With another year ending, it seems like it has passed by way faster than previous ones. Could it be because I started this year with another visit to China? Anyone who is familiar with China knows that it runs at 3x faster than anywhere else. That visit was so invigorating (to see how China is still striving to build and evolve for the better) it brought me out of the funk I was in for most of 2024. What followed from then was a year full of blessings.

Another many more meals shared with old and new friends. Even the most mediocre of dishes can be turned into Michelin starred quality in the company of loved ones.

Another plenty more swims. Only the wild, chilly and dramatic beauty of the Atlantic Ocean could make me abandon my decades long devotion to swimming in a heated pool.

These days we constantly bombarded with news of how AI is going to eliminate millions of jobs, be our therapists, cure cancer, heck, it will even create a whole new science! I find myself asking what AI is for? Surely, there is no way it can do all these things, right?

I have plenty more questions about AI. Let me start with the two that have puzzled me the longest: How is AI different from previous software and other technologies we’ve had before? I ask this as someone who previously worked in software engineering and in both software and hardware support. Nevertheless, I have checked more than once if I really know what artificial intelligence is. Here are a couple definitions: Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to the ability of computers and machines to mimic human problem-solving and decision-making capabilities. AI does this by taking in a myriad of data, processing it, and learning from their past in order to streamline and improve in the future. A normal computer program would need human interference in order to fix bugs and improve processes. I have read these and other definitions over and over again for years now and I just can’t for the life of me see how AI is distinct from other software such as operating systems like macOS, or applications like Excel. Hasn’t Excel been solving mathematical and accounting problems that would normally be done by humans for decades? Google Docs have been providing editing suggestions for years. Granted, now it can actually (re)-write passages for you. Isn’t it simply an improvement of its editing capability?

I remember that rare sunny summer’s day in London, at my local park 4 years ago when a conversation with a man doing his Judo drills inspired me to give it a go. Instead I took up BJJ (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu), the training studio was more conveniently located to my home than a Judo studio. I figured it would do since BJJ is derived from Judo. When I started my wish was to become a Samurai because I had read somewhere that the Samurai drank matcha before a battle. For over a decade, I have drank a cup of matcha first thing in the morning before I face the battle that is life. All I was missing was some martial arts skills! And Jiu-Jitsu was one of the martial arts used by Samurai. I imagined that it was going to be this beautiful Zen experience of discipline, growth and strength, the world better watch out! How am I doing, after almost 4 years of training? Well, I have gotten even better at drinking matcha, so much so that there is a global shortage. As for the rest, let’s just say that I often think about the old saying of “be careful what you wish for…”

For a start, I’ve gotten really sweaty! I’ve done all sorts of exercises, running, HIIT, Spinning, weights etc… None of them has made me sweat half as much as BJJ. By 15 minutes into the class, which is just after we are done with the warm up, I’m using the sleeves of my kimono to wipe droplets of sweat from my face to prevent them from landing on my training partner.

The most exciting thing to have happened to me this summer weighs about a kilo of a mixture of light to dark grey fur, has green eyes and a squeaky meow. I named him Xiao Liwu (小礼物)which means little present in Mandarin.

For as long as I could remember I didn’t get why people would have pets. Cleaning up dog poop, cat litter littered (no pun intended) all over the floor, your favourite shoes chewed away and your clothes constantly covered in fur. No thanks! Not even when I looked after my god children’s pets nor cat sat for my neighbors did I form any real connection. Then Covid happened. During the Covid lockdown I had the habit of going out for a walk at night. I had my preferred routes, usually the ones that were flat plains and lined with trees. However, one day I decided to change things up a bit and challenge myself by going up a road with the steepest incline in my neighborhood. I had just panted my way to the top of the hill, and stopped to recover my breath. A cat walked towards me and stopped in front of me. It was a robust tabby that had a long, ample fluffy coat that made it look bigger than its actual size. The cat looked at me with its bright and welcoming eyes. It was the most beautiful cat I had ever seen.

For those of us looking at recent major global events (Covid, live-streamed genocide, US trade wars with China, Europe and rest of the world, the rise, and rise, and fall then crash of cryptocurrencies, the vanishing of NFTs, etc…) and wondering: what’s next?

Ray Dalio answers: “The times ahead will be radically different from those we’ve experienced in our lifetimes, though similar to many times in history.” (Dalio, Ray. Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed or Fail(p. 1).

How does Dalio know this? Because he has spent the past five decades schooling himself on the history of empires and global economies to detect patterns of events, their cause and effect. He did this in order to successfully meet his obligations as an investment manager at Bridgewater, an asset management company he founded. He studied major empires such as the British, Dutch, French, German, Russian, US, Indian and Japanese for a period of 500 years, and the Chinese empire for 600 years. He saw that great empires typically lasted roughly 250 years, give or take 150 years, with big economic, debt, and political cycles within them lasting about 50 to 100 years (Dalio, Ray. Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed or Fail (p. 14).

My recent trip to China and Singapore had me reflecting on discussions I’ve had on the merits of Western capitalist system. The discussion tends to end with someone (not me) saying: “it isn’t perfect but it is still the best we have.” By “we” they mean the world. If I respond that I’m not sure it is still the best we have, especially if you look at China and what its economic model has achieved, they would defensively respond: “it is a communist state and there is no freedom.” And when I correct them that China hasn’t been a communist state for decades, it goes on deaf ears. As an ordinary person who has spent a considerable amount of time living in both the West and China, I didn’t feel more free in one or the other. I never felt unfree in China. It is one thing to hold outdated views about a far away nation, it is another to hold the same about your own society. So I’m baffled that despite ample evidence that many in the West are adamant that their economic system is “still the best we have”.

It dawned on me that the people who usually insist that capitalism is the best we have are usually from the top echelons of society. In other words the people who have benefited the most from the system. Let’s look at the U.S., the epicenter of capitalism.

I started this year in the future. No I didn’t develop some super power, nor did I do a Michael J. Fox and fly in a specially built supersonic transporter vehicle back to the future. All I did was buy a ticket and fly on a regular plane to China! Eh?!? You see, when I told a friend I was in China for the new year holidays he replied, “you are in the most futuristic country.” He isn’t the only person to have described China to me as the future. So what did I find in the future?

The good news is that I can still speak the language of the future! The bad news is that reading it is still a struggle. Not surprising as my Du Chinese app tells me that I can recognize just 1301 characters. As I mentioned before, my goal was to be able to read 1500 characters before my trip to China. But let’s not focus on the bad so back to the good news.

I walked into the arrivals lounge at Kunming airport when a man approached me to ask if I wanted a taxi. I sternly replied: ”不用了“. Just like that I was 金笛 (Jin Di, my Chinese name) again. She knows better than to get into a 黑车 (illegal taxi) at the airport. Instead she approached an airport security guard and asked where the official taxi rank was. She got into the taxi and instructed the driver to take her to her hotel. After she checked into the hotel, went and found a place to eat. At the restaurant, she didn’t hesitate to complain to the manager about other customers smoking at the table next to her. I watched her, surprised by how easily the words in Mandarin came to her as I hadn’t been to China for almost ten years. Yet I felt very comfortable and even confident in being my Jin Di self again.

I’ve been pretty miserable this year. At the same time I have also experienced an enormous amount of joy. As a rule and practice, I make it a point to find joy every day. I find it really helps to keep me hopeful. But, why have I been so miserable?

I’m absolutely horrified that I live at a time where so many children and other innocent people are killed daily in Gaza for over a year while Western governments that for my entire life have proclaimed to be beacons of diplomacy and protectors of human rights have not only not intervened to stop it, but have been complicit. Then there is the Russia/Ukraine war that has been going on for almost 3 years with an estimate of a million killed. A war that could have ended a month after it started thanks to diplomacy but Western governments prevented it. This year marked half a century since I’ve been alive so this isn’t unfortunately the first genocide I’ve witnessed. There were the genocides in Darfur, Rwanda, Bosnia and Herzegovina. There also have been a few wars too, Afghanistan, Iraq, Congo, Syria etc… Nor am I unfamiliar with Western governments’ foreign policy record of initiating, financing and participating in wars and destruction of countries in the global south. Knowing this doesn’t make me feel better, in fact, it has made me feel worse. Don’t we know better? I’ve been wondering why we still have wars and genocides?

As I’ve shared before, I’m fond of watching shows from all over the world. I love that I can travel and experience different cultures through them. I’ve observed that stories that are being told are pretty much the same regardless of whether they are from Brazil, South Korea, Mexico, or Norway or Nigeria. For example, boy meets girl, they fall in love but can’t be together because of family opposition due to wrong social class, color etc… Another popular story theme is the super rich fighting over the family business empire and wealth. There is the battle between good and evil which could be in the guise of the police, the good, hunting down evil drug dealers and/or murderers, or the government, the good, defending against terrorists from “other” countries. I tend to avoid the latter type of shows because they tend to be high on violence and BS. It got me wondering, why do we like to tell and consume the same stories over and over again? And how do the creators of the shows manage to keep audiences engaged in the same stories?

It was very disconcerting to hear Dr. Mary Claire Haver explain on the Huberman Lab podcast that when she started to experience perimenopause she was shocked by the void of information. I thought if Dr. Haver, a highly experienced Obstetrics and Gynecology specialist knew very little about perimenopause, imagine a lay person like me. Since myself and some friends have been experiencing perimenopause and menopause we too have been bewildered by the low level of knowledge and services available from the medical profession. I had no idea what was going on with my body. I didn’t initially experience hot-flashes, the only symptom I had heard women suffer from during this period. Instead I had extremely painful dry skin and insomnia which was really strange because I’ve always been diligent about moisturising my skin, and one of my best talents is being able to sleep anywhere, at any time and on demand. I’ve been wondering how such a significant period of a woman’s life could be forgotten by the medical profession. Is not like it lasts just a couple of years. Perimenopause alone will last anywhere from 7-10 years. And menopause can “go on forever” as a friend in her seventies once commented that she experienced “hot-flashes” until she was 70. Typically menopause symptoms last up to 10 years but could last for the rest of women’s life.