Future Superpower

Throughout the history of time, there has been clear cut leading nation. Initially it was the Rome, Greek, France, Britain, and America. The cause for the superiority of these nations was because of their might in a certain field. The Rome because the first established the concept of armies. The Greek because of their intellect might. The France because of the French revolution. The British because of the industrial revolution, the Americans because of their edge in Science and Technology and in IT.

In the new century, which country will be able to dominate the world and join the above mentioned list? I am not so sure about which particular country, but with some amount of confidence I can say, which ever country is able to discover, innovate and implement an alternative form of energy suited for the mass will surely be the leader.
Scanning across the globe, I can the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) as possible contenders.

Out of these four, Brazil does have the head start in term of using ethanol as an alternative fuel. Then can Brazil lead the world. I don’t think so. Because the ethanol based fuel is being widely used in Brazil and some other pockets of the world. In order for Brazil to have a say in the world stage, the developed nations should start thinking about using ethanol, which is not going to happen in the near future, considering the clamor among the developed nations to have political influence in the oil rich countries. So Brazil can but difficult to become.

Russia, once part of the might soviet empire, which had missed it chances due to the break up of erstwhile USSR. Remained a marginal played in the world politics and started to nationalize all the oil companies. The price of crude oil was $20-$30 at that time. Now Russian economy is growing thanks to the peak in oil price ($60-$70) and the boost in service economy. Russians would not be encouraged to find alternative source of energy, since that will doom their current geo-political advantage.

China with its huge FDI and a trade surplus has got enough money to fuel the oil prices, to satisfy its growing economy. And through some shrewd negotiations they had managed to ink oil deals with African countries for exchange of Chinese investment in those countries. China in recent times, is a country of mass manufacturing with very little innovation, and discovery. Although Chinese invented a lot of things before the communism bug bit them, as a result that repository of knowledge is lost or hidden somewhere.

India, the biggest democracy in the world. One of the poster boys and the whipping boys of globalization, depending on whether you are affected or unaffected by globalization. During the last decade started the true economic reforms, and the Indian companies and Indian people have a new found optimism. Growth primarily fuelled by service sector although agriculture contributes roughly 22%. With an rising middle class of about 500 million, India doesn’t have any oil rich resources within its border. So it has to primarily depend on oil imports to fuel its economic growth. Rising international oil prices are wiping out the countries foreign exchange. Inorder to continue its economic growth, it is highly imperative for India to discover an alternate fuel. Any technology which succeeds in India, can be the solution to the whole world. Because for the Indian customers will accept things only if the product is cheap, cost effective and efficient, this is because of the various socio-economic strains prevalent in the Indian community. So I am placing my bets on India to lead the world in the quest for alternate fuel.

What are my odds?

Individuality

In my school days I used to hear a lot of stories from everyone. One of the stories is “The Snake and the Monk”.

In a remote village there lived a snake which had a bad habit of biting people as and when it wants, so many people died. As a result of this, the people of the village decided to kill the snake and started to chase the snake. During this chase, the snake and the villagers happened to cross the path of a Buddhist monk. Being a noble soul, and seeing the plight of the snake he requested the villagers to back off and talked to the snake.

The monk asked the snake why it is biting everyone unnecessarily. The snake told the monk, “If I don’t bite people then, these people will not be afraid of me and will kill me”. Upon hearing this monk asked the snake not to bite anyone unnecessarily since it results in loss of human life. The snake promised the monk that it won’t bite any human being unnecessarily. Satisfied with the answer, the monk continued his journey.

After few months, the monk happened to pass through the same village. He was astonished to see the same scene again, the snake being chased by a group of villagers. He stopped the chase and inquired what had happened. Soon he learnt that since the snake had stopped biting, people in the village grew less fearful about the snake and started harassing the snake. Looking at the pathetic condition of the snake, the monk asked the snake “why all this is happening?” The snake replied “Ever since people got knew of the promise the snake made to the monk, this has been a daily affair”. Then the monk said “you promised me not to bite, however you can still hiss at people” to show that you still have the venom and can be dangerous”.

Why did I think about this story suddenly? I don’t know. Extending the concept said to human beings, how can a person be assertive but at the same time make sure he is not bordering anger. How can a person make sure he is not treated according to the whims and fancies of other person? How can a human being “Hiss” but yet not “Bite” others. In short how can a person retain his individuality yet be flexible with others.

For now I can think of the following ways, it doesn’t matter what words you are using, what matters the tenor and harshness in the tone, because human being primarily being primates, body language is far more communicative rather than words.

Let me try this out in this open world, since for quite some time I have been branded as an ‘angry man’. If my existing network of people are able to realize a change in me or if the new people whom I may meet don’t brand me, then my solution is correct for my scenario.