New World Same Humans #61
A special instalment: planning the future of NWSH
Welcome to New World Same Humans, a weekly newsletter on trends, technology, and society by David Mattin.
If you’re reading this and you haven’t yet subscribed, then join 16,000+ curious souls on a mission to build a better shared future 🚀🔮
This week, a special edition of the Sunday note.
I’m planning the future of New World Same Humans, and I want to fill you in on what’s coming.
And one more thing: I need your help to make it happen.
Signs of the Times
Consider:
// Three days from the time of writing, NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter – which currently stands in the Jezero Crater on the surface of Mars – will embark on its first flight. The voyage will, in one sense, be modest: if all goes to plan Ingenuity will lift off from the Martian surface some time on Wednesday, and hover for 30 seconds at a height of 10 feet before coming in to land. But that short journey will also be an amazing milestone: humanity’s first ever controlled, powered flight on an alien planet.
🪐 It took homo sapiens 300,000 years to get to powered flight on Earth. It’s taken 118 years from that moment to this.
// A new paper in Nature says that China’s attempts to meet carbon emissions targets are under threat from bitcoin mining. In a simulation built by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, bitcoin mines generated 130.5 million tons of carbon in 2024; that’s more than the annual output of the Czech Republic. China powers 80% of the world’s trade in cryptocurrency, and 40% of its electricity-intensive bitcoin mines exist in regions that run on coal-burning power stations.
⚡ Rewind five years and bitcoin was the preserve of a tiny band of true believers. Now, it’s a significant energy consumption factor in the world’s second largest economy.
// Elon Musk’s Neuralink released a video of a monkey playing Pong on a tablet device. But that’s not the news. The news is that the monkey, called Pager, was playing Pong using only his mind. Neuralink scientists implanted a device in Pager’s motor cortex; specifically in the part responsible for hand and arm movement. The device sends back data on the monkey’s brain activity, and once an algorithm has been calibrated it can decode the arm movements Pager intends to make when they exist only as thoughts. And there you have it: monkey MindPong.
🧠 In the coming decade, via mind-brain interfaces, the boundaries between humans and our devices will start to fade away.
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The Future of NWSH
An autonomous helicopter on Mars. Bitcoin-fuelled climate concern. And monkey mind tennis. Three glimpses of the strange, wonderful, scary reality we inhabit in 2021.
New World Same Humans exists to make sense of this kind of change. I started the newsletter in January 2020, when the pandemic was just a whisper emerging from Wuhan. Today, our community encompasses 16,000 founders, technologists, designers, marketers, policy makers and more, all motivated by the idea that we don’t have to leave our shared future to the powers that be.
I’ve loved every minute of building this community. Best of all has been connecting with you, the readers: the countless emails I’ve replied to, the new online friends I’ve made in the Slack community.
Thank you to all of you for giving me your time each week; it is massively appreciated.
We’re about to live through one of the most exciting – and perhaps most dangerous – decades in history. I want NWSH to be watching every step of the way. And that means that it’s time for me to think about how to make this newsletter sustainable for the long term. There’s so much to do: a podcast series, expert interviews, essay box sets, and more. The upshot is I need to buy more time.
Given that, two exciting developments are coming.
// Sponsored Posts
I’m launching NWSH Sponsored Posts.
That means shout outs to sponsors inside some of the weekly emails, and occasional dedicated posts, too.
These messages will be a long way from traditional ads, though. My priority remains you: the readers. So I’m devising sponsored slots that make this newsletter more useful, by bringing you news of the startups, events, brands, and more that I think should be on your radar. And coupling that with analysis that you can apply. My primary rule: if I’m not excited to tell you about a sponsorship client, then I don’t work with them. And I have a great first sponsor lined up.
Which brings me to a request. When potential sponsors are sizing up this newsletter, they want to know all about you: the NWSH community.
***So you can help move our community forwards by taking few minutes to fill out this quick and anonymous form, to tell me a bit about yourself and what you want from NWSH. The form will take no more than a couple of minutes, and you can find it here.***
There are only seven quick questions. No names are included.
Once the data is in, I’ll share the results. And also let you know you know more about how Sponsored Posts will work.
// Futures Club
I want the newsletter as you know it – the Sunday and Wednesday emails – to stay free. But I am working on something exciting that I hope can take our journey to the next level: it’s called Futures Club.
Futures Club is not a paid version of NWSH, but a standalone offering. Where NWSH is all about the trends and ideas shaping our shared future, this community will be about supercharging you. That means empowering you to see what’s coming next, and giving you the practical tools you need to use that foresight in your career or business. Expect reports, live hangouts, and insights from leading professionals building the future inside their industries.
NWSH is all about our collective mission to help build a better tomorrow. Futures Club will accelerate your quest to do just that. More details coming soon; but if you’re keen to get an early sneak-peak, just hit reply to this email!
I See You
I hope you’re excited as I am for the launch of this next stage.
Remember, the reader questionnaire will take just a few minutes, and you’ll be helping to make NWSH sustainable for the years ahead.
If you want watch the livestream of Ingenuity’s first flight on Mars on Wednesday, then check the NASA TV page for updates on the timing.
I’ll be back on Wednesday with New Week Same Humans. Until then, be well,
David.