Why are "new economy" moguls mostly optimists?

Are people in the New Economy – especially tech billionaires – different from their Old Economy peers? I have long maintained that the Silicon Valley types retain a sense of loyalty to the “diamond shaped” society that engendered them, and to the middle class engineers and others whose skill made them rich. This is in sharp contrast to those who got wealthy from resource extraction, finance-parasitism and inheritance, who tend toward colluding together in hope of restoring society to its more accustomed shape – a feudal pyramid of owner-privilege.  As evidence for this difference, many tech moguls have signed the Gates-Buffett pledge to donate half their wealth to good causes. Another? Most of them are (or sympathize with) democrats.  

But in fact, the situation is complex.  As this article -- Silicon Valley Represents an Entirely New Political Category -- shows, these men and women of the New Economy – including those who are less than zillionaires – retain some strong libertarian leanings.  They want capitalism to be open and competitive and fair… but they want capitalism. They tend to be “collectivist” in the sense that they stroingly believe in a commons where all children get fed, and educated, with free health care… but they expect the resulting, confident adults to need and want to strive. Government has a major, desireable role in all of this. But its preferred function is to level the starting blocks, not the finish line.

Gregory Ferenstein writes, “I found that the philosophy of Silicon Valley is radical idealism. Founders describe themselves as optimists, first and foremost.”  And… “This idealism is not rhetorical fluff; it’s founded on two deep-seated assumptions about the world: change is inherently progressive and there are no conflicts between major groups in society.”

The author then cites Elon Musk: “If we’re all in a ship together and the ship has some holes in it, and we’re sort of bailing water out of it, and we have a great design for a bucket, then even if we’re bailing out way better than everyone else, we should probably still share the bucket design.”

This view is refreshing… and jibes well with the underlying notions of science fiction.  That change is inevitable, but exploring it together, openly – mixing competition that is fair with cooperation that is real and far-seeing – can take us forward to better days. 

Of course there are optimists and then hyper optimists, as Peter Diamandis shows in his book Abundance.   If he's right (and many indications are there) then we are on our way to Tomorrowland.  Then Star Trek. But only after finishing our passage through this adolescent purgatory, solving problems ambitiously and scientifically and with good will.

== Global Trends  ==

New projections from the UN suggest that, in a few decades, we could secure a stable global population. “To be clear, the forecasts do not show an imminent end to population growth – far from it. The global population has the momentum of an elephant on an ice rink. The U.N.’s medium-variant projection shows a rise to 9.7 billion people in 2050 and 11.2 billion by 2100.”

The plunge in childbearing is startling. Eighty-three countries containing 46 per cent of the world’s population – including every single country in Europe – now have fertility below replacement rate of about 2.1 births per woman. Another 46 per cent live in countries where the birth rate has fallen sharply. In 48 countries the population will decline between now and 2050. That leaves just 9 per cent of the world’s population, almost all in Africa, living in nations with pre-industrial fertility rates of five or six children per woman. But even in Africa fertility is starting to dip.

200 Years that Changed the World: A classic animation showing how life expectancy and wealth have varied in a wide sampling of nations, across the last 200 years.  See China “bounce” during the 1840s T’ai Ping Rebellion and points scatter during the two world wars, then a more recent acceleration as much of the world catches up – at last – with the West.  

== and more ==

Kiosks!  I think the trend is seriously under-rated. The company that runs Redbox and Coin-Star is now putting out ECO-ATM which will pay cash for your old cell phone, while ensuring it is either refurbished or recycled.  Does it seem archaic? After all, who will be renting DVD disks in ten years?  Oh, the business will have to be agile. But picture a 3D printing kiosk that’s much more capable than the little unit in your garage.  Look up the piece you need and zap an order to the nearest kiosk, retrieving it far faster than any drone will bring it to you…. 

Developing skills to manage the future: A new game in development attempts to utilize all the fun world-building tools and capabilities that kids find so attractive in Minecraft, but with an added layer of natural beauty and much better eco-economics.  In ECO, players choose whether to run their civilization democratically or feudally and so on and get to compare results. Players use ever-changing data about the ecosystem to make wise economic and social choices. Develop too fast or in a wastrel way and you will rapidly deplete your resources. 

Foiling threats: The raging wildfires out west have led to a trend… wrapping cabins in aluminum foil. 

Changing attitudes... An interesting article shows that thousands of locales in the U.S. still have place-names that are racist or otherwise offensive by modern and evolving standards.  Most must have been offensive - deliberately so - in their own time and context… though some may have been genuine homages. No matter.  Standards do evolve and we should use names to suit our needs and times. And our time needs to to care. 

And yet divides remain: John Oliver does a terrifically incisive – and hilarious – job exploring the vast disparity in Sex Education across the U.S.

One of the world's great animators makes the transition from paper to virtual reality...

Yogi Berra died at age 90: Yogi was far, far wiser than that awful, nasty little oven mitt, Yoda!