Thinking about the holy Roman empire, I’m thinking about the new Foundation series on Apple, I’m curious what the future of America is going to be.

The future of all empires

Probably the best histories we have on empire is from Tacitus and his “Histories”. However this is the flaw that a lot of historians make: they think that if you know history far back enough, it will always be able to predict the future. That is not true.

Nobody could’ve ever predicted the future of the Internet, by studying the past. And I think the same goes with empire and nations, not all permutations of empire could be predicted just by studying the past.

My personal thoughts and predictions

As an Eagle Scout, and born and raised in the states, I consider myself a diehard American. Yet at the same time, I’m quite bearish about the future of America.

Even now in the post Trump era, it seems to be a bad thing that there’s so many companies that are hiring cheap labor at high prices. For example I just drove by McDonald’s other day and they’re so in desperate need of workers that they’re even offering to pay $15 an hour for an unskilled McDonald’s burger flipper. I think this is going to be a sign that if America keeps extending unemployment and offering huge financial incentives for people to stay unemployed, The value of the US dollar is going to be devalued hugely. And moving forward, I think slowly but surely the value of the US dollar will decline, and perhaps more value will be in cryptocurrency, bitcoin, and the latter.

Is America still the country of opportunity?

Certainly there is still more opportunity and economic growth opportunities in America than other nations in the world. also, I think America’s strongest assert is her encouragement of entrepreneurism, experimentation, and risk-loving. Only an Apple or Tesla could have been created in America. Without American opportunities, a Steve Jobs, Kanye West, Jay Z, or Elon musk couldn’t have become who they are today.

American cultural imperialism

Even if you’re the richest person in China, would you prefer the latest Yeezy sneakers, or the most high-end Chinese brand sneakers? Of course you still prefer the Yeezy sneakers.

Also when it comes to education, would the most elite Chinese families prefer to send their kids to Harvard or Yale or Brown University, or to the top universities in China? American Ivy League schools are still king in the world.

Or when it comes to phones, with the most elite Chinese individuals prefer the highest and Xiaomi or Huawei phones, or the newest iPhone Pro? Of course they would prefer the newest iPhone Pro.

Same goes with music, movies and film. American hip-hop music still seems to be the king in the world, and people would still always prefer Hollywood films over any other local films.

Most of the big tech companies don’t really care for America much at all.

Something funny I realized: even though most of the top companies in America are these big tech companies, they don’t really seem to care much about America. Rather, it seems most of them are in bed with China.

For example, Apple cannot create her products if it weren’t for fox conn in China. Similarly speaking, Amazon wouldn’t have so many product to sell if it weren’t for Chinese manufactured goods. Also, it seems that Google is quite friendly with China, because Google wants to extend her services into China.

Even though I was anti-Donald Trump, he seemed very smart to be antagonistic towards Chinese economic imperialism in America. i’m afraid that the future of America will be Silicon Valley elite in bed with China, and everyone else falling to the wayside.

So as Americans what are we to do?

I still believe in entrepreneurism and starting your own business is the best way to make America thrive. Also I’m huge in investing in education and being more open to naturalization of foreign immigrants. After all, if Steve Jobs Syrian father hadn’t met his American wife, Steve Jobs would not have been born. If America did not let in South African born Elon Musk into the country, we might’ve never had a PayPal or tesla, or SpaceX.

American strength is diversity

A bit cliché but I really do think that America’s strength comes from her diversity. We all know that purebred dogs tend to be sick clear than “mutts“. if you want to produce stronger children, interracial marriage is a good thing.

Thoughts on immigration

I used to believe in always open borders, but I’m starting to realize that immigration is a far more complex issue than I had once imagined. Yeah I still do believe that we should be more lax on immigration, especially if the immigrants are willing to work hard and pay American taxes.

There should always be exceptions to the rule.

Does your own personal wealth or nationality matter the most?

The sad thing is in today’s society, wealth is king. Better to be a wealthy Russian coming to America than a middle class or poor American. I think nowadays we care more about wealth of the nationality. That is, as long as you have a lot of money, you essentially have a foreign passport anywhere.

And as the world is becoming more globalized, I think nationality means less and less. Thus I think even future American kids will have less pride about being American, or they won’t care at all. instead, they will prize wealth, popularity and fame as metrics of happiness and success.

The elite of the future

Maybe in the future, all nations will slowly decline, an individual wealth and individual class will matter more. Perhaps oligarchy of the future will just be a bunch of elite from all around the world, without any sort of allegiance to any one country.

For example, even the Silicon Valley elite don’t care about being American. And I’d even imagine that wealthy Chinese oligarchs care less about the party, and more about their own personal wealth.

In the future oligarchs of the planet will care more about their Rolls-Royce and or Lamborghini and luxury watches and goods, more so than their nationality.

Americans, and perhaps all individuals will slowly become more and more mediocre

Unless we believe in class differences, and upward social mobility, perhaps notions of American individualism will slowly die, and the masses in America will slowly become more and more mediocre. And who will lead us in the future? Perhaps we will all bow down before the algorithm, and no longer have belief in the great individual or great individuals.

Even now, the Silicon Valley elite believe in data deification, and that data has all the answers. They would rather measure clicks and views rather than believe in individual geniuses and leaders. This is even why Apple as a company over time will become more mediocre, because there’s no more creative visionaries in the company. Only focus on sales and profits.

Maybe this is why Tesla will continue to thrive, because at least there is the eccentric creative visionary behind a company who is Elon Musk.