So, let’s sum up some of these findings. I think that space travel and space based industry will be larger part of the future of humanity. If that is true, and if finished goods, services, and other commodities are sent into space in a regular and traded fashion, then there are only a few favorable locations on the Earth that are highly suitable for space launches. Considering that sending heavy material into space takes a lot of shipping by water, then these places will have starsheds that are functions of geography and climate, and not as much by politics. The easier and faster it is to get your goods into space, the cheaper it will be, so your choice of starport is set based on where you are standing. As the world’s population grows, primarily in Africa, over the next 80 years, the balance of economic power and output will shift as well. This all makes the tiny town of Kismayo, Somalia the key starport for humanity at the turn of the next century. As land there is currently about $14 per square meter, I’d say that it is the real estate opportunity of the millennium.
Hopefully, as I have walked you through this analysis, you do not think that I am totally crazy. Hopefully, you have some major bones to pick with my analysis, some pertinent points to share. I would really love to hear them! I want to know why I am wrong about this. What could be improved and what could be tweaked.
Still, I hope that I got you thinking about a different kind of future than the one you were envisioning. The world’s economic center in not going to be in the middle of the Atlantic, nor is it going to be the Pacific. It’s the Indian Ocean. The Monsoon market is going to become the center of finance, trade, and money, again. The population of Africa is going to be as much as Asia is today by end of the century. All the people in west and east Africa are going to want to buy cars and washing machines, Cokes and steak dinners, college educations and champagne. They are going to be the ones taking trips to Europe and the USA, and they are going to look up at the night’s sky and see their place among the stars just as the US and the USSR did 60 years ago. They are going to be putting footsteps on the Moon, right along with NASA and the ESA.
If you believe any of my analysis, then the grandsons of Somali Pirates are going to tend to the most important starport in the Solar System. Just as you are reading this, some little boy is being born in somewhere in Jubbaland, and he is going to see his granddaughter ride a rocket to Mars. The language of the stars is not going to be strictly English, nor Russian, nor Chinese. It’s going to be Somali and Swahili too. Just extrapolating out the trends shows us that the world of 2099 is not going to be one of capitalism and communism, of sickles and stars, or of 1st or 3rd worlds. It’s going to be much stranger and different.
The ideas and trends of our western minds are just, well, old. We aren’t taking seriously the incredible drive and youth of Asia and Africa that is hurtling towards us. We need to prepare now for the future in 2099. One that is more African than Western. One where a moon landing is a bi-monthly event (and that is still only 0.05% of the world’s output. Imagine it at .1% or .4% of the GWP). Each side of the Indian Ocean vying for dominance in the space markets of the Sol system. We’d call it trans-atlantic or trans-pacific in the other oceans. Is it trans-indian of trans-indiaic then? We don’t even have a word for that kind of economic world, that’s how behind we are. Again, the world of 2099 is not like this world today and the West is not preparing for this change.
So what should YOU do about this? How should we all prepare for that world, for the world that our children and grandchildren are going to be living in by 2099, just 80 years away?
The first thing to recognize is that Africa and Asia are going to have a lot more people in them that are going to have a lot more money per person than they have today. So, respect that. There are going to a lot more Nigerians than Americans very soon. They are going to be winning World Cups, taking leads in international diplomacy, working in NGOs as partners instead of recipients, and making scientific breakthroughs, just like the West and China are today.
The second thing we can do is invest in them. Many religious organizations give charity to these countries. This is a great a noble thing to do, and these places need the help. But not for much longer. Already, they are coming to the table as investments, not just as charity. They will want to make money with us, together. To build bridges and apartments, they are taking on capital investments already. They will be real players with real interests. And we better treat them as such. We need to treat them as real players at the table now, as they will be the dominant players in 80 years.
One set of people that recognize this are Chinese private and state-sponsored enterprises. Chinese investment in Africa has out competed the West for a few years now. As part of the Chinese Import-Export Bank’s activities, huge infrastructure projects like 500 million-dollar dams, billion-dollar trains, and half billion-dollar commuter systems are now common throughout Africa. They are doing a heck of a job of buying geo-political allies for the next 80 years. The rest of the world is lax if they do not realize what a boom Africa and southern Asia are going to be. (more here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQV_DKQkT8o)
The third and most important thing is to learn and be patient. Here’s an example: Where is the Great Wall of Nigeria and how old is it? I’ll give you a hint: It’s not on dry land. The Great Wall of Nigeria, also called the Great Wall of Lagos, is a few kilometers out into the Atlantic Ocean just to the south of the mouth of the Niger. It’s a land reclamation project, to build more space for the people of Lagos, all safe from the worst climate change and storm surge models. It encompasses about 6,500 square kilometers or about 110 Manhattans. Considering that the population of Lagos in 2099 is set to be 90 million people, three times that of the state of California today, it is actually too little land. They already have skyscrapers on it. Dubai, eat your heart out. (more here: https://www.ekoatlantic.com/)
I imagine that for most readers, this is not something you knew about and you might be a little stunned you missed this. The way to remedy this is education. We have to take the time, and invest in our minds and the future. We have to change our mindset, daily. Now, I know that seems difficult, and not a lot of fun, but it doesn’t have to be homework.
One way to educate and invest in ourselves is to read the most important newspapers of 2099. Now, I know, I don’t have a time machine either. But we can read today’s editions of those newspapers. UNSECO and their ironclad statistics, give a good idea of the largest metros of the year 2099. I’m willing to bet that the largest metros are also going to be a major voice in the world of 2099. Fortunately, most of those metro areas have English language already. Here is a list of the top 25 largest metros on Earth from here to the year 2099 (from Socioeconomic Pathways and Regional Distribution of the World’s 101 Largest Cities Daniel Hoornweg & Kevin Pope January 2014):
2010 | 2025 | 2050 | 2075 | 2099 | ||||||
Rank | City | Pop | City | Pop | City | Pop | City | Pop | City | Pop |
1 | Tokyo | 36.094 | Tokyo | 36.4 | Mumbai | 42.404 | Kinshasa | 58.424 | Lagos | 88.345 |
2 | Mexico City | 20.117 | Mumbai | 26.385 | Delhi | 36.157 | Mumbai | 57.862 | Kinshasa | 83.494 |
3 | Mumbai | 20.072 | Delhi | 22.498 | Dhaka | 35.193 | Lagos | 57.195 | Dar Es Salaam | 73.678 |
4 | Beijing | 19.61 | Dhaka | 22.015 | Kinshasa | 35 | Delhi | 49.338 | Mumbai | 67.24 |
5 | Sao Paulo | 19.582 | Sao Paulo | 21.428 | Kolkata | 33.042 | Dhaka | 46.219 | Delhi | 57.334 |
6 | New York | 19.441 | Mexico City | 21.009 | Lagos | 32.63 | Kolkata | 45.088 | Khartoum | 56.594 |
7 | Delhi | 17.015 | New York | 20.628 | Tokyo | 32.622 | Karachi | 43.374 | Niamey | 56.149 |
8 | Shanghai | 15.789 | Kolkata | 20.56 | Karachi | 31.696 | Dar Es Salaam | 37.485 | Dhaka | 54.25 |
9 | Kolkata | 15.577 | Shanghai | 19.412 | New York | 24.769 | Cairo | 32.999 | Kolkata | 52.395 |
10 | Dhaka | 14.796 | Karachi | 19.095 | Mexico City | 24.329 | Manila | 32.749 | Kabul | 50.27 |
11 | Buenos Aires | 13.089 | Kinshasa | 16.762 | Cairo | 24.035 | Kabul | 32.672 | Karachi | 49.056 |
12 | Karachi | 13.052 | Lagos | 15.796 | Manila | 23.545 | Khartoum | 30.681 | Nairobi | 46.661 |
13 | Los Angeles | 12.773 | Cairo | 15.561 | Sao Paulo | 22.825 | Tokyo | 28.916 | Lilongwe | 41.379 |
14 | Cairo | 12.503 | Manila | 14.808 | Shanghai | 21.317 | Nairobi | 28.415 | Blantyre City | 40.911 |
15 | Rio De Janeiro | 12.171 | Beijing | 14.545 | Lahore | 17.449 | New York | 27.924 | Cairo | 40.543 |
16 | Manila | 11.662 | Buenos Aires | 13.768 | Kabul | 17.091 | Baghdad | 24.388 | Kampala | 40.136 |
17 | Moscow | 11.514 | Los Angeles | 13.672 | Los Angeles | 16.416 | Mexico City | 24.178 | Manila | 39.959 |
18 | Osaka-Kobe | 11.337 | Rio De Janeiro | 13.413 | Chennai | 16.278 | Lahore | 23.878 | Lusaka | 37.741 |
19 | Istanbul | 10.823 | Jakarta | 12.363 | Khartoum | 15.995 | Addis Ababa | 23.709 | Mogadishu | 36.372 |
20 | Lagos | 10.572 | Istanbul | 12.102 | Dar Es Salaam | 15.973 | Chennai | 22.213 | Addis Ababa | 35.82 |
21 | Seoul | 10.039 | Guangzhou | 11.835 | Beijing | 15.972 | Bangalore | 21.314 | Baghdad | 34.103 |
22 | Paris | 9.958 | Osaka-Kobe | 11.368 | Jakarta | 15.924 | Sao Paulo | 21.28 | New York | 30.193 |
23 | Jakarta | 9.703 | Moscow | 10.526 | Bangalore | 15.62 | Shanghai | 21.055 | N’djamena | 28.815 |
24 | Guangzhou | 9.447 | Lahore | 10.512 | Buenos Aires | 15.546 | Niamey | 20.371 | Kano | 28.277 |
25 | Chicago | 9.211 | Shenzhen | 10.196 | Baghdad | 15.088 | Kampala | 20.227 | Sana’a | 27.213 |
Now here is a list of all the unique cities that appear on this list:
Addis Ababa, Baghdad, Bangalore, Beijing, Blantyre City, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Chennai, Chicago, Dar Es Salaam, Delhi, Dhaka, Guangzhou, Istanbul, Jakarta, Kabul, Kampala, Kano, Karachi, Khartoum, Kinshasa, Kolkata, Lagos, Lahore, Lilongwe, Los Angeles, Lusaka, Manila, Mexico City, Mogadishu, Moscow, Mumbai, Nairobi, N’djamena, New York, Niamey, Osaka-Kobe, Paris, Rio De Janeiro, Sana’a, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Tokyo.
Now here are links to the largest newspapers, mostly in English, in each of those cities:
City | URL |
Addis Ababa | http://capitalethiopia.com/category/news/ |
Baghdad | http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/ |
Bangalore | https://vijaykarnataka.indiatimes.com/ |
Beijing | http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/Beijing-News-Update.htm |
Blantyre City | https://mwnation.com/ |
Buenos Aires | https://www.clarin.com/ |
Cairo | http://english.ahram.org.eg/ |
Chennai | https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai |
Chicago | http://www.chicagotribune.com/ |
Dar Es Salaam | http://dailynews.co.tz/ |
Delhi | http://www.newdelhitimes.com/ |
Dhaka | https://www.clickittefaq.com/ |
Guangzhou | http://english.gz.gov.cn/ |
Istanbul | http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ |
Jakarta | http://jakartaglobe.id/ |
Kabul | http://www.bakhtarnews.com.af/eng/ |
Kampala | https://www.newvision.co.ug/ |
Kano | http://triumphnews.org.ng/ |
Karachi | https://www.dawn.com/ |
Khartoum | http://svdaily.net/ |
Kinshasa | http://www.congoindependant.com/ |
Kolkata | https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata |
Lagos | http://dailytimes.ng/ |
Lahore | https://pakobserver.net/category/lahore/ |
Lilongwe | https://www.times.mw/ |
Los Angeles | http://www.latimes.com/ |
Lusaka | https://www.lusakatimes.com/other-news/ |
Manila | http://manilastandard.net/ |
Mexico City | https://mexiconewsdaily.com/ |
Mogadishu | http://www.jowhar.com/category/english-news |
Moscow | https://themoscowtimes.com/ |
Mumbai | https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai |
Nairobi | https://www.nation.co.ke/ |
N’djamena | http://www.afrol.com/countries/chad |
New York | https://www.nytimes.com/ |
Niamey | http://www.lesahel.org/ |
Osaka-Kobe | http://www.asahi.com/ajw/ |
Paris | https://www.lemonde.fr/ |
Rio De Janeiro | https://oglobo.globo.com/ |
Sana’a | http://www.yemenpost.net/ |
Sao Paulo | https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/ |
Seoul | http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/ |
Shanghai | https://www.shine.cn/ |
Shenzhen | http://www.szdaily.com/ |
Tokyo | https://www.japantimes.co.jp/ |
You can pick and choose the cities that you’d like to keep track of. If you are aiming for a 2099 viewpoint then these are the top cities to focus on:
City | URL |
Lagos | http://dailytimes.ng/ |
Kinshasa | http://www.congoindependant.com/ |
Dar Es Salaam | http://dailynews.co.tz/ |
Mumbai | https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai |
Delhi | http://www.newdelhitimes.com/ |
We must respect that the world is changing, invest for success in the future that all these new people will be living in, and educate ourselves about the future by keeping a finger on the pulse of some of the largest cities humanity will see.