Memia 2020.38: Flu.š¦ Shot.š¤// climate action prioritiesš// ScoMo's lack of tech ambitionš¤// the chip wars of the 21st centuryāļø
It hinges on Hong Kongā³šš°
Hi / Kia ora,
Welcome to another Memia newsletter, a regular weekly scan across the future as it unfolds - as viewed from my corner of the world, Aotearoa New Zealand.
The most clicked link in the last issue (~15% of openers) was video of the Liebherr cranes lifting cranes lifting cranes. Two words: Boys. Toys.š¤
Having been liberated from the election cacophony here in AoNZ a week and a half ago, itās now just 7 days until our friends across the Pacific (and, being frank, the whole world) are *hopefully* liberated as well. To everyone reading this in the US, weāre hanging out with you over hereā¦š
Flu.š¦ Shot.š¤
Perhaps the most unforeseen outcome of AoNZās lockdowns, border closures, stricter hygiene and social distancing during 2020 is that the number of Kiwis with the flu fell by 99.8 per cent compared with the previous year!
The *ubiquitous* Professor Michael Baker said:
āWhat the Covid-19 response has done has largely eliminated those excess winter deaths ā¦mortality as a whole is down around 5 percent, so that means an extra 1500 people will survive this year who wouldn't have.ā

(Graphic credit: TVNZ)
Meanwhile Yale Science Professor Nicholas Christakis previews some of the arguments in his forthcoming book Apollo's Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live with this thought experiment: what ifā¦Covid-19 had been deadlier? (Click for the whole thread, compelling).
Climate action prioritiesš
The AoNZ Sustainable Business Council and Climate Leaders' Coalition released a Briefing to Incoming Government on Climate Action Priorities, representing the views of over 150 businesses contributing towards more than a third of New Zealandās GDP:

Iāll let the summary of recommendations speak for themselves:

ScoMoās lack of tech ambitionš¤
Across the ditch, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison made a speech centred on his governmentās ādigital policiesā: in short, accelerating adoption of imported tech products by SMEs rather than creation and export of new technologies. The Aussie tech sector was quick to comment: āuninspiringā, ālacking ambitionā and, more fundamentally, inconsistent with the Australian governmentās emphasis on supply chain security and sovereignty in response to the pandemic:
ā¦But at least Australia has a tech policy. The New Zealand Labour partyās manifesto - on which they just won an electoral landslide - contains absolutely NOTHING on tech or digital except for ā30,000 digital training vouchersā and pursuing āDigital Economic Partnership Agreementā trade deals.
Which would we prefer: a lack of ambition or a total policy vacuum�
Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Quadāļø
With all of our media attention fixated on the US election soap opera, rather more significant changes are happening closer to AoNZās region:
ā³šš° Hong Kong as a Global Hinge by David Skilling -
āHong Kong is a good indicator of the strength and nature of globalisation. The regime change underway in the global system runs directly through Hong Kong.ā
And then: after Hong Kong: China sets sights on solving 'the Taiwan problem'šØ.
Earlier this year entrepreneur-turned-educator Steve Blank laid out the strategic landscape in The Chip Wars of the 21st Centuryāļø (excellent analysis):
āThe dispute over Huaweiās access to [Taiwanese] TSMC has highlighted how vulnerable American industry is to the loss of its sole supply of advanced chips. If the matter cannot be solved by negotiation, China may perceive the restrictions as economic warfare and rapidly escalate, potentially threatening Taiwan. It is not at all clear that Washington has thought through the consequences of its actions here, nor that the current administration has considered chip supply as part of a wider supply chain security and national industrial policy.ā
Expect some rapid chess moves to play out in the region after the US presidential election result is clear.
Meanwhile, directly related, Australia, Japan and India have been practicing their āQuad exercisesā with the US:
[Weak] signals
The steady stream of signals received from the unfolding futureā¦
The evolving future of the Platform Economy by Simone Cicero: how tech trends and a new landscape of risk will reshape the network economy of the next decade.
More CDBCs
Central Bank of Bahamas launches landmark āSand Dollarā digital currency
Nearly 2 million people signed up for Chinaās Digital Yuan ālotteryā ā¦but early users were not so impressed. Central planners beware?
About-facial recognition
When US uniformed police taped over their badges in Portland, activists started using their own facial recognition tools to identify individual officers.
What canāt you do with AI?
Two amazing videos of what you can do with GPT-3 in Google Sheetsš¤Æ:
(ā¦or alternativelyā¦š¤£)
AR
Never get lost indoors with this helpful AR guidance bot:
VR-esolution
Coming to a VR headset near you soon: researchers borrow solar panel tech to create new ultrahigh-res OLED display:

Quantum supremacy supremacy?
IBM announce a roadmap towards a 1,000-qubit device by the end of 2023.
Building ecotech
A new type of cooling paint is able to reflect 95.5% of sunlight and reduce surface temperatures by 1.7C compared to the ambient air conditions, promising significant reductions in CO2 emissions from buildings.
Simple natural light tubes to bring light indoors by day and night:
Mind expanding
So much being covered that this weekās newsletter Mind Expanding links couldnāt fit into the weekly email - but theyāre amazing reading covering Data Science, Humanity as a *Complex System* The Ministry Of The Future and Imagining the End of Capitalism (Twice)⦠read them online here instead.
Rollcall
Going on around AoNZ this week:
Local regenerative agriculture experts Melissa Baer and Jemma Penelope published a mammoth post Transparency, Sustainability and Certification: The Future of our Food Production and Distribution Systems - a huge amount of deep thinking in here and a framework thatās fundamentally relevant for AoNZās food-exports based economy:
Congratulations to all the winners of the HealthTech Supernode Challenge competition announced last week.
University of Canterbury has partnered with EdX to launch UcX - a platform offering free global MOOCs. Good to see an AoNZ University exploring with new business models as global tertiary sector consolidation comes barreling down the tracksā¦
Hidden gems
Finally, a couple of nuggets from around the internet this week:
Before it ends (see Mind Expanding above), capitalism thrives:
Finally, under the ice, a peaceful, ethereal, bat-sea-angel. Who knew these creatures existed?
ššš Thanks as always to everyone who takes time every week to get in touch with links and feedback, itās always great to hear from you.
Special request: if you enjoyed reading this weekās newsletter, please take a moment to share with someone in your network who might enjoy it too. Thank you!
More next weekā¦
Cheers / NgÄ mihi
Ben
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