" If we went from Walkman to Nokia phone and from Nokia phone to ChatGPT, for my daughters who are three and five years old in Generation Alpha, what will be their technology? What’s the science fiction of today that will happen in the next twenty years? That’s something for you to think about, because when you are here, imagine what the jobs are here in order to have a job. Today I’m working in biotech and AI, a field my university and schools never prepared me for. Nobody ever taught me to work in biotech or AI. I assume you don’t want to be replaced by AI, so my question is, what is this job? What is the technology of the next generation? Because that is going to be your job for the next twenty years. " - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast
"Why did the world suddenly change? It wasn’t accelerating before; it was mostly static, and then it began accelerating. There are different components to it. One part is technology, a world where we can create more and more value from fewer people. Historically, accounting used to be done on paper in our grandparents’ time. Another part is the trade of resources and ideas globally. Singapore was known for electronics." - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast
"It's interesting for us to think about and be thankful that out of all generations of humanity, I would rather be born in this one. King Henry I and all those before died from war, gout, disease, cold, and flu. Today in Singapore, you can walk into any clinic, get treatment, and have better healthcare and a longer life than the kings of England 400 or 500 years ago. This is the best generation to live in compared to all past generations. Even though it can be depressing to read the news on TikTok or anywhere else, compared to all humanity over the past million years, this is the best generation to be living in." - Jeremy Au, Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast
Jeremy Au explains how human civilization remained mostly unchanged for nearly a million years before experiencing rapid economic and technological growth in just the last few centuries. He traces this transformation from basic survival to modern innovation, reflecting on how technology, trade, and governance reshaped human life and why Southeast Asia’s development tells a unique story.
00:42 A Million Years of Sameness: Jeremy describes how humans lived by farming, hunting, and foraging for generations, using the same tools and passing down the same skills over time.
02:00 Flat Growth for Centuries: He explains that for hundreds of thousands of years, the global economy grew only about 0.05% per year, with little change in productivity or living standards.
06:40 Francis Bacon’s Utopia: Jeremy shares how in 1626, Francis Bacon imagined a future where humans could create light and see distant or microscopic objects, which were once seen as miracles.
09:00 Three Generations of Technology: He compares the Walkman era, the Nokia phone generation, and today’s iPhone and ChatGPT world, showing how fast technology evolves within three generations.
20:10 Southeast Asia’s Economic Divergence: He highlights how Singapore’s GDP per capita now matches the United States, while Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines remain far lower.
