Answered raw tape
D 5 · C 4 · P 4 · Cm 4 4.30
Q More than China. Is the situation as dire as it seems? What's going on?
A Well, yes, I think it is. I have, I In my, I mean, I'm 67 years old. I've never felt as pessimistic about my own country as I, uh, as I do now, and it shouldn't be that way because up until relatively short time ago, I was pretty optimistic about the UK. We've got the English language, the rule of law, the, uh, uh, you know, the, one of the great financial centers of the world, uh, the tradition of open free trade with the world, et cetera. You know, we should be absolutely, uh, roaring ahead as a Country with, as you say, a fantastic past, but also a great recent past. You know, we were a free market nation until a few years ago and, and, and a home of, um, rational thought and cultural openness, but it's, it's gone wrong quite quickly and quite badly in my view. It's not irrecoverable. Britain can still come back, but it is in a real mess at the moment. And the cultural stuff is, You know, that's bad enough, but it's against a background where we are stagnant as an economy. We've not grown in GDP per capita terms significantly in 15 years now. That's really dangerous because that, that results in, you know, falling behind.
AI assessment note: “Well, yes, I think it is.”
Answered raw tape
D 5 · C 4 · P 4 · Cm 4 4.30
Q It is what it is. They didn't have the courage. And well, you've definitely shown a lot of courage. You're on a tour across the U.S. Let's talk about this. Uh, you know, where, where are you going for your travels? I hear a follow up to rational optimist is in the works. What are you doing out here right now?
A Yep. I'm out here to pick people's brains, to re-energize my own optimism about technology and innovation and the, and the future. Um, because I'm writing a book, which at some point I'm calling it the rational pessimist. I don't think that's what it's going to be called. Um, it's probably going to be called the, the, the, um, uh, well, no, actually I'm, I'm not going to tell you what it's going to be called in case, in case, uh, someone else steals my title. Um, but, uh, I'm, I'm going to, I've been to LA. I'm going, I'm here in Austin and I'm very excited to be here in Austin already blown away by some of the things I've seen. San Francisco, New York, Washington. Um, and Uh, the, the idea is to reconcile my continuing optimism about what technology and innovation can do for human living standards in the rest of this century, looking forwards this time, because the rational optimist didn't really look forward. It just said, appreciate what we've achieved, please. Um, uh, to reconcile that with my increasing fury at the, um, Over regulation, over bureaucratization, uh, over, uh, um, uh, um, sort of, uh, uh, cultural, uh, uh, deceleration that we're putting on, uh, all that process. So I think the difference that bothers me is between making our grandchildren twice as rich in 2100 as today, All over the world.
AI assessment note: “I'm out here to pick people's brains, to re-energize my own optimism”
