BC in 2100
and Beyond

The idea is extraordinary: structures in space that capture energy from a star. Our image is a symbolic interpretation, not an engineering blueprint or a prediction that we will build one by 2100. Its purpose is to ask a bigger question: what might become possible if we stop assuming the future must look like the present?

01A future beyond our imagination

Technology could change the world in ways we can barely comprehend today. Advances in artificial intelligence, energy, robotics, medicine and space exploration may reshape how we live, work and build. We cannot know exactly where those changes will lead. But uncertainty should make us more curious and ambitious, not less.

That is why the Dyson sphere belongs beside the British Columbia flag. One represents a future that stretches our imagination. The other represents the place where we can start doing something about it.

02Start building now

British Columbia has a choice. We can embrace technological change, attract people with bold ideas, make room for experimentation and push ourselves to build things that matter. Or we can keep planning around yesterday’s assumptions and risk falling behind as the world moves ahead.

Embracing the future does not mean accepting every invention without question. It means taking responsibility for shaping change: asking hard questions, managing its consequences and making sure its benefits reach people.

We do not need to build a Dyson sphere tomorrow. We need to start building the skills, institutions and ambition that make extraordinary progress possible.

The future will not wait for us to feel ready. We should start preparing for it now.

01Technology accelerator in British Columbia

First and foremost. I think the Fraser Valley (I would pick Whalley), could have its own accelerator like Y Combinator that would think GLOBAL which I think is lacking in the Vancouver tech ecosystem (I dabbled in it for 2 years before going to the Bay).

With Trump getting stricter on immigration, and Vancouver’s proximity to SF and even Seattle, I would start a recruiting campaign for the most gifted young talent that wouldn’t necessarily come from the traditional (UBC/WaterLoo/UofT). I’d maybe target genius-winning chess competitions in China or something, or maybe try to poach some of the top MIT grads etc.

The goal is to get the next Andrej Karpathy (UofT grad who could solve a Rubik’s Cube in less than 16 seconds that was the head of AI at Telsa) to want to start his company in the Fraser Valley!! I’d give them support, unlimited plane tickets to SF, community (like the hacker houses in SF), and push them to think big.

6 blocks from my apartment in SF in 2021, 7 co-founders met in a park during COVID to talk about AI – these are the founders of Anthropic. How do we create this effect in the Fraser Valley? I think it’s possible.

Why should the goverment be involved? Because as you likely know, it only takes one home run to careate literally thousands of well-paying jobs and to spawn the next generation of founders to repeat the cycle. High-paying jobs create revenue for the goverment, which pays for hospitals, etc.

02Government as a launchpad

As part of this tech ecosystem from above. Can we create a pathway so that these world-class entrepreneurs we bring in can have better access to provincial resources to help develop and scale global products?

Can we provide access, for example, for these entrepreneurs to build a “government AI-first operating system” with unlimited access to the City of Surrey systems (for example), which can be scaled and made into a product that can sell to the world? Etc etc.

03Transit that builds

Next thing I would look at is giving TransLink the ability to operate more like the MTR in Hong Kong. Probably Translink is the most similiar to MTR in North America, but I would take it further.

Can Translink build malls and towers and create long-term revenue streams that essentially make Translink a profit center? Maybe we need to recruit the top talent from Brookfield and MTR directly, and clear the pathway for these guys to do what they do best.

04A special economic zone

Lastly – can we create a special economic zone like Dubai, Hong Kong, Luxembourg that potentially has no income tax or gets to operate by a completely different set of rules that lets these companies have a cheat code to scale faster and attract unique businesses.

Maybe we take a large piece of land in the Fraser Valley. Maybe this can’t logistically be a piece of land, but instead can be a set of policies that apply to it. Maybe it is a piece of land in the interior and we build them an airport and let them build.

05A different way to build

If we need labor to build these things (special economic zone cities, airports etc), can we bring in temporariy workers making $50/day and give them great healthcare and housing? This is common practice around the world, like in Dubai, but they exploit them; we wouldn’t exploit them but we’d also pay far less than $100/hour.

Can we literally just bring in entire contracting crews from China that have experience building entire airports and let them build on our land? Critics will say you are exploiting – but the reality is nearly every product we use is built like this. Your Arc’teryx jacket was made with $20/day labour in Vietnam; when you call Telus, you’re talking to a $20/day call center worker in the Philippines etc.

Can we take this a step further and use that to build more hospitals, trains, housing etc etc in a much safer and more compassionate way then how these workers are treated in China, Dubai etc.

06What comes next

Alright, I understand this is essentially completely crazy thinking… but so is launching rockets to space for 1/10 the cost of NASA (Thanks Elon!)

And let’s not even forget to mention how AI, robots, etc. are going to create a massive shift in society in the next 5-10 years. Do we want to position ourselves ahead of it now? Or just wait for it to happen and go into panic mode in 5 years when 30% of white-collar jobs are eradicated.