Sarah King – one of my favourite people – just forwarded your brilliant piece about the food industry; I particularly liked hearing about the recommendations in The False Economies of Big Food, which is very much where I'm coming from – other solutions are like when the tobacco industry introduced Silk Cut, or saying children can only drink gin for breakfast at weekends – which sounds mad until you think of the effect of UPF on developing brains and the health effects starting before they've left primary school. But at least the H of L report means that they are beginning to take it seriously, even thought their suggestions fall short and come from the wrong direction.
Thank you for your 2 things! I hate newsletters but yours are golden 🌟
Demographic shifts is my thing as a foresight strategist, so I'd like to invite some further thought.
Thanks for highlighting population decline, most people still are unaware and we have a lot of adaptation to do.
In terms of framing, of course it's true this is a complex challenge- but we needn't believe population decline is all bad. What we do need to do, is redesign our economies. Longevity + automation + fewer kids and young people mean the old model of seeing humans as work horses in the production mill - and relying on them to support the pensioners and lesser able - really is out of date. Value in the economy will be created differently, learning and career progression will change dramatically over time, family structures and living look to become more flexible, being older will not mean out of action, and babies could be grown outside of the body in a decade or two. Now it's up to us to start imagining how we want these interconnected drivers and trends to materialise. If we stay stuck in the apocalypse paradigm where a society relies on young worker bodies to function, we get what absolutely nobody wants.
I'm currently working on a collection of scenarios with People Power Foresight - to be published mid 2025, would be happy to share if you like. And to discuss further of course!
@Isabel: I agree with a lot of this thinking about redesigning our societies: effectively our current pension model relies on population growth. Of course a declining global population after the 2050s will also contribute to reducing consumption and emissions, although it would be quicker to get the very rich to stop burning carbon as fast as they seem to need to do. I’d be pleased to see your scenarios. — Andrew
I have just come back from a holiday in Spain and it was really noticeable the difference in foods and shopping available in the supermarkets. Very little UPF, no ready meals, seasonal fruit and veg, huge fish counters in every supermarket, high quality meat. Huge choice of yoghurt and kefir, very little sweet except flan. I wonder if it’s possible to make comparisons between health in countries like Spain and here? Thank you for the report.
Hello Andrew
Sarah King – one of my favourite people – just forwarded your brilliant piece about the food industry; I particularly liked hearing about the recommendations in The False Economies of Big Food, which is very much where I'm coming from – other solutions are like when the tobacco industry introduced Silk Cut, or saying children can only drink gin for breakfast at weekends – which sounds mad until you think of the effect of UPF on developing brains and the health effects starting before they've left primary school. But at least the H of L report means that they are beginning to take it seriously, even thought their suggestions fall short and come from the wrong direction.
Hi Andrew,
Thank you for your 2 things! I hate newsletters but yours are golden 🌟
Demographic shifts is my thing as a foresight strategist, so I'd like to invite some further thought.
Thanks for highlighting population decline, most people still are unaware and we have a lot of adaptation to do.
In terms of framing, of course it's true this is a complex challenge- but we needn't believe population decline is all bad. What we do need to do, is redesign our economies. Longevity + automation + fewer kids and young people mean the old model of seeing humans as work horses in the production mill - and relying on them to support the pensioners and lesser able - really is out of date. Value in the economy will be created differently, learning and career progression will change dramatically over time, family structures and living look to become more flexible, being older will not mean out of action, and babies could be grown outside of the body in a decade or two. Now it's up to us to start imagining how we want these interconnected drivers and trends to materialise. If we stay stuck in the apocalypse paradigm where a society relies on young worker bodies to function, we get what absolutely nobody wants.
I'm currently working on a collection of scenarios with People Power Foresight - to be published mid 2025, would be happy to share if you like. And to discuss further of course!
Festive wishes ✨️
Isabel
@Isabel: I agree with a lot of this thinking about redesigning our societies: effectively our current pension model relies on population growth. Of course a declining global population after the 2050s will also contribute to reducing consumption and emissions, although it would be quicker to get the very rich to stop burning carbon as fast as they seem to need to do. I’d be pleased to see your scenarios. — Andrew
I have just come back from a holiday in Spain and it was really noticeable the difference in foods and shopping available in the supermarkets. Very little UPF, no ready meals, seasonal fruit and veg, huge fish counters in every supermarket, high quality meat. Huge choice of yoghurt and kefir, very little sweet except flan. I wonder if it’s possible to make comparisons between health in countries like Spain and here? Thank you for the report.
This research has been done!
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34423871/
Thank you