Coming Soon from China: Dystopic Futures, the Next Steve Jobs, and a World Full of Drumming Androids

On MangoBot, a great blog dedicated to Asian futurism, Andrew Nathan,editor of How East Asians View Democracy, joined other experts to speculate on the future of China. In particular, Nathan was asked to offer a prediction regarding China’s political future for the next ten years. Hint—his answer is the dystopic future of the title.

More specifically, Nathan challenges the notion that democratization is an inevitable first step to total economic domination. He writes, “China has authoritarian resilience, if (the current regime) was not supposed to survive modernization, it’s proving very adaptable.” While the current regime will likely maintain its power as long as it remains efficient, natural disasters, terrorism, or bad political decisions could lead to its demise.

Other experts consider China’s use of wind power, its status as a showcase for architectural innovation, and who the next Steve Jobs might be.