Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/07/12/to-see-the-future-visit-the-m.html
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“The” future? Whose future? It makes no sense to me to claim that we’ll all have the same one.
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Yeah I was wondering that as well after reading that.
I can’t even begin to understand what the hell this is about…
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And…“To truly know a man, you must fight him”.
When I was last in the GBAO (he said, obnoxiously), things were a little more rudimentary, but the Chinese influence was already very obvious. China has basically embarked on a project to own (commercially) the parts of the world that the West turns its nose up at. So Central Asia is full of road-building projects commissioned by local governments and executed by Chinese engineers and workers, most of which have the useful property of helping move finished goods quickly from Chinese manufacturers to local markets, and moving raw materials back in the other direction. (The same thing is happening in other parts of Asia and Africa).
And boy, do they need better roads. What he said about Chinese truckers as frontiersmen is right on the money: God damn, but those guys earn their money. I saw a couple of truckers who’d failed to negotiate a scary turn and dropped a bulldozer & half a brand new tractor trailer down a waterfall. You couldn’t pay me enough to drive stuff that big on roads that bad.
The Western perspective on the world – as reflected in our media, at least – is singularly arrogant and egocentric, usually portraying other nations as unwashed illiterates and China as primarily a source of cheap goods to fill our Walmarts. The future of the world, we are told, will be determined by Western ingenuity and force of arms. I think China has other ideas. And like the author of the article, I think Central Asia is a good place to see how they’re working on making a future of their own.
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Or, if you’d rather visit the most remote areas of GBOA:
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OMG! Gay Bikers on Acid!!! They WERE the future!
49. The most interesting destinations aren’t geotagged, are not easily geo-taggable. Bonus points if you can figure that one out.
A nod’s as good as a wink to a blind horse. 
The premium for buying gasoline in a remote village in the GBAO is 20% more than the nearest town.
Also true in the US - probably everywhere.
In the future you’ll be able to have people do things for you that benefit you! Why should I have to depend on others to have a translation app when I can do the same for them and we both mutually benefit?
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I want a D3!
Quote from article list:
The sooner western companies own up to copying WeChat, the sooner we can get on with acknowledging a significant shift in the global creative center of gravity.
Meh. It’s just another copy of Kakao talk. Have you been to South Korea lately? WeChat was released in January 2011. Kakao Talk: March 18, 2010.
$985? For a duffel bag? I’ll pass.
30 year reunion tour this autumn, incidentally.
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I think he is saying the most interesting locations are underground.
Like how convinced we are in the United States that the future of our economy is technology and innovation. That only makes sense if your base assumption is that the rest of the world has subhuman intellect and is incapable of innovation.
No shit! Really!
I’m old.
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