Power is seized with the gun and maintained with the pen. Controlling public opinion through propaganda and misinformation is the most critical task of an authoritarian power.

We've had a collective gap of imagination around economic bridges. Lincoln used the government as a battering ram to bring opportunity to those left behind. The country was modernising, industrialising, and Lincoln wanted to empower people. We did that. Franklin Roosevelt did it with the GI Bill. We know how to build bridges; we just don't build them.

It turns out, though, very clearly, that our social networks are no larger in virtual worlds than in reality. The people you have on your network are the people you would typically keep into contact with in reality, face to face. The difference is, though, that you get lots of 'hangers on' appearing on your network.

Reflect on the 1950s when computers occupied vast air-conditioned rooms filled with vacuum tubes. This gradually transitioned to smartphones we can hold in our palms. The trajectory is clear: technology is getting intimately closer to us. I envision its next iteration as smart glasses or even smart contact lenses, offering an augmented layer over our perception.

Western societies have to heed the strategies of the east where innovation and progress are fundamental parts of their attitudes to business. Japanese carmakers built their sustainability from their constant ability to innovate rather than being cheaper.