#RAPT BizTrendsTV | Bronwyn Williams: The Dark Forest, fat pigs, pitchforks, and giant monsters
Better known to RAPT BizTrendsTV viewers as the host of the programme, in this episode, Bronwyn Williams has moved seats, from host to guest, as she chats to Danette Breitenbach, Bizcommunity managing editor.
Africa’s prospects going forward
Known for being cautiously optimistic about Africa’s future, Williams likens Africa to a treasure trove that has been very attractive to the rest of the world for a long time.
“Too often Africa ends up on the losing side of its own abundance due to external interests having a considerable interest in the stuff that we've already got,” she says.
So, she believes that one of the biggest challenges we as a continent have to counter is the narrative the rest of the world tells us.
"The rest of the world is underplaying our value, and this is a very deliberate narrative, and we need to step up and recognise our own value."
Africa at a crossroads
She says Africa is at a crossroads at the intersection of technology, economy and governance.
The convergence of AI on the one side and a digitisation or blockchain-isation of a financial economy are converging to form a digital identity to play and automate.
“Decisions, political and societal, made today will dictate whether the continent harnesses its intrinsic value or succumbs to external pressures,” says Williams.
“On paper, it looks like Africa is far behind, but in many ways, much like with our financial sector, not having infrastructure in place means you can integrate these things very quickly once you have the political will to get going,” says Williams.
India, she says, is a great case in point.
“If you look at India’s rapid digitisation journey, you will see that it was backed by political will and financial incentives.
“The most chaotic market that you can imagine, and yet by simply putting a few large incentives and disincentives in place, they have been able to digitise the economy very quickly.”
There is a lot of interest, from private and public sectors, looking at Africa and how to produce that digitisation layer.
Her point is that once you've got political and financial will, you simply need an on-ramp and an off-ramp to get these systems started, and that on-ramp becomes congested fast when that is connected to things like social grants.
“We have seen here how quickly we were able to digitise social grants.”
The future is twofold
But she says, then it all depends on what we do with it.
“The same technology that can enable digitised education and connectivity for your population, can also enable surveillance and control for an authoritarian government.”
Ultimately, when it comes to the future of Africa, our future is tied to the sorts of governments we elect and tolerate.
Depending on this, the future is twofold; technology could power education and connectivity where the equitable use of technologies benefits Africa's or it will enable authoritarian control and increased inequality.
Through the Dark Forest
In reference to this, Williams also gives a peek into what trends Flux Trends is seeing.
While she cannot divulge too much, she says the theme is “Through the Dark Forest”.
“If you're an extremely online person, you will know what we are getting to, but essentially it is speaking to the issues of artificial intelligence (AI) in particular, and the effects on society.”
She adds that it is also picking up on the narratives of how, for this year, for the first time, we now have more content generated by machines than humans.
“It is the idea of a more sterile kind of information forest developing, and then what happens to the people walking through it, and how we navigate our way through this increasingly synthetic digital/real world that we all have to, you know, navigate together.”
The fairytale
If it sounds like a fairytale, it is like that, and fairytales balance dark and light, which Williams says is what we need to think about.
“These (AI) are magical technologies that allow us to have the superpowers previously available only to gods.
“And much like fairy tales have magic, they also have people. Usually, the heroes are small children, with wide eyes who notice and speak the truth even amongst total obfuscation and many lies around them.”
In many ways, while the millennial and Gen Z generations are the ones who have this whole transition the hardest, it is not surprising that we are seeing the Gen Z-led movements signify a groundswell of demand for change, indicating a shift towards more equitable technology use.
"Learning to integrate with the digital and connected economy is not natural for humans. We have had to learn step by step. At the same time, we've had this sort of crossover generation.
"The millennials, for whom our financial or monetary promises broke down with the financialisation of housing markets and the debt crises that we're still dealing with.
"Generation Z is dealing with the fallout of the good side of the economy and the promises we were told and the rules that we believed in and built our lives on.
"Millennials lost out financially, and Gen Z is losing out in the workplace. Now Gen Z's activism and changing political dynamics offer a hopeful glimpse into the potential for positive change," she explains.
A new way of working and living
In this new world, we must figure out a new way of working and living.
“It is about finding your personal value and separating your value from your price and from your job and from your job title and figuring out what value you are adding to society.
"For young people, it is about separating the stories they were told about what success looks like and letting go of a whole lot of ideas, because otherwise you are setting yourself up for disappointment.
“Once you can focus on the actual value you bring, separated from your job, from your salary, and walk forward, you are much better equipped in terms of agency and empowerment to survive in a very hypercompetitive world.”
Fighting for the fat pig
We need to come back to the idea of where the real value sits.
In her book with co-editor Sharon Peers, Survive the AI Apocalypse, she says they found that the world is unfair - not a new thought, but her point is that technology is good at identifying the pools and pockets in the world where people are taking more than they are making.
That then becomes what attracts talent and technology to go and claw some of that back.
She gives the analogy of the fat, lazy pig over here, and then over there, you've got the lean and hungry young people with their little sticks and forks that want to come and get that pig.
“And you also have giant monsters, which in our little story here could be the nice big tech companies who could just eat everyone up altogether, right?
“This is very much about survival of the fittest.”
Williams says that there are two ways this can play out.
“The one is to be a victim, and the other one is to forget about luck and start figuring out what you can do about things using your own agency to take luck out of the equation.”
This will see some people succeed, but for most of us, she says, the odds are not in our favour.
“We need to survive this shift by doubling down on articulating, defending, and really being very clear that our counterparties understand our real value.
Having real value
In the African context, that means figuring out how we're going to play this game.
“Are we going to chase rockstar odds and try to catch up with the giant monsters? Is it even possible at this point?
“Or are we going to have a different sort of place in this value chain, and are we able to figure out what that value is, and are we able to price that value fairly?
"The time to choose...is getting less every day," warns Williams, as she advocates proactive choices for a prosperous future.
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BizTrendsTV is a collaboration between Bizcommunity, Rapt Creative and The Real-Networks consortium, and the first-of-its-kind trend show focusing on global topics impacting future socio-economic trends from a uniquely Afrocentric perspective.
Hosted by a leading voice in the African business trend ecosphere - fast-talking, fast-thinking Bronwyn Williams - futurist, economist, future finance specialist and business trends analyst - in conversation on trending topics such as AI, influencer farming, billionaire bunkers, distraction democracy, Gen Bees, hyper-capitalism, trade wars, exclusionary geopolitical policies, hot wars and more with leading PanAfrican futurists.
A new episode is available on the last Tuesday of every month on Bizcommunity and via The Real Network digital platforms.
