(Work in progress)

My favorite artist in the world is Simon Stålenhag. For those of you are unfamiliar with his works - he is a Swedish artist whose work can be described as “retro-futurist” depictions of American/Swedish countryside scenes. Here’s an album cover that also exemplifies his work musically from an Amazon Prime show depicted on his art.

I write about tech and industry trends usually, but cultural preference is just an important for those in tech because inspiring the best people to come work with you also is a matter of taste in addition to technical competency.

This is my first piece in attempt to espouse a view of the future I’d be obsessed in living in, through my efforts in tech today.

A few of my favorite pieces from Stålenhag

The world’s cultural divisions largely remain economic and stratified to urban versus rural. As a former geoguessr and map fanatic, phantom borders have been some of my latest obsessions as they drive economic, then subsequently cultural, then subsequently political differences.

While information diffusion has revolutionized cultural diffusion, true cultural assimilation for middle and rural America remains elusive. Simply put, while our ideas, videos, and communications may flow freely from the Pacific to the Atlantic today, our selves and structures still largely remain concentrated in a few select cities. It still makes sense to build infrastructure in cities and perpetuate their technical, cultural, and economic dominance.

There are three trends I like enough today to enforce this:

• The continued mechanization of agriculture
  • The shift from serfdom/indentured servant based human labor structural systems in the 18th/19th century meant that
• Continually decreasing non-flight based transportation costs
• Advantages for newer technologies to exist outside of major population hubs

I met somebody a few weeks ago who made a joke that I’d still put in my professional bio that “future of work” was one of my investment themes. Future of work, in their eyes, had apparently died out as a hot venture theme in 2022/23. To me, everything in AI is a future of work problem today as the TAM is all of human labor.

Iceland is one of my favorite places in the world because of the combination of two things. Low population density and pervasive modernity. Increasingly, infrastructure for technological buildouts favor rural geographies like abundant natural energy and colder temperatures like those in Iceland, with sufficient educated nearby operational labor. On the other hand, a post WW2 buildup (starting from nothing, rather than ruins), combined with enduringly low human population, gives it exactly the setting that Stålenhag’s works embody.

Data Centers in Iceland

The world’s population is at its peak in many developed countries and subsequently, educational attainment rates will continue to be at its maximum as immigration to western countries will still largely be educated. The conditions that make Iceland what they are, on the population density and educated labor side, will permeate through the rest of the western world as Gen Z gets old.

Data Centers in Virginia