Change Asia, change the world
Asia is where the future is being built.
I'm proud to be Asian, and I'm glad I'm living in Asia. This is where the future is being built. This is where the revolution is happening.
Digital Life Asia's mission is to create content that engages, educates, and empowers people. To show everyone how we can use science and technology to build a better world.
The Asian as techno-optimist
I have always been a techno-optimist. One reason I decided to launch Digital Life Asia was to promote technology as a force for good. I was a tech journalist and tech blogger before I joined the corporate world. Then I left the corporate world to launch my own media startup. But I am no longer a tech journalist or a tech blogger.
My purpose is not to bring you the news, but to be a passionate advocate.
A technology advocate, who would like all of us to see the big picture again, instead of just treating technology as bits and pieces of gadgets, software, algorithms, and platforms. Who wants to put the spotlight not just on multinationals and tech giants, but also on startups, SMEs, and ordinary people who are embracing technology.
A science advocate, in an age of anti-science. Climate change deniers, anti-vaxxers, flat Earthers, conspiracy theorists–the list goes on. Now, more than ever, we need to educate people and combat ignorance. Because this is literally a matter of life and death.
A gaming advocate, who has always championed responsible gaming. Who has chronicled the way video games have changed the way we work and play. The rest of the world is finally catching up to us gamers, with the growth of esports and game streaming.
A geek culture advocate, who grew up reading comic books and watching cartoons. Sometimes I am still amazed by how we geeks have inherited the Earth. Seems like yesterday when I first saw the Once and Future Queen of Cosplay Alodia Gosiengfiao. This was in November 2005, when the Level Up! community crowned her as the R.O.S.E. It Girl. Few had heard of cosplay in the Philippines back then. But the moment I saw Alodia, I knew she was destined for success.
And, most of all, an advocate for Asia. Because I truly believe that Asia will be at the forefront of the digital revolution.
Asia is where the future will be built.
Asia is the revolution.
Crypto and the future
In a world where America and Europe are losing faith in themselves, it is Asia that will help everyone move forward.
After all, as Animoca Brands Chairman Yat Siu has pointed out, Asia has embraced crypto, which can "save the capitalist narrative".
"Siu contends that crypto is a much less controversial subject in Asia, where people, he says, have embraced capitalism after living through failed experiments with other economic and political systems, including socialism.
"But in America and Europe, where capitalism has existed largely unchallenged for centuries, people—especially young people, Siu says—are converting their growing ire towards billionaires and inequality into disdain for the novel crypto industry.
"'Capitalism hasn't worked for them,' Siu says of younger, Western generations that have championed anti-capitalist rhetoric in recent years."
To me, this is just more proof that the future is Asian, and that we will continue seeing the Asianization of the world.
What we need is techno-optimism working hand-in-hand with Asian-style democracy and Asian-style capitalism. Not the gloom and doom of the Western narrative.
I'm proud to be Asian. And I'm proud to be doing my share in saving the world.
