the best is yet to be, or not to be? (wsc 2025)

Paul Fletcher

minister for communications in Australia; says that the nation's broadband network is "built and fully operational"

Canada

not densely populated; only G7 country without a high speed option despite countless studies

high frequency rail

replacement for high speed rail; would build new tracks and supply electric trains

Bertha

world's largest tunnel boring machine, broke when digging out a underground highway in Seattle

Big Dig

[highway] [Boston, USA]

- cost overruns, delays

- death of a motorcyclist due to ceiling collapses

- sharp lethal Ginsu guardrails

- corroded lighting fixtures

Channel Tunnel

[underground tunnel] [England to France]

- cost overruns

- fires, ice and snow

California High Speed Rail

[high speed rail] [San Francisco to Los Angeles] [in progress]

- public funded system

- delays, cost overruns

Sejong City

[capital city] [South Korea] [in progress]

- de facto administrative capital to relieve congestion in Seoul

Hambantota

[city] [Sri Lanka] [in progress]

- hit hard by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami

- growing to be the 2nd main city

NEOM

[city & arcology] [Saudi Arabia] [in progress]

- ambitious plans like floating complexes

- forcibly relocated many people and razed villages

- horrible working conditions

- harms the environment (ironically)

Khazar Islands / Caspian Islands

[artificial islands] [Baku, Azerbaijan] [stalled]

- very ambitious plans like 150 bridges

- Ibrahim Ibrahimov (president of the project) was arrested

Three Gorges Dam

[hydroelectric dam & power station] [Yangtze River, Central China]

- broken records for energy generated

- minimal greenhouse emissions

- recovered costs

- displaced a lot of people

- flooded culturally significant sites

- caused ecological changes

Hong Kong - Zhuhai - Macau Bridge

[longest sea crossing, with tunnels, bridges, and artificial islands] [Hong Kong to Macau to China]

- strict regulations

- delays, cost overruns (drifted island)

- 9 fatalities (not including China)

- faked safety results

- falling white dolphin numbers

New Eurasian Land Bridge

[rail link] [China and Central Asia] [in progress]

- Original Eurasian Land Bridge was halted after the Russia invaded Ukraine because it ran through Russia

Paro

a robotic seal providing social interactions with the elderly

kodokushi

people dying alone and remaining undiscovered

hikikomori

shut-ins, rising among middle aged people and the elderly

Robear

a prototype lifting robot; never got out of development

Hug

a lifting robot

Pepper

a robot designed to provide companionship and lead activities (e.g. karaoke, stretches),

meta crisis

the complex intersection of finance, technology, and climate change to create this big worldwide problem

The Canadian Solution

recruits immigrants aggressively in hopes of increasing fertility

The Hungarian Solution

asks women to stay at home to make more babies, with financial support; expensive and reverses gender equality

The Swedish Solution

offers financial incentives to those who have a baby, without sacrificing a women's career

low fertility trap

a hypothesis detailing that when a country gets used to low fertility, it becomes irreversible.

parasocial interaction

coined by Daniel Horton and Richard Wohl; a kind of psychological relationship experienced by an audience

Goldilocks hypothesis

identifies moderate use as optimal for wellbeing (social media and other stuff)

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act

details that social media companies are not liable for its content; criticized for being outdated

Rohingya

a muslim minority in Myanmar under threat from the government

Facebook (in Myanmar)

despite its large user base, faces poor moderation, causing anti-Rohingya propaganda to be able to spread

media saturation overload/headline anxiety

occurs due to the wide availability of negative news online

fear speech (in Myanmar)

forced actors to take a stance on the Rohingya genocide

framing effects

alters our perception of risk through wordplay

negativity bias

details how we pay more attention to all the worse things happening around us

affective forecasting

the attempt to predict how we will feel about something in the future

traumatic media

graphic and violent photos and videos; are widespread and seen by many

2013 Boston marathon

there was a bombing

Karōshi

death by overwork

mass 'seppuku'

ritual disembowelment, proposed to kill the 'useless' like elderly and the sick

degrowth

to shrink instead of boost the population