Stories from the Future 🔮
Hey there,
We live in the century of Asia. What does the growing economic and political power of China and other Asian countries mean for the future of the world? More about that in this newsletter.
I also talk about the power of RSS feeds, my favorite parenting books, and the greatest television series ever.
Happy reading!
– Peter Joosten
PS. I switched from Revue to Substack. Hope this email still finds its way to your inbox!
🔬 Deep Dive - The Asian Century
The 21st century is the century of Asia. One of the main reasons for this is demographics. Since 2020, China and India are the two countries with the largest populations in the world.
It is expected that this will still be the case in 2100, although India will have taken over the lead from China. By the way – number three is no longer the United States, but Nigeria.
GROWING INFLUENCE
The large population size is expressed in other factors: a larger working population, a larger middle class and a larger domestic product than, for example, Europe or the United States.
In Asia, China stands out the most, for a number of reasons:
a leading position in certain research domains such as quantum computing, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence;
the rise of large and influential technology companies, such as Alibaba, Tencent and ByteDance (owns TikTok);
several signs of expanding its political and military power. Examples of this were the unrest in Hong Kong and the growing tensions around Taiwan.
IMPACT
What does Asia's growing influence on the world mean? Some experts fear the Thucydides Trap – after the work of political scientist Graham Allison. He argues that a shift in the balance of power is often accompanied by wars. In other words, China is claiming its leadership role and the US is not allowing it.
But Asia's growing influence is also fascinating in many other areas. How does China want to monetize its leadership position in artificial intelligence, biotechnology and quantum computing? How will India profile itself internationally? Is it possible for the country to become a trendsetter in tackling the climate crisis (as in the scifi book The Ministry for the Future)? And what can we learn from Japan, with its aging population?
In short, more than in recent decades, we should not look to the west (the United States and Europe), but to the east. Because Asia is increasingly determining our future.
📺 Media & Tech tips
Interesting articles, books, podcasts, videos, documentaries I recommend to check out!
1. BOOKS / A reader of this newsletter asked me if I had any book tips for him and his girlfriend as parents-to-be.
Our son Hidde is now 11 months, so I can share my reading tips:
Cribsheet by Emily Oster = scientifically based advice on pregnancy and maternity;
Tears and Tantrums by Aletha Solter = how to deal with a crying baby, knowing that crying is a very useful tool for humans to process stimuli;
Hunt, Gather, Parent by Michaeleen Doucleff = how parents in indigenous cultures raise their children and what we can learn from that in the West.
2. TOOL / When I'm not giving lectures, my working day usually looks like this:
Reading substantive books, newsletters and blogs, followed by incorporating those insights into articles, podcasts and videos.
For my work, it is essential to continuously follow more than 100 blogs, websites, and newsletters. For that, I use an ‘old; technique that most people underestimate: RSS feeds.
With the Feedly app, I organize all these information flows in a dashboard, so that I stay informed of the most relevant new developments in my field. Indispensable!
3. SERIES / 'The best series ever.' That is Better Call Saul (Netflix), according to my girlfriend Susan. The series is a prequel to Breaking Bad, but not quite. Because in the last season, you will also learn more about how the lawyer Saul Goodman fares after Breaking Bad.
Where in Breaking Bad the chemistry teacher Walter White falls into crime, in Better Call Saul you see how Saul Goodman slowly loses himself in shady business.
This makes the series sublime: wonderful landscapes of the American Southwest, intriguing characters (not only Saul, but certainly also Lalo and the actual star of the show: Kim) and surprising episodes (in terms of the story, film style and camera work).
Must watch!
🚀 Lectures & webinars
I give lectures (online and offline) about human augmentation, mega trends and health care innovation. These are upcoming events where I will give a talk or webinar, in Dutch or English. Great to see you there!
Lecture Dutch Police - September 20, 2022
Lecture Noordhoff Professional, September 22, 2022
Lecture NVTG - September 29, 2022
Lecture Actuary Day - October 6, 2022
Lecture Arbeidsinspectie - October, 14 2022
Lecture Imagine Film Festival - October, 29 2022
Lecture Biohacker Summit Amsterdam - October 15, 2022 (English)
Keynote UPPS TU Delft - November 10, 2022 (English)
Lecture Jeroen Bosch Hospital - November 18, 2022
Lecture Topsprekers Zorgonderwijsvernieuwers - November 25, 2022
Lecture Talententuin Achterhoek Werkt - November 25, 2022
Workshop Hogeschool van Amsterdam, December 7, 2022
Lecture Unica Hengelo in 2022 (date tbd)
Lecture EDSN in 2022 (date tbd)
Lecture Royal Airforce - May 7, 2023 ✈️
🙏 Thank you for reading
This newsletter is free, but not cheap to make.
You can help me in a number of ways: forward it to someone who likes it, subscribe to my YouTube-channel, hire me to speak, or for a webinar 😘
