New World Same Humans #49 – Audio Version

Welcome to New World Same Humans, a weekly newsletter on trends, technology, and society by David Mattin. If you’re reading this and you haven’t yet subscribed, then join 14,000+ curious souls on a journey to build a better shared future 🚀🔮 On Thursday, the incoming Biden administration announced a $1.9 trillion stimulus plan. A cheque for $1,400 will go to every citizen with earnings under $75,000 a year. This comes on top of the $4.5 trillion in economic stimulus passed by the US Congress across 2020. For context, the stimulus package passed in the wake of the 2009 financial crash was around $900 billion. Some version of this story can be told in countries across the Global North. Amid everything, the scale of the economic story we’ve lived through is yet to sink in. As ever, NWSH seeks the implications of all this for our shared future. So what did we learn about capitalism in 2020? And where are we heading next? This week: three big lessons from the past year. And a look ahead: to the coming war of ideas over capitalism’s future. Longform essays will still be a part of the Sunday mix, but this week I’m experimenting with a new briefing-style format. Let me know what you think! The change will be more apparent if you read this week’s instalment; go here for the text version of NWSH #49. Links in this week’s instalment 1. In the summer of 2020 Pfizer closed a $2 billion advance purchase order on the vaccine with the US government. 2. Economist Mariana Mazzucato argues that only government has the heft to support innovation on a grand scale. 3. The Green New Deal amounts to a blueprint for a new economic model; one that would reimagine the relationship between government and the private sector 4. Modern Monetary Theory says governments can freely invent new money to pay for public services and fuel full employment. Fully automated luxury living NWSH will keep watching as this story unfolds. Here’s hoping we all get to experience life inside a fully automated luxury future. While we’re waiting for our new robot helpers to emerge and start mixing us drinks, let’s double down on the amazing community we’re building. If you know someone – a friend, relative, or colleague – who’d make a great addition, why not forward this email and encourage them to sign up? Alternatively, share New World Same Humans across your social networks with a note on what makes it valuable. Remember: the larger and more diverse our community becomes, the better for all of us. Just hit the share button! Your membership of NWSH means a lot. I’ll be back on Wednesday; until then, be well. David. David Mattin is the founder of the Strategy and Futures Research Unit. He sits on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Consumption. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newworldsamehumans.substack.com