International Trade Flows: Technological Progress and Commercial Deterritorialization in a Globalized Modernity

Abstract

Long-distance trade has always been a constant in human history. Yet, between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, it experienced a radical qualitative and quantitative transformation by setting in motion a sequence of events and economic, social, and cultural interrelations that proved to be instrumental to the genesis of contemporary society. The European initiation of maritime journeys of geographic exploration deeply transformed the entire world history. As a consequence of the first Industrial Revolution, the establishment of direct relations among the different continents was ultimately made possible by technological progress that also improved European shipping. The history of long-distance trade is by definition a global history, the dynamics of which have been mainly induced by technological innovations. Today, advanced digital technologies and services, including artificial intelligence, bring with them an extraordinary promise. Yet, the emergence of these technologies has also been flanked by rising public concern about their potentially damaging effects: on individuals, vulnerable groups, and society more generally. A wider perspective suggests that this concern occurred from the late eighteenth century (consider, originally, slave trade) up to modern ICT (Information Communications Technology). The interplay between economics, technology, and human rights is highly intricate. Technological shifts are substantially evolutive in nature, especially if mirrored in the commercial sphere, to which priority will be given in this analysis.