Game Theory #15: The Return of History w/ Professor Jiang (Transcript)

Editor’s Notes: This lecture, titled “Game Theory #15: The Return of History,” explores the transition from a U.S.-led unipolar world toward a new era of global instability and shifting power structures. The lecture analyzes the decay of the three pillars of “Pax Americana”—military supremacy, the dominance of science as a global religion, and the universality of the US dollar—explaining how their decline is leading to a paradigm shift. As the speaker examines the impact of resource scarcity, aging populations, and regional conflicts, he challenges viewers to adapt to a future defined by resilience rather than just efficiency. (Mar 24, 2026)

TRANSCRIPT:

The End of History and the Unipolar Moment

PROFESSOR JIANG XUEQIN: When the Berlin Wall fell, there was an American State Department official named Francis Fukuyama, and he wrote a very influential essay called “The End of History.” For decades, capitalism was in a struggle with communism. And in his essay, Fukuyama argued that with the triumph of capitalism, we’ve come to the end of history. Meaning, we now know what humanity most strives for, which is a liberal consumer democracy where people feel empowered to have the freedom to buy whatever they want. And this for him was the apex of human civilization.

And this creates what is called the Unipolar Moment where America is the global hegemon and it creates a world that is heavily globalized, capitalistic and very individualistic. And this is a very unique moment in human history. And we’ve come with this one Iran to the end of this moment. Alright. So let me first explain the three major characteristics of this unipolar moment.

The Three Pillars of the Unipolar Moment

# Pillar One: Pax Americana

The first is what I call Pax Americana. Where American power, American military might guarantee peace in the entire world and this is unique in human history where for the first time there was a power that was able to dominate the entire globe and America was able to do so through three mechanisms.

The first is of course its military power but specifically aerial supremacy, which is backed up by special forces and the CIA. So the CIA was able to infiltrate every single government in the world and identify who would be loyal to the American empire and then promote this person. If there were individuals that challenged the American empire, these people were demoted or eliminated. Nations that proved problematic, for example, maybe Syria or Libya, special forces went in to sabotage the economy and then aerial power went and destroyed the government. And so this way, Pax Americana.

Now what’s good about this is that it did bring peace to very problematic regions. For example, in East Asia, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, China, Vietnam not competing against each other. Just participate in global economy which brought tremendous wealth and prosperity to the East Asia region. This is true also in Europe, and South America as well.

# Pillar Two: The Supremacy of Science

The second mechanism is mass surveillance through the popularization of the internet. Believe it or not, but the internet was created not actually to help you communicate and to watch pornography, it was actually to have a mass surveillance system over the entire human population so that the Pentagon, the military knew exactly the vibe or the culture, the attitudes, the emotions of each region and through social media through platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, they were able to manipulate certain emotions.

And the third is something called a rules based international order. And what this means is American power hid behind multilateral organizations such as the United Nations, such as the World Bank, such as the World Trade Organization. And so people didn’t notice that the American military empire was dominating everything. They believed that the world was fair and just and through logic and reason and debate, they could present their case. Alright, so for the longest time, Pax Americana provided peace and stability to the world which brought tremendous prosperity.

Number two is the supremacy of science. So for most of human history, people were religious. They believed in gods. But with the rise of Pax Americana, science became the dominant religion of the whole world.

The last example is Covid. Covid was raging across the world and then they introduced vaccines. Now, I teach critical thinking skills. So when I first learned about the vaccines, I was a bit skeptical. I said to my friends who are Chinese and American, vaccines used to take about ten years to develop and that’s when the virus is stable and have been around for centuries. But this COVID is constantly mutating and they haven’t done enough trial research. So is it really safe to take these vaccines?

And whether they were Chinese or American, their response was the same, which is: “How dare you question science? You are a peasant. Have you gone to school? Have you no culture? Can you not think?”

And it shows you how science has become the new religion of the world. And if you think about it, the scientists that run the world, they’re actually transnational priests. Science is an actual brotherhood where if you’re a scientist in China, you’re not actually loyal to China, you’re actually loyal to the international order of science because that’s how you get promoted. You get published in Nature or Science, if you win an award like the Nobel Prize, that’s how you get rewarded. So you’re better off being loyal to the order of science rather than your own nation state. And of course it is the American empire that controls science.

# Pillar Three: The Universality of the US Dollar

And the third unique aspect of the unipolar moment is of course the universality of the US dollar. And it’s incredible to think about where just a piece of paper you think it’s gold, you think there’s value in it, and not just you but everyone around you, so that if you take your US dollars you can go anywhere in the world and buy yourself a villa or enjoy a nice vacation or fly around.

But not only that, but you aspire your life to accumulate as much US dollars as possible.

Instead of reading a difference between $100 million and $100 billion, there’s actually no difference, you can’t spend it. But you want to achieve as much as possible, and as a result, you focus your entire life on accumulating as much as possible.

So these are the three main pillars of the unipolar moment. And again, in the beginning, maybe the early nineties, this led to tremendous peace and prosperity throughout the world.

The Decay of the Unipolar Moment

The problem though is that over time, these three pillars started to decay.

Pax Americana started to itself ignore the rules based international order, which it itself created. America started to bomb countries such as Libya and Syria without international approval. Most recently it went to attack Iran without even asking for the opinion of the world or even caring what the world thought. So this leads to the idea of hubris. Maybe the first generation appreciates the importance of collaboration, of consensus, but the second generation, the children, are arrogant. They’re hubris. They want to enjoy their power.

Supremacy of science basically becomes a religion in itself, orthodoxy. So that science does not become the main engine of innovation in the world. It becomes the main engine of orthodoxy or suppression. That’s why for the past twenty, thirty years, we’ve seen very little in terms of technological innovation. Don’t tell me Silicon Valley is the center of innovation in the world. All they do is make food delivery apps.

It’s been a long time since we’ve seen massive innovation in the world. What we’ve seen these past twenty to thirty years is the scaling out, the popularization of innovation, where American technology is spread throughout the world especially in China. We have not seen actually major innovation in science itself.

And the third thing, the universality of the US dollar leads to printing dollars, or just basically corruption. Where because America is able to print as much US dollars as it wants to fund its corruption, it does so. So the US dollar has lessened in value. And what this means is, basically, it’s made inequality worse. It’s made corruption worse. It’s made people very lazy.

If you’re a young person, you’re like, “No matter how hard I work, I’m still screwed in the end. Because the boomers, the older generation have so much more money than I do. I can never catch up. So I refuse to play this game.” Either you quiet quit, or you gamble. You pray that if you put $100 in Bitcoin, it’ll go up to $10 million, or the stock market or sports betting. That’s why, in America, gambling has become so popular.

The War in Iran and the End of the Unipolar Moment

Alright, so this has led to today, basically. We shouldn’t see this war against Iran as just a decision of one person, Donald Trump, or the machinations of a country, Israel. Really, this war in Iran is happening because we’ve come to the end of the unipolar moment, because the American empire has become corrupt, self-indulgent, lazy, arrogant.

Alright, so with the end of the American empire, with the end of Pax Americana, we are shifting towards a new world. And this new world, some will survive, most will not. Because this is true for our history where when the heart declines and the world of water is shifting, where there’s a paradigm shift, people are forced to make a hard choice of either adapt or die.

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Adapting to the New World: From Efficiency to Resilience

Alright, so let me show you here what how we’re going to change if it is to survive. Basically, what has happened is we have to move from an emphasis on efficiency to resilience. That is the main goal in the future.

Today, it’s really about how to make things as cheap as possible and get it to as many people as quickly as possible to make as much money as possible. The idea of efficiency, generating as much profit as possible. The idea of resilience is to appreciate that there will be a series of crises and what you need to do is focus on adapting and surviving these crises.

So for a nation, for a community to survive in the future, there are three major changes. And if you’re able to make these three major changes, you will survive. If you do not make these changes, you will be eliminated. Survival of the fittest.

# Change One: From Materialism to Spirituality

The first thing we need to do is move from materialism to spirituality. Right now, the entire world, these nation states have convinced the people that what matters is your material well-being. If you are driving a car, if you have a house, if you have enough food to eat, then you should shut up and obey because we’re doing a good job.

But in the future, governments can’t do that because there’s not enough resources to go around. Different governments have to make you believe that what matters is your happiness, your well-being, your spirituality. And that usually means a renewed focus on religion.

# Change Two: From Individuality to Community and Family

The second thing is to move from a system of individuality to community and family. And what this means is today, what you’re taught in school, what you’re taught in society is what matters is you, me. The ego. If it’s doing well for me, it’s good. I don’t actually care about other people. In the future, you have to focus on building a community, on helping others.

# Change Three: From the Old to the Young

And the last major shift is from the old to the young. And this is very simple and this is actually the hardest thing to do, which is that today most countries, especially the wealthy Western industrial nations, are controlled by the baby boomers, the elderly, the gerontocracy. They have all the money, they have all the power. But for a scientific fact, in the future, this power needs to shift to a younger generation. Ideally, maybe in their 30s. The younger the better.

And you think this is easy to do. It’s not. Because first of all, these baby boomers have access to the best health care in the world. They have a lot of money, and they really enjoy living, and they’re also really selfish.

So this is actually the hard problem to solve for most western societies. How do you transfer power from the old to the young? And quite honestly, historically, we’ve never ever faced this problem before. Never. Because the old simply don’t live that long. Now, they are living to at least 100 years old. So they stay another twenty years ahead of them in power. Meanwhile, the young cannot develop the experience and expertise in order to lead the nation.

So whichever nation actually is figuring out this problem first, how do you get the old to give power to the young, will most likely thrive in the new world that’s coming. And if you were to ask me which nation would most likely achieve this first, I would say Japan. And the reason is very simple. Because in Japan, this problem is the most pressing. They are the oldest population in the world and so they need to resolve this issue really, really quickly. And maybe in the next five to ten years, I think that Japan will actually resolve this issue. But it may be the only nation that’s able to resolve this issue because it’s so difficult.

You love your grandparents. Do you want to see your grandparents die? Of course not. You’re going against human biological nature.

A New World Built on Energy

Alright, so that’s the main argument I want to make to you today. So what we’re going to do now is we’re going to look at how the world’s going to transform because of what’s happening in the Strait of Hormuz, because of this war in Iran.

Basically, we’re in a new world because our world today is built entirely on access to cheap petroleum products, cheap energy. Why are you allowed to be in school learning from me rather than in the fields farming? Because of energy. Because of oil from the Middle East.

Your computer is based on what? Petroleum. This camera that’s filming me is based on what? Petroleum. This desk? Petroleum. This clothing? Petroleum. The medicine you eat? Petroleum. The food that you eat comes from fertilizers which is based also on petroleum.

So basically everything in this room, everything in the world is based on cheap petroleum. The entire global economy, the main foundation is cheap petroleum. So what happens in a world where petroleum is not cheap? Well, now you need a massive rebalancing in the world.

The Global Economy and Its Fragile Foundations

PROFESSOR JIANG: The other thing about the world is this is the GCC countries. Okay? The Middle East countries. And as you can see, this is really important to see is, around the year 2005, they started to have massive, massive account surplus. Meaning, they were selling so much oil, they couldn’t really spend all their money.

Do you guys know why? Why was this happening? What happened in 2005, 2004, that made these countries extremely wealthy? Alright, China. Okay.

Think about it. What’s China doing? Well, China in the eighties and nineties was putting factories. Right? But then trying to self-help this account surplus.

So now China wants to develop its industrial base. Right? And how do you do that? By importing oil from the GCC. Right?

And that’s why we have these skyscrapers, these malls, these roads. Okay? Because China was able to import all this cheap oil from the GCC. And then the GCC would take this money. Okay?

And then invest it back into the American Stock Market. But not just that, but they would invest it in Africa. They would invest in infrastructure. So for the longest time, the Chinese economy and the GCC are the two main pillars of the entire global economy. Okay?

And what this means is that if the GCC no longer is able to export oil, this is going to have a major impact on China, and together the two are going to have a major impact on the global economy. Okay? Basically, the global economy is dead. Alright. Okay.

Global Connectivity and Its Vulnerabilities

PROFESSOR JIANG: Another thing that you may not be aware of is today, flying around the world, it’s very simple to do. What we can do now is get our mobiles out, go to the website and look at where we want to fly to and book that flight for tonight. Pay using a credit card, take a taxi to the airport, get on a flight and we’re there the next morning.

That’s really, really impressive. Guess what, guys? You couldn’t do this twenty years ago. Okay? The technology was around, but it was not widely available.

Now look at this where the entire world is interconnected. Okay? This is a pretty stark chart where in 1950, it was considered a tremendous luxury to fly. You had to be a millionaire, basically, to want to fly for vacation. Okay?

Everyone else just drove their car. Now, it’s like anyone can fly, and again this happened just in the past basically thirty, forty years. And this of course is because of Pax Americana, where Pax Americana will guarantee there’s no conflict in the world and therefore, planes will just fly around. Otherwise, you’d be shut down. Okay? Alright.

Well, this world is coming to an end. In the future, flights will be very expensive, and vacations will be unaffordable. Okay? Alright.

The Internet and Undersea Cables

PROFESSOR JIANG: This is the Internet, guys. You think that the Internet is just that you want the computer and then boom, the Internet is there. No, actually the Internet is undersea cables that connect the entire world. And unfortunately, there’s a war going on right here, guys, and unfortunately it’s really easy for Iran to cut off the undersea cables, which would lead to Internet disruption for maybe 20-30% of the world. Okay?

Africa, India, The Middle East, maybe parts of Europe will lose Internet access. You think, okay, well, that’s fine. They just won’t watch Netflix anymore. No. Okay? The entire world economy is based off the cloud.

So if you want to bank, if you want basically any finance. Okay? This is going to have a huge impact in the world, and this can happen anytime where for the reason there’s a war going on, some cables get cut off and then suddenly you’ve lost Internet access. And this would basically cause major disruptions throughout the world. Alright.

Population Growth and Food Scarcity

PROFESSOR JIANG: Okay. So one thing that you notice about this world is the sheer amount of population growth, where after World War Two, because of Pax Americana, you see a massive boom in population. And unfortunately, this is not sustainable. It is not possible for the planet to sustain 8 billion people, many of whom want to fly around the world twice a year, who want to drive an SUV, who want to have food every single day. Okay, so this population growth is not sustainable, and basically what happens is this: when you are too off balance, when there’s a correction, the correction is pretty extreme. Okay.

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So this chart by itself, the fact that we have so many people, means that if there’s a crisis, the population will see a massive shrinkage. Okay? You’re like, okay. How? And the answer is food scarcity. Food is today pretty common, but food is based on global trade.

Okay? So let me show you what I mean by this. Alright. So the yellow, okay, are places that need fertilizer to grow food. Meaning, their land is not good for farming.

So they need fertilizer to grow food. They also have a large population. As you can see, a lot of this is based in Africa and maybe Central Asia and parts of South America. Ammonia is a chemical produced from oil, from petroleum, that is fundamental for fertilizers. And as you can see, this is mainly in the North of the world.

What allows for 8 billion people is the fact that the North is able to export fertilizer to the South, and that’s it, guys. Do you understand? If this were to stop for any reason, people in the South would be in a lot of trouble. Alright? So as you can see, this trade in fertilizer is what sustains a global population of 8 billion people.

Again, if there’s a disruption to this trade, the people in the South are in a lot of trouble. Alright. So if you’re in the green, you’re okay. Okay? But if you are in the red, you are in a lot of trouble. Okay? You are in a lot of trouble if you are in the red.

But honestly, if you are not in the green, you could still be in a lot of trouble because again, what we’re looking for is resilience. The idea of efficiency is: let’s imagine the best case scenario and try to make as much money out of it as possible. Okay? The idea of resilience is: let’s imagine the worst case scenario and see if we can survive it.

Basically, if you have food security issues, you are facing a massive problem, okay, because again we’re imagining the worst case scenario. And again, I can say this, but if you’re in the green, you shouldn’t be worrying right now. Okay? And where’s China? Not in the green, guys. Okay. It’s something that national leaders in the world have to be talking about right now. Food scarcity. Alright.

Water Scarcity and Freedom

PROFESSOR JIANG: Water. Again, the countries that suffer from food scarcity, some of them also suffer from water scarcity. Okay? I might forget this. Alright. Okay. So basically, this area is in a lot of trouble.

I would say that water is far more problematic than food. And again, I have to say this, but if you are any country in this area, you should be worried.

Freedom is an important issue because freedom is actually important for resilience issues. Okay, and what this means is that when there’s a crisis, leaders and the population need to collectively make sacrifices. But when there’s very little freedom, meaning there’s very little transparency and accountability, where the public don’t have access to the leadership, the leadership could possibly make selfish, self-defeating decisions. And the public is not involved and therefore the public refuses to make sacrifices necessary in order to make the nation survive. Okay.

And so this leads to conflict around the world, and again, countries that suffer the most from food issues and water issues also are most likely to come into conflict with other people. Okay? So this is a map of nations at war. The red means that they were at war. Okay? And you can see Africa and The Middle East is especially under a lot of conflict, a lot of stress. While at the same time, they’re suffering from food scarcity and water issues. Alright?

Mega Cities and Resilience

PROFESSOR JIANG: Another issue I want to bring up is the idea of mega cities. And the idea of mega cities is any cities that have over 10 million people. And you think, wow, mega cities are amazing because you have shopping malls and skyscrapers. That’s great. No. No. No, guys. Mega cities are really bad. Okay? Mega cities should not exist. They exist because of globalization.

Because what mega cities do is they’re able to bring in a lot of people, have them specialize in a particular area, make it industrial, and then export it to the rest of the world. Okay? And where are most mega cities located? Well, they’re located in India and in China.

There’s a problem because India and China both suffer from food and water issues. If you are to be resilient, you actually want most of your population not in cities but in the countryside growing food. Because first of all, they are self-sufficient, and second of all, you will have a food supply.

Unfortunately right now, China imports a quarter of its food, and also remember food also requires energy to grow. So China imports 75% of its oil. This brings up the question of how resilient is China. Okay. But not just China, but also any big country with a mega city or too many mega cities. India, specifically, will face problems in the future. Again, if you’re a national leader, you should be worried right now. Okay? Alright.

Migration, Aging Populations, and Cultural Conflict

PROFESSOR JIANG: So with this war and disruptions to global trade, we should expect massive instability in nations that are not very resilient. Okay? That have very little freedom, that have food issues, and which have water issues. Okay? And so you would see revolutions, you would see wars, you would see dominance, which leads to what? Which leads to massive migration. Okay?

So these are trends. These are migration trends that we’re already seeing, where people from Africa and The Middle East are moving to Europe, and people from South America and Latin America are moving to The United States. Okay, and we should expect these trends to not only continue but to accelerate by maybe a hundred times. Okay, and you think to yourself, okay, well, what Europe and North America can do is just build walls. Right?

They should, right now, build a wall because you’re going to see a massive influx of refugees due to food and water issues. And unfortunately, Europe and North America have a huge problem, and the problem, of course, is aging. Okay? So in 2020, the countries in purple are countries that have a significant elderly population. And this is 2050, where the entire Northern Hemisphere will have a significant elderly population.

So the North, the industrial economies, are aging very rapidly, which means their only option is to bring in cheap, desperate workers from the South who are fleeing conflict zones in order to run the economies. Alright, the problem of course is that this will lead to cultural conflict, where the local populations, native populations, will feel they’re being replaced by these refugees and these immigrants. And this will probably lead to civil conflict within North America and within Europe. Okay, and unfortunately, there’s really no way around this issue because the elderly aren’t controlled and they want people to mow their lawns. They want people to nurse them. They want people to deliver food to them. And unfortunately, young people don’t have to do that because their parents have money. Okay, so the way around this issue is importing cheap immigrant labor. Alright. Okay.

The Return of Mercantilism and Regional Trading Blocks

PROFESSOR JIANG: With the end of Pax Americana, what you will see emerge is regional trading blocks. Basically, the idea of Mercantilism. Okay? Mercantilism. And for most human history, this was what we did, where there was no one power that controlled the entire world.

What happened was that maybe you had a local hegemon which guaranteed trade among its allies, okay, and you didn’t trade with other people. You only traded within your regional trading block. And that’s the world we’re heading back towards. Okay, so this is a map of the sixteenth, seventeenth century, where you know you have these major empires like the British, the Portuguese, the French, the Spanish, and they have their own trade networks and they refused to work with each other, but the system worked fine. Okay. It was always more expensive, it was not so convenient, but it still works.

So this does not mean the end of global trade, it just means much more limited global trade. Alright.

Another thing that you will notice about the Asian economies is that slaves were a very important part of the trade. And the reason why is this: you need energy to run society. Today, we use oil. Back then, they used human beings. Right? You can no longer have access to cheap oil. What you do is you enslave people. And that’s why historically we’ve done things. Alright? Okay.

The Role of Religion in Resilience

PROFESSOR JIANG: So the last thing I want to talk about is religion. Because remember, the idea of resilience is you need people to focus more on spirituality and less on materialism. Because if they focus on materialism, their lives are getting worse and worse. Okay? So you need to cause a national spiritual rejuvenation in your country.

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And if you are in the gray, you might have issues. Okay? Why? Because your people are not religious and too materialistic. And unfortunately, East Asia. Okay? Japan, China, Korea, Vietnam are especially non-religious. That’s going to be a problem for them in the future. Okay. All right.

Summary: Major Trends for the Next Ten to Twenty Years

PROFESSOR JIANG: So let’s just summarize what we’ve learned so far. What are some major trends that we should expect over the next ten, twenty years? Again, I can say this. Alright, if you really believe that next week, Donald Trump and Iran are going to come to a peace agreement. If you believe that maybe in five, six months both Iran and The United States will exhaust themselves, the global economy will suffer too much and then they’ll just stop the war and make their way back to normal.

Future Trends and Geopolitical Outlook

I don’t know what to tell you. You’re living in a fantasy world. You have to wake up and recognize that this is the end of the Unipolar moment. We’re moving towards a new world and you can either choose to adapt to this new world or you will die. It’s that simple.

So massive trends are de-industrialization and de-urbanization, where people in the cities will have to move back to the countryside, especially young people. They have to learn real skills. No more cryptocurrency trading for you guys. Learn how to milk a cow, or kill a chicken, or grow food, whatever. Just do something useful for your life.

Nationalism and remilitarization is very important, where you have to get young people who are willing to fight and defend your land. That means getting them to believe that your nation deserves to be strong. So whichever nations are most ready and most able to excite their younger population in fighting wars will be the ones who will be most resilient. Pork-barrel systems, basically independent training blocks. Resource wars is a very big thing.

Famines, genocides, slavery. Remember, for most of human history, humans were the cheap energy. If you don’t have access to cheap oil, well, then you’re going to enslave human beings. This is not a pretty future, but it is a future that could happen, and you have to mentally prepare yourself for this possibility.

Mass migration, where people in the South are most likely to suffer from resource wars over water and food, and people will escape to Europe and America. Revolution, civil wars, political instability in America and in Europe because the baby boomers refuse to retire from the scene. These are aging populations, massive inequality, massive corruption, massive stagnancy, and so this will lead to chaos in the streets.

Religion is a big thing. If you are not religious, I actually recommend looking into the possibility of becoming religious. It’s going to be very useful for what can happen later on. These are things I will talk about more in the future, but I will bring them up now.

The World in Ten to Twenty Years

How do I see the world in ten, twenty years time? I will say this. I think that there will eventually be a line between Russia and Germany in Europe. Maybe for the next five, ten years, Germany and Russia will go to war against each other, but eventually, what the two will figure out is they’re better off actually working together rather than fighting against each other.

You have Pax Judaica. Remember, the entire point of this war in Iran from Israel’s perspective is to knock out America from the Middle East and establish yourself as the local patronage, and it becomes Pax Judaica. So I think Israel will come to dominate the Middle East. But what about Iran?

I know it’s hard to understand, but if the United States were to leave the scene and Israel and Iran had to go to war against each other, what would happen is they would ask why. Because Israel is like, “I don’t want Persia,” and then Iran is like, “I don’t want Israel.” So they would agree to split the Middle East up, where Iran controls the Levant and Israel controls the Halacha.

Historically, the Israelis, the Jewish people, they hated the Greeks, they hated the Romans, but they actually got along with the Persians. So this is history going back, where Persians and Jews actually get along very well. In fact, in the Middle East, the place outside Israel with the largest Jewish population is Iran, and they’re very well treated there. So I don’t see why, if America were to leave the scene, Israel and Iran couldn’t come to a mutually satisfactory agreement between both nations.

Japan and the Aging Crisis

Japan. I think the major problem facing all Western industrial nations is the aging crisis. What do you do with people who are 90 years old? They can’t get out of the house. Their brains aren’t really functioning properly, but they still control all the money, all the power, and they’re extremely influential.

Well, in most countries you can’t do anything about it, but Japan is a very special country where the elderly have a moral obligation to the nation, to the people. So it could be a situation where Japan is in a lot of trouble and the elderly voluntarily choose to exit power and give it to the young. I think Japan is the only nation that would do this voluntarily. Every other nation, basically, it has to be wars in order for the young to rise to power.

The American Holy Empire

The nation that is most capable of surviving the next few decades of tribulation and crisis is America. Why? Because America is so incredibly wealthy. It’s protected by two oceans. It really controls Canada and Mexico. So think of America not just as the continent of America, but really as the entire North American and Latin American sphere. That entire sphere is basically America. So that’s unlimited resources, unlimited population. And also, Americans are the most creative, the most entrepreneurial, the most energetic people in the world. So I would not bet against America.

But what I think will happen is that America will need a new identity in order to survive the age of tribulation. They will go from Pax Americana, which is a secular, global idea, to one that is much more nationalistic, that is more focused on community and nation. That means embracing Christianity. I think that Christianity is what will be the force that rebuilds America after the main crisis America will face over the next few years.

Techno-Marxism

The last thing that will happen is techno-Marxism, where nations that have the resources want to institute an AI surveillance state to better marshal the limited resources, to basically better control its people. It’s something we’ll talk about later on. But basically, you will have this sharp division of people in different classes. At the very top, you have freedom, but people at the very bottom become slaves or serfs.

So that is it for the trends I see in the future. Again, I say this, but you have to give the illusion that this war will end soon and that once this war ends, then we’ll go back to things before this war. No. The world has completely changed. We’re not going back to the old world. We’re going to a new world. And what this new world will look like is something that we can choose to control.

Q&A Session

AUDIENCE QUESTION: So about the new world, the relationships between countries will all be changed, such as China and Japan and those five big countries — the order will be changed?

PROFESSOR JIANG: The best way to understand the geopolitical situation is that it’s constantly in flux, constantly dynamic. You cannot easily divide nation states into enemies anymore. Their alliances will constantly shift over time. And the nation state system will also break apart into much more resilient communities. It’s possible that nation states become a series of city states.

Think about the world in maybe the 1930s, or maybe even China during the Warring States period. I can’t tell you that we’ll go to a new world and this is what it will look like. No. It will constantly change over time.

It’s possible that in the beginning, in East Asia, maybe Vietnam, Japan, South Korea, the United States, and Russia combine to contain China because they see China as the hegemon. But then they’re like, “Wait a minute. Japan’s rising in power. So let’s combine against Japan.” It’s a dynamic situation.

But basically, what you have to understand is that everything that you’ve been taught in school, everything that you understand about the world, everything you believe to be true of the world will change. And so you have to open your mind and be ready for constant political flux. Does that make sense?

Any more questions, guys? Alright. So now that we’ve looked at the world ahead for the next ten, twenty, fifty years — who knows how long — what I’ll do next class is examine how this war between the United States and Iran will eventually end.