The future is Brazil

When I began this site, back in 2009, one of the first things I wrote was "The future is Brazil". 

For William Gibson, the future was Japan.

Wrong!

For Neal Stephenson, the future was the metaverse. 

Considering that we are bringing the virtual into our reality rather than the reverse, this also is wrong.

Want a location of the near-future? Brazil. That's my bet. Young, brown, growing, bustling, crowded, beautiful, violent, changing, impoverished and wealthy.

Ever watch those 1950s sci-fi movies? Where the future, circa 1990, is radically different? Flying cars, space travel, subservient women in short skirts. In just a few years, today's view of the future will be proven just as silly. The smartphone, the mobile web, location-aware platforms, real-time infinitely scalable and almost free person-to-person-to-machine-to-machine-to-group data services will *disproportionately* empower the marginalized and the young. They will function on an almost equivalent plane. No matter where they are. Simultaneously, with AR, always-on video chat and customized information feeds, no one will actually see this new world the same as anyone else.

And we have no idea what to expect. Though we can be certain there will be growth, retrenchment, violence, hope and, as is humanity's way, an overarching pivot toward a better circumstance for all. That said, know that as we go through this wrenching period of change, just like London in the 1800s, there's going to be a good deal of shit hurled your way.

Hey, that's not bad.

Anyway, we're nearing 2012 and the New York Times looks to Brazil as a possible representation of our future:

Today Brazil is simultaneously pursuing what might seem to be contradictory revolutions. At one level, it is unshackling the market and working to give companies the incentives they need to grow and hire and profit. At the same time, it is taking poverty head-on, clinging to labor laws that are inefficient but provide some cushioning to the poor, pumping welfare money into poorer regions. The numbers tell the story: the economy grew at more than 7 percent last year, but, unlike many of its fast-growing rivals, Brazil is narrowing its famously wide (and violent) gap between rich and poor.