Democracy persists as a legacy interface— maintained for stability, while being systematically hollowed out and replaced. The question now is whether democratic societies can recognize this formation for what it is—and build alternatives before the infrastructure of control becomes too deeply embedded to dislodge.

It is a paradox with devastating implications: pursuing digital sovereignty while ceding control through every signed contract. Each new contract deepens the trap. Once Palantir becomes indispensable, once Anduril’s drones are NATO standard, once nuclear facilities power AI that runs everything else— the transformation is irreversible.