When one global power had a monopoly on dragons (superweapons), the result was a brutally enforced peace; when two global powers gain access, the result is a ruinous civil war — and we in the real world are building superintelligence without knowing what end state we're headed toward.

The author opens with the Game of Thrones dragon analogy: dragon monopoly meant enforced peace, split dragons meant ruinous civil war — and unlike Westeros, the real world can't tell what our AI 'dragon' looks like as we invest trillions while day-to-day life stays the same. ✦ AI generated

Casey Newton · Platformer · 2026-08-11 · original ↗

House of the Dragon begins when the ruling dynasty splits and both sides retain access to the superweapon, upending the balance of power in Westeros for the first time in generations. In this world, when only one global power had access to a superweapon, the result was a brutally enforced peace. And when two global powers gain access to the superweapon, the result is a ruinous civil war. … In Westeros, no one is confused about what a dragon is; in all likelihood one has been responsible for the death of someone they know. But here in our world, where the technology industry is investing trillions of dollars into building and serving ever-more powerful artificial intelligence models, we struggle to imagine the end state.

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