The sum of all fears, just in time for Sunday

A triple threat that could end the world. [Bloomberg]( This is the Theme of the Week edition of [Bloomberg Opinion Today](, a digest of our top commentary published every Sunday. The 21st century will be remembered for a lot of things. The first-ever [nuclear fusion ignition](. The rise of [artificial intelligence](. And of course, that [mugshot](. But what we don’t want it to be remembered for is [nuclear war](. Yet as our technological capacities grow, so too do the odds of entering a great-power nuclear crisis. To illustrate how such a catastrophe might arise, I’ve made you a triple Venn diagram: Illustration: Jessica Karl First up, we have artificial intelligence. Niall Ferguson recently read a [new book]( by Mustafa Suleyman, which details the coming struggles between the US and China in a world dominated by artificial intelligence. The must-read book reminded Niall about the “agonizing [dilemmas of the nuclear age]( — not to mention the toxic politics that coincided with the early Cold War.” Already, we’re seeing companies take matters into their own hands to fight this battle, with Dave Lee [saying]( Amazon, Airbnb, Ikea and other sites are blocking ChatGPT from scraping their content. But might there be an alternative to an all-out AI arms race? Niall says attempts at arms control — nuclear treaties and bans on chemical weapons — were “not an unmitigated success, of course. But it didn’t achieve nothing. And that is why Suleyman is right to argue for it.” Which brings us to the second technology: nuclear weapons. Hal Brands [says]( the war in Ukraine has exposed the world to a new era of nuclear brinkmanship, one that is “both a throwback to Cold War-era superpower crises and a preview of what lies ahead.” Although Putin hasn’t pulled out his nukes in Ukraine (thankfully), it doesn’t mean that they haven’t been a useful tool: “Nuclear weapons — even when they aren’t used in battle — powerfully shape what happens in an ostensibly conventional fight,” Hal writes. It’s a lesson that the US needs to understand, especially as President Xi Jinping watches the war unfold from afar. The third and final technology that could send civilization into the dustbin is nuclear fusion. But it could also save us, too: “If humanity survives for thousands more years, our primary energy source could very likely be nuclear fusion,” F.D. Flam [writes](. The trouble is, the machine that scientists used to create the first-ever nuclear fusion ignition is the same one that the US uses to develop nuclear weapons. “The National Ignition Facility wasn’t built as a way to identify a source of clean energy,” F.D. explains, “but to advance US weapons of mass destruction.” Although we’re still decades away from having commercial fusion at our fingertips, scientists warn that mixing the processes of the two nuclear developments — weapons and fusion — could make the world a more dangerous place. “While US schoolchildren no longer do nuclear drills,” she says there’s “still a risk that [nuclear weapons will destroy our civilization]( before climate change does.” And that’s not even taking into account the possibility that AI could get there first, destroying the world before either of them have the chance. Thanks for so terrifyingly wrapping things up for us, F.D. Happy Sunday Funday!  What We’re Watching: [America’s China Hysteria Has Gone Too Far]( Talking tough on Beijing is the easiest way to sound patriotic, especially in the midst of a [presidential campaign](. But constantly painting the Communist superpower as the bad guy could just as easily backfire on the US. The reality is that China and the West are woven together so tightly that unraveling the economies could make everybody worse off. A handful of Republican candidates say they want to decouple from China, a move that could rewind decades of economic progress. Yet there’s a far better way to ensure the US wins: de-risking. In our latest video, Andreas Kluth [explains]( the difference between these two strategies and why Washington needs to calm down when it comes to China. Notes: Please send your end-of-world predictions and feedback to Jessica Karl at jkarl9@bloomberg.net. New subscribers to the newsletter can [sign up here](; follow us on [Instagram](, [TikTok](, [Twitter](, [Threads]( and [Facebook](. Follow Us You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Opinion Today newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, [sign up here]( to get it in your inbox. [Unsubscribe]( [Bloomberg.com]( [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022 [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( [Ad Choices](