The Progressive Power of Data and Algorithms, and Their Effect on Human Life Loss Due to Geopolitical Tensions, Military Spending, and Global Injustice

IN A NUTSHELL
Author's Note 
The increasing integration of algorithmic infrastructures in defense and financial systems is transforming global power dynamics. Platforms such as Palantir Technologies and BlackRock’s Aladdin concentrate data analysis, predictive modeling, and decision-making capabilities at a planetary scale. This process generates asymmetrical advantages that amplify structural inequalities. The Sustainable Health Equity Movement (SHEM) estimates that over 16 million deaths annually are attributable to unjust inequities.

This article examines how the expansion of algorithmic power, combined with everyday citizen participation in data generation and financial flows, contributes to power concentration and the loss of human life. Community autonomy strategies are proposed as mitigation mechanisms, and potential futures are considered, including scenarios with bionic “humanks” capable of emitting and receiving information oriented toward power and control dynamics

By Juan Garay

Co-Chair of the Sustainable Health Equity Movement (SHEM)

Professor/Researcher of Health Equity, Ethics and Metrics (Spain, Mexico, Cuba, Brazil)

Founder of Valyter Ecovillage (valyter.es)

By the same Author on PEAH:see HERE

The Progressive Power of Data and Algorithms, and Their Effect on Human Life Loss Due to Geopolitical Tensions, Military Spending, and Global Injustice

From Passive Consumers Contributing to Lethal Inequity Dynamics to Sovereign, Resilient Communities Gradually Detached from the Global Toxic Nexus

 

Introduction

Global power no longer relies solely on physical resources or military capacities, but increasingly on the ability to collect, process, and anticipate information through algorithmic systems. The transition from industrial economies to data-driven economies has created a new form of power concentration: predictive power.

This change is evident in specific platforms. In defense and security, Palantir Technologies integrates massive datasets to produce real-time operational analyses. Its evolution into systems such as Palantir AIP (Artificial Intelligence Platform) demonstrates the gradual replacement of human judgment with algorithmic decision-making in critical contexts, where computational speed diminishes the role of the “human-in-the-loop.”

In finance, platforms like BlackRock’s Aladdin —along with Vanguard and State Street— analyze and model between 20 and 25 trillion dollars in assets. These infrastructures not only manage investments but also influence global capital flows and economic and social priorities.

PwC’s Sizing the Prize report estimates that artificial intelligence could generate up to $15.7 trillion in global economic value, highlighting the growing gap between those who control data and analytical capabilities and the rest of society.

Conceptual Framework

A systemic perspective integrates three dimensions:

Algorithmic infrastructures in defense and finance as sources of predictive power.

Global health inequities, based on SHEM, WHO, and Global Burden of Disease estimates.

Indirect citizen participation, through data generation and economic flows.

AI is analyzed not as an isolated tool but as a component of complex power accumulation systems capable of shaping decisions, perceptions, and human lives.

Results and Analysis

Concentration of Analytical Power

Current platforms operate at unprecedented scales. In defense, they integrate satellite, drone, and sensor data. In finance, they model global scenarios and guide multi-trillion-dollar investments, generating asymmetrical predictive advantages.

Geopolitical and Military Implications

AI has become a strategic element in global competition, driving a technology race that increases military spending (SIPRI, 2024) and diverts resources from social sectors to control and defense infrastructures.

Impact on Inequities and Human Life Loss

Over 16 million deaths annually are attributable to structural inequalities (SHEM, WHO 2023, World Bank 2023). AI amplifies these inequities if its orientation is not aligned with the common good (PEAH, 2025).

Citizen Participation in the System

The use of mobile devices, social networks, digital payments, and global consumption generates data flows that feed algorithmic systems. Individual savings, channeled through banks and investment funds, also indirectly contribute to concentrated power.

Feedback Cycle of Power

Data and capital concentration

Development of advanced algorithmic capabilities

Increased geopolitical and financial control

Reinforcement of structural inequities

This cycle directly impacts global health by influencing resource allocation and social determinants of life.

Discussion

AI has the potential to improve knowledge and efficiency in health, but when it operates within concentrated power systems, it amplifies inequalities.

Historically, the relationship between people and power has evolved:

Empires and feudal systems: coercive contributions (slavery, tribute, conscription).

Progressive democracy: formal political relations from the Renaissance to universal suffrage.

Industrial Revolution and the 20th century: economic contribution through labor, goods consumption, and services.

21st century: massive and often unconscious digital contribution feeding global algorithmic systems.

Power has transitioned from religious, military, and political to industrial and commercial, and finally to algorithmic and data-based, increasingly shaping human freedom and conditioning the common good. Traditional educational and political structures lose influence relative to these systems, and future generations may interact with even more sophisticated control systems, including bionic “humanks” capable of emitting and receiving information oriented toward power dynamics.

Conclusion

Algorithmic infrastructures in defense and finance redefine global power and the relationship between society and data. Citizens contribute directly and indirectly—often unconsciously—to power concentration and human life loss.

History shows that public contribution has evolved from coercive to political, then economic, and now digital, consolidating power capable of shaping perceptions, behaviors, and global priorities. The result is a reduction in human freedom and the potential to generate the common good.

Community-based alternatives grounded in autonomy, resilience, and the local provision of basic needs—such as low-consumption, high-harmony eco-villages—can serve as counterbalances. The challenge lies in redirecting technological systems toward equity, freedom, and collective well-being.

References

World Health Organization. Global Report on Health Equity and Research & Development. 2023.

World Bank. Tracking Universal Health Coverage: 2023 Global Monitoring Report. 2023.

PEAH – Policies for Equitable Access to Health. Artificial Intelligence and Global Health Inequities. 2025. https://www.peah.it/2025/09/15065/

PwC. Sizing the Prize: What’s the real value of AI for your business and how can you capitalise?

BlackRock. Annual reports and Aladdin platform documentation.

Fichtner, J., Heemskerk, E., & Garcia-Bernardo, J. (2017). Hidden Power of the Big Three?

Karp, A., & Zamiska, N. (2023). The Technological Republic.

Marmot, M. et al. (2020). Health Equity in England.

Piketty, T. (2014). Capital in the Twenty-First Century.

SIPRI (2024). Global Military Expenditure Database.

WHO (2008, 2025). Social Determinants of Health.

Global Burden of Disease Study (IHME).

Sustainable Health Equity Movement (SHEM), internal analyses.