Benno Pieters' Blog

  Dit is een vertaalde versie van artikel van het Wereld Economisch Forum (WEF), waar zoveel om te doen is als visie op de toekomst. Deze versie is gevonden op Forbes als vooraankondiging van de WEF agenda in 2016. (Ik heb het oorspronkelijke artikel laten vertalen. Het origineel is te vinden in de link onderaan - Benno Pieters). [Tussen de vierkante haken, de technologie die dit mogelijk maakt] Welkom in het jaar 2030. Welkom in mijn stad - of moet ik zeggen, 'onze stad'. Ik bezit niets. Ik heb geen auto. Ik heb geen huis. Ik heb geen apparaten of kleding. [De stad is een Smart City waarbij alles met elkaar communiceert en bestuurd wordt door een AI. Het is een concept waar al 20 jaar aan gewerkt wordt. Mensen zullen er een zeer comfortable leven in hebben, is het idee.] Het lijkt misschien vreemd voor u, maar het is volkomen logisch voor ons in deze stad. Alles wat je als een product beschouwde, is nu een dienst geworden. We hebben toegang tot vervoer, accommodatie, voedsel e...

I believe that the Cottage Industry will return in Full Force! What is the Cottage Industry? In Medieval times, in the villages, people used to produce from their own homes. They had a small plot of land to grow vegetables, perhaps keep a cow, and had a few chickens. They were blacksmiths, or bakers, weavers, or cobblers and paid each other with pieces of silver. Some were beer brewers, which used to be very important because you could not always trust the water supply. Gold was used for larger items. In the Anglo-Saxon world, 1 troy ounce of gold, would buy a gentleman a hand-tailored suit. It still does. People were not really rich in those times, but they were quite happy. Here in the Netherlands, you can get a grasp of how that used to be at the Archeon Museum. Industrial Revolution Once the Industrial Revolution started, people flocked toward the cities because they could earn more. The Cottage Industry ceased to be effective as specialization and economies of scale started to set...

The oil producing countries are in for a shock! When you read or watch the news and you hear and see that the major oil producing countries are reducing oil production in an effort to raise prices, you would think that the €100 per barrel is an achievable goal. But it is a sympton and confirmation that oil prices are slowly but steadily dropping. Not that it cannot have one or two upside hiccups, but it is going down. Why? There is a good reason for this. When the oilprices hit an all time high of €161 per barrel in june 2008 (https://www.macrotrends.net/1369/crude-oil-price-history-chart)  it set of a chain of events. It made people realise that things had to change and many people around the globe set off to do just that. Now in june 2017, we can see a number of trend getting a firm foothold. Houses are going to be energy self sufficient within the next 15 years. Indeed, they going to be little energy suppliers by themselves. With solar roof panelling th...