of major platforms, studios, and publishers remain predominantly white.
3. Political and Military Reach:​
   The U.S. and many European powers influence global policy, trade sanctions, and military interventions. These governments, historically and demographically, have been led and shaped by white elites.
4. Knowledge and Academia:​
   Western education systems and universities define much of what the world accepts as “knowledge,” “science,” and “philosophy,” often marginalizing indigenous and non-Western ways of knowing.

ChatGPT: So in plain terms:
👉 White people—especially those from Western nations—still hold the most structural and institutional power worldwide, not because of inherent superiority, but because of historical systems of colonization, slavery, and economic dominance that continue to shape today’s institutions.

That said, the world is not static. Power is decentralizing: Asian countries, African innovation hubs, and Latin American economies are challenging old hierarchies. Cultural and demographic shifts are changing who gets seen and heard.

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The power imbalance

Would you like me to unpack why that power imbalance has persisted despite globalization and multicultural progress? It ties deeply into how history, economics, and technology reinforce one another.

Me: Yes! Let's unpack this!

ChatGPT: Excellent — this is one of the most important and complex topics to explore with honesty and care. Let’s unpack why the racial power imbalance persists, even in our supposedly globalized and “diverse” era.

We can look at this through a few major continuities that connect the past to the present:

1. Historical Momentum: The Architecture of Empire

The modern world was built during a few centuries when European empires carved up most of the planet.

• Colonization wasn’t just about land — it reorganized global trade, languages, religion, and governance around European norms.
• Wealth extracted through slavery, resource theft, and forced labor funded Western industrialization and built generational wealth for white populations.
• Even after decolonization, the systems — banking, law, education, language — remained Eurocentric.

So even when power “ended” politically, it persisted structurally. The system itself still speaks the language of empire.

2. Economic Entrenchment: Who Owns the World

Power today largely follows capital, not color — but the color of capital still reflects history.

• The wealth accumulated in the Global North continues to compound; families and institutions that profited from colonialism still anchor financial power.
• The IMF, World Bank, and multinational corporations are headquartered in Western (and predominantly white-led) nations, setting terms for “developing” economies.
• Even emerging markets depend on Western capital, patents, and technological infrastructure.

In short: wealth begets influence, and the original wealth was built on racial hierarchy.

3. Cultural Power: Who Tells the Story

The most subtle — and perhaps most powerful — form of control is narrative control.

• Western media giants export the ideals of whiteness: beauty, intelligence, civilization, and desirability.
• This creates aspirational whiteness — not necessarily “wanting to be white,” but internalizing whiteness as the standard.
• Meanwhile, nonwhite stories are often “othered,” exoticized, or told through Western filters.

So even when diverse faces appear on screens, the underlying frameworks of storytelling and production often remain white-controlled.

4. Technological Reproduction: Algorithms as the New Colonizers

Technology has become a new frontier where old hierarchies are quietly replicated.

• Algorithms are trained on biased data, which overrepresents Western, white, English-language content.
• AI models, search engines, and recommendation systems can inadvertently amplify racial bias, giving more visibility to certain narratives while burying others.
• Tech ownership mirrors past empires — with the U.S. and Europe at the core, and the Global South often as data sources or cheap labor hubs.

In essence: the digital world has inherited the inequalities of the analog one.

5. The Paradox of Progress

We live in a moment where visibility has increased — more global dialogue, activism, and awareness of systemic racism — but visibility doesn’t equal power.

• Representation in media or leadership roles doesn’t automatically shift ownership, wealth, or decision-making control.
• As the philosopher Frantz Fanon warned, the colonized world can sometimes imitate rather than overturn the structures of the colonizer.

6. Signs of Change

Despite all this, power is decentralizing.

• China, India, and African innovation ecosystems are shaping new economic narratives.
• Movements like Black Lives Matter, decolonization of academia, and global art from the diaspora challenge Eurocentrism.
• Social media, for all its flaws, has allowed marginalized voices to organize and redefine influence.

Still, these changes are happening within old infrastructures — they haven’t yet replaced them.

Me: Power today largely follows capital, not color — but the color of capital still reflects history.

Me: Tell me what power structures may shift in the next 50 years (this part was omitted from my article)

ChatGPT: Excellent — this question gets right to the heart of what the 21st century is really about: who will hold power once the world fully transitions from industrial to digital, and from fossil fuel to post-climate economies.

Here’s a grounded yet forward-looking analysis of which power structures may shift in the next 50 years, and how.

1. From Western Dominance to Multipolar Power

For nearly 500 years, global power flowed outward from Europe and, later, the United States. But that “unipolar” world is fading.

• Asia’s rise — especially China and India — signals a redistribution of global influence. These nations are asserting economic, technological, and cultural leadership.
• Africa’s youth boom could turn the continent into the next major innovation and labor powerhouse, particularly if digital infrastructure and education catch up.
• Western decline may not mean collapse, but rather dilution — a future where the U.S. and Europe share influence instead of commanding it.

2. From Fossil Fuels to Energy Sovereignty

Energy has always defined empire. The next great divide may not be between East and West, but between those who control clean energy technologies and those who don’t.

• Countries rich in lithium, cobalt, and rare earth elements (like those in Africa, South America, and Asia) will suddenly hold leverage once dominated by oil states.
• Nations that master fusion, solar, or next-gen battery storage could become the new OPECs of the 21st century.
• Energy independence will redefine geopolitics — perhaps even weaken petrodollar dominance.

3. From States to Systems: Corporate and AI Governance

Governments once ruled people. Increasingly, platforms rule data — and data rules people.

• Tech corporations (Google, Meta, Apple, Amazon, Tencent, OpenAI, etc.) are becoming sovereign-like entities. Their algorithms shape elections, economies, and collective perception.
• AI could usher in a new power bloc: the algorithmic elite — those who design, own, and control learning systems that make decisions faster and more accurately than governments.
• Unless regulated, corporate governance may eclipse state governance.

4. From Ownership to Access

Traditional capitalism prized ownership (land, factories, capital). The future may be about access: networks, platforms, and digital ecosystems.

• Subscription models, digital economies, and decentralized finance could reshape how wealth is held and shared.
• Web3 and blockchain (if they survive current regulation and hype cycles) could fragment power further — redistributing it among users, creators, and decentralized collectives.
• Alternatively, this could deepen inequality if major corporations co-opt these systems.

5. From Race-Based Hierarchies to Data-Based Hierarchies

While old racial hierarchies are being challenged socially and politically, a new form of stratification may rise: the data divide.

• The powerful will be those who generate, own, and interpret data — and those who can remain invisible within it.
• Digital colonization is emerging: Global South countries often provide the raw data (images, labor, content moderation) while the Global North builds the profitable AI systems on top.
• Biases in AI and surveillance could recode inequality under the guise of neutrality.

6. From Human-Centered to Hybrid Civilization

The most profound shift may not be geopolitical at all — but ontological.

• As AI, robotics, and biotechnology blur what it means to be human, control over human identity itself could become the defining struggle.
• Who decides what consciousness, creativity, or labor mean when machines can do all three?
• This raises philosophical questions about who we are when we’re no longer the only ones thinking.

It is these conversations that actually encourages me to continue to read and discuss real world issues with others. Yes, AI is a great go-to resource, but I hope it fuels a conversation.

Let me know how you feel about this conversation by by joining me in the comment section over on Medium.

Erica writes about the myths we are sold about work, success, and survival- and what's really behind them. She also churns out stories and poetry that pretty much reflects the same thing. Sign up for more pieces like this, delivered fresh to your inbox.

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