New World Same Humans #42
Four quick reflections on a historic week. Plus, launching the New World Manifesto project.
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It’s been quite a week.
US Presidential elections always reverberate way beyond American shores. The campaigns are always noisy; the outcomes momentous. For this election, doubly so. We all need space to decompress.
In keeping with an unusual few days, then, here is an unusual instalment of this newsletter. No essay this week; instead, a short note with some first reflections on the outcome and what it means for our shared future.
Plus, the launch of a new project. One that gives you a chance to share your thinking on what lies ahead, and to shape the NWSH community, what it stands for, and how we share that with the world.
Four reflections
We have our answer: it’s Joe Biden. At this moment of transition, I’m struck by a few reflections.
No doubt I’ll be returning to these ideas in the months ahead. But for now, a quick rundown.
🔍 What Trump has started is not going away. This was not the one-sided result many expected. More people voted for Trump than in 2016; early analysis shows he increased his share of the African-American vote. Trump will exit the White House, but Trumpism – probably with a new face – is now a part of the American political landscape. And it’s not as straightforward a phenomenon as many progressives wanted to believe. If you’re paying close attention, this moment looks more like the start of an era than the end of one.
👶 We’re feeling the birth pains of a new politics. Underlying the rise of Trump-style populism is the fact that the conservative vs progressive dichotomy, which has long shaped electoral politics in liberal democracies, doesn’t make as much sense as it used to. Issues such as climate change, overmighty Big Tech, and automation run across those two categories. Is it conservative to let global heating destroy our environment? Is it progressive to be wary of the changes being wrought by new technologies? Neither conservatives nor progressives have yet developed a compelling and coherent new set of ideas to bring to voters. Whatever comes next is now fermenting, and it’s an uncertain, painful process.
🌍 Global heating will be the final battlefield. It’s global heating, above all else, that explodes the old conservative vs progressive framework. It demands that to keep things the same (typically a conservative aim) we need to take radical action (typically a progressive mode of operation). As politics reorients around 21st-century realities, it will be this challenge above all others that shapes the final settlement. If you haven’t yet read my essay in NWSH #36 on the huge challenge posed to the Global North by climate migration, then it can fuel your thinking on this. I published it with trepidation, because it’s pretty dark. It turned out to be one of the most shared NWSH essays ever.
👴 You can’t tell when it’s over, so keep going. A final, more personal reflection. Back in 2016 when Hillary Clinton won the Democratic nomination, it looked certain that the political career of the then 72-year-old Joe Biden was over. And hey, he’d made it to the vice-presidency; pretty good going. Now, a 78-year-old Biden will be sworn in as President in January. The President-elect is three years older than Bill Clinton, who took the oath in 1992. The future-facing lesson for all of us? We’ve extended the human healthspan, and that has made possible new kinds of story arcs across our lives. And besides, life is full of surprises. Never count yourself out.
A New World Manifesto
The US election was a stark reminder: these are polarised times. Right now, it feels as though we need to learn more about what unites us. So here’s an idea.
The New World Same Humans community is a diverse group, drawn from all over the world. We are startup founders in London, AI researchers in Singapore, strategists in Chicago, policy makers in São Paulo and much else besides. But we’re united by one belief: that together, we humans can and must innovate to build a better shared future. Better tools. Better ways to connect. Better institutions, and more.
I wonder what other beliefs our community shares. To find out, I’m launching the New World Manifesto project. It’s a call for NWSH members to come together and write a one-page document that outlines the beliefs we share when it comes to the decade that lies ahead, and how we rebuild in the aftermath of the pandemic.
This process needs you! And you can share your thinking in a matter of minutes. To be involved, simply join the hundreds of members who are already inside the NWSH Slack Group. I’ll open a special channel to kick off our conversation. ***You can join the NWSH Slack by following this link.***
If Slack isn’t your thing, just hit reply to this email to be involved.
This emphatically isn’t about any flavour of party politics. Rather, it’s about articulating a handful of fundamental principles that we can all agree should guide us we build our shared future in the 2020s.
I see three stages to the project.
We’ll come together in the NWSH Slack group informally to share early thinking
That will give rise to a first draft one-page Manifesto, which we’ll iterate together in a shared document
We’ll hold an online event, where we’ll come together live to finalise and celebrate the Manifesto
We’ll end this process with a simple declaration that distills what we believe as a community. Everyone who has contributed will have the chance to put their name to that document. Then we’ll do our best to share it far and wide; I know some people who can help, and I’m sure you do, too.
So let’s go; see you inside Slack.
📺 The What’s NEXT show is back!
A quick heads up: the online show show on business, trends and digital culture that I co-present is back for a second season 🚀
Hundreds of the NWSH family watched Season 1, and we have a brilliant follow up planned!
What’s NEXT resumes on a monthly schedule and the first episode airs on Thursday November 12, when our special guest will be the business leader Matthias Schrader, head of Accenture Interactive for Austria, Switzerland and Germany.
Learn more and sign up to watch What’s NEXT here.
Go in peace
As promised, a shorter instalment. Normal service will be resumed next Sunday.
In the meantime, wishing you a peaceful end to a historic week. Let’s see what the next seven days have in store.
Meanwhile, I can’t wait to see how the New World Manifesto project evolves. I’d love the process to involve as many, and as diverse a group, of voices as possible. If you’re excited to share your thinking, it’s likely you know others who’d make a great contribution, too. Why not invite them to join our community, so their voice can be heard? Just forward this email to them with a quick note. Or you can grow our community by sharing NWSH across one of your social networks, and letting others know why you think it’s worth their time. Just hit the share button!
I’ll be back on Wednesday. Until then, go in peace,
David.