The debate that later retirement of seniors reduces the hiring of youth has received new attention. Paul Mohnen published a paper on the “retirement slowdown on the US youth labor market” , which demonstrates this “crowding out effect”. Moreover, the recruitment of middle aged workers is also affected, as job changes slowed down for these age groups. The surprising finding is that higher skilled youth suffers the largest reduction in employment opportunities and become “pulled” into lower skilled jobs as jo offers for lower skilled persons remained high during the observation periods (until 2017!). This evidence suggests that the well-documented firm-level effect of fewer retirement means less recruitment holds also for society as a whole. Knowing that recruitment during a recession affects young workers more than persons already in employment, the macro level effects in 2025 will be rather unfavorable for young labor market entrants. (Image Frans Hals 1625, Odessa Museum in Berlin exhibition 2025). 
Robot repairs
Robots have been used mostly in industry for assembling, transport or sorting tasks. There is also a role in disassembling to enhance circularity. To repair electric or mechanic devices there is an enhanced version needed which starts with a diagnosis of the problem. Algorithms can sort out promising from dead end routes of repairs. However, the recognition of objects into things that can be repaired and those without repair potential is a worthwhile assistance. Beyond the economic and ecological rationale for repairs, there is an emotional or nostalgic sense to it as well. Maybe, from a life course perspective any object related to the teenager years of a person qualify for nostalgic value. Even simple robots or AI-assisted objects may qualify for this in future. Artificial friends will be like tamagotchis in need of repairs.
Humanoid services
In the shadow of AI enhanced chatbots, agentic AI and generative Ai, the developers make considerable progress in robotics. The humanoid versions like from Persona AI will surround us in months, or maybe a few years from today. Investors believe it is rather sooner than later. There are many use cases for humanoids that may take over dangerous, hazardous or unhealthy tasks from humans. But even simple tasks like carrying home most of our shopping could be done for us by humanoids that follow you around the shopping mall and home. This would be a kind of personal assistant. I even thought of my humanoid robot to walk my dog on some occasions on the usual trail.
Welcoming visitors at the doorstep could be another function to delegate in offices or even in private homes, although as a sociologist I would recommend to carefully check the sorting algorithm(s) applied to avoid unpleasant situations. The administration of medication might be another option, if only we could trust that the correct dosage would be applied.
Berlin building
Yes, 35 years after re-unification Berlin is still building at lots of places. The boom years of building hotels for tourists, offices for ministries, which were moving from Bonn to Berlin, is now followed by a „surprising“ need to have sufficient vacancies in private housing. Berlin is still growing in terms of population and, of course, this creates additional upward pressure on the housing market with particularly high increases on the rental market. In order to achieve a narrowing of the gap between demand and supply, Berlin is building higher as well as digging deeper into its sandy ground. In such huge open spaces near Südkreuz it is then feasible to explore and later exploit geothermal energy for years to come. Maybe it is not a surprise that apparently a Texas (USA) based investor has bought the ground and builds in Berlin. Drilling in Berlin for energy from underneath is a worthwhile business. Hence, drill baby drill has a new Berlin meaning to it.
Permanently anxious
„There’s a set of forces that want us to be permanently anxious“, is the phrase chosen by Tony Cokes in the exhibit just outside the „Palais Populaire“ in Berlin in 2025-5. International politics and the economic upheaval caused by Trump’s tariffs contribute to the already existing other sources of anxiety like nuclear energy and warfare. Global warming causing more extreme weather events add more man-made reasons for anxiety. The next generations will have to foot the bills we have left to them unpaid. Our current shortsightedness increases anxieties which previous generations have not known of a similar kind or in that combination.
Community building and solidarity are ways to overcome such overwhelming anxieties. Supranational organizations like the European Union have an even stronger role to play to reassure its people with credible signs of solidarity. We are not alone in the struggle to overcome the anxiety that is creeping up around us. We are certainly stronger together than individually dealing with unspecified fears. „We shall overcome …“
Technology maturation
Technology has its own time of maturation. The time for wind power generation was quite lengthy compared to some innovation cycles in information technologies. Maybe, due to the fact that large wind turbines had only big enterprises or public monopolies as potential clients who were already heavily invested in even bigger nuclear energy projects caused the slow pace of development of this technology. In Germany just like in Denmark, Sweden and the USA the first larger research projects took off in the mid or late 1970s. The technology is explained by Erich Hau in a comprehensive way including the early days like the « Growian » test wind turbine in Germany (extract of image below). Despite the fact that major engineering difficulties were overcome already in the early 80s, the economic and legal challenges took much longer to resolve. Nowadays, we have an additional case of energy sovereignty to add to the cost-effectiveness of power generation from winds offshore and onshore. In the coming years we are likely to see more and more decentral power generation from wind on roof tops or small poles to complement solar energy during cloudy but windy weather or at night. Just like the sunshine we shall praise the windy days for their power generation potential.
Labour Day Berlin 2025
In 2025 Labour Day Parade in Berlin started again on Karl-Marx-Allee to the destination at the “Rotes Rathaus”, the red brick City Hall of Berlin. The slogan: “Mach dich stark mit uns” (engl. empower yourself with us) refers to the building up of force by members of the trade union movement in growing bigger again. Solidarity in crisis is currently tested again in each collective bargaining and negotiations at the local, sectoral, regional, national and European level. However, on the 1st of May the parade obviously has the political part with the speeches, but also the family party atmosphere towards the end at the Neptun fountain at Alexanderplatz. Large crowds come out in Berlin and the organizers of the DGB and the police do a great job to ensure a safe and enjoyable demonstration in the heart of Berlin. More impressions on the mobilizing event here. Images from Berlin Labour Day 2025.
Robot assistant
Adjustment processes on the labour market take their time. This means that care workers are in short supply in most countries of the OECD. Engineers as well. There are so many robots, care robots I mean, still to develop that the shortage of engineers give little hope that we shall have affordable solutions in this area for the next few years. The issue is mainly about integrating and enhancing already existing solutions. If you are a mechanical engineer you can put together motorised mechanical pieces, small motorised electric devices and, for example, small infrared emitting and receiving devises.
All this is child’s play these days (see image below). The assembling of a small Robot assistant that follows movements or can escape from a small labyrinth makes such simple structures transparent for learners and users. There is nothing magical about it, just adding together small pieces and the electronic devices to steer the movements. The learning tool from KOSMOS has been on the market for 5 years. It is a helpful device to explain basics through hands-on experience. The limits of robotics equally become more evident. Our own health and safety is concerned with larger devices cohabiting with us. A robot assistant can take on easy tasks like to follow me through my living space in old age carrying a mobile phone, keys or an emergency device. More sophisticated tasks need more sensors and AI to train the most needed and best routines. For many years this needs our input and our control as well as supervision of such devices. Most robots will operate as assistants with us in the driving seat or the boss.
This is yet another element of the “all electric society“. We are moving towards the use of more electronics assisting us from year to year.
Dysprosium 66
Dysprosium figures as Nr. 66 in the periodic table (short: Dy). This metal was given this Greek name, which translates to “hard to get”. Although more common than gold on earth, Dysprosium is part of the so-called rare earths on earth. Since it is very temperature resistant before becoming fluid and at the same time having good isolation properties, for example against radiation in combination with lead, the nuclear energy industry has a definite use case.
Additionally, wind turbines, electric vehicles and some smart phones use these characteristics of the metal only known to us since the late 19th century.
The major exploitation happens in China and, therefore, the recent tariffs have complicated the trading. Prices tend to rise and products that contain Dysprosium are likely to become more expensive. However, there is the other side of the coin, which means recycling and reuse of Dysprosium is also more interesting to companies. Hence, the price increase will likely enhance circularity of the metal from obsolete products into newer ones. In this respect it is good news that smartphones receive longer updates of their operating systems and security as of 2025-6-20 in the EU. This will also reduce the amount of rare earths needed in the production of the rapidly changing technical specifications of smart phones and tablets. Repairing the devices makes more economic sense before “programmed” obsolescence.
(Image: extract from Willem van der Vliet (attributed), The money counter. early 17th century, Brussels MRBAB).
Marx Home
The home of an influential philosopher, economist and political scientist is not easily presented like a home of a musician, a composer or an author. However, the home of Karl Marx in Trier on the Moselle river succeeds to present the biographical links of growing up in a historic city, the bourgeois upbringing of the young Marx and his formation as an independent and even revolutionary thinker of the economy and society. In 2025 the home is a museum supported by the Friedrich Ebert Foudation with a great online guide and access to additional scientific material. For authors like Karl Marx it is always of interest to follow not only the origin and evolution of the thought process, but also the shifts in the reception of his writings by subsequent generations. This part of the exhibition and an audio guide (downloadable as App).
In 2025 with an apparently ruthless capitalism at work in the biggest economy of the globe, the reminder that the economy is best to be understood as a political economy, which focuses on self-interest and profitable business deals, we find in Karl Marx still a worthwhile reminder of economic development even in the 21st century. The note-taking and studies in Exile in London are well documented in the tiny home and museum. Studying the misery of exploitation in supply chains and international commerce remains a topic of continuing interest as well.
Retirement Plans
There are debates about the best organization of retirement. The major fault lines lie between public pension systems and systems that are built based on mainly private provision. Retirement plans in either system are subject to constraints. The recent stock market turbulence has increased the amount of uncertainty people face who invested in 401K plans in the US. Some had to take an unannounced hit to their retirement savings due to the loss after Trump’s back and forth policies on tariffs (OECD Pension Outlook). High volatility of stock market prices creates an additional constraint that you are less inclined to retire when your retirement investments have overall a reduced value. You are a bit at the mercy of capital markets even in your retirement decision, irrespective of the difficulty to predict what your retirement funds will yield as returns. Quite an important lesson to keep in mind when comparing retirement systems in OECD countries. It has been all too easy to blame public pension systems for maybe lower short term interests on pension savings. Being subject to an American president concerning your retirement plans is probably not what many countries would like to have. Trump’s choices on tariffs may have consequences we did not expect to affect us so directly.
Tariffs Trade Deficits
US Tariffs target the US trade deficits across the globe. For a start on the topic it is helpful to take a look at the data. The US bureau of census publishes this time series regularly. Currently, you can compare monthly or annual data across countries from 1985 to 2025. The worsening of the trade balance is obvious just looking into some examples like trade with the EU, China, Japan, South Korea or Switzerland. we might calculate some rough indicators of trade deficits of the US with countries by the size of the country, which would make Switzerland look really bad relative to many much more populous countries. This probably explains why Switzerland is threatened by higher tariffs than the EU. However, this hints towards the “hidden” agenda of tariffs on countries. The major targets are multinational companies that produce in countries outside the US and particularly in those with low corporate taxes, like Ireland and Switzerland. Importing products from such countries worsened the US trade balance over decades.
Another factor to study more precisely is the sectoral pattern driving the trade deficits with countries. Exports in for example health-related products have soared due to Covid-19 pandemic starting in 2019. Where did the US buy face masks, ventilators, medicines and pharmaceuticals? These countries will now also be penalized by higher tariffs. The tariffs topic is a complex interconnected business issue, which is not solved by blunt measures. The real danger is that with each month trust in US will erode further. For decades this has been an underestimated currency of international business. Eroding trust is likely to be the major fallout of the tariff and trade deficit nexus. It takes decades to build, but can be destroyed within a few days or weeks. (Image: Mont des arts Brussels February 2024, celebration of surrealism).
Value destruction
The destruction of economic values as they are embedded in quotations on national and international stock exchanges has reached levels after the US tariffs announcements of unprecedented levels. Only the banking crisis had reached similar levels and bursting speculation bubbles. Whereas professional investors might have seen this coming, the normal small investors who had hoped for a positive effect of Trump’s economic policies on shareholder values, which occurred right after the election has been wiped off already. For those people who rely on stock market investments for their pensions have to digest heavy losses now. The second round effects of reduced consumption of pensioners who have lost 10% of their retirement savings will further aggravate the situation for this group of people. Paired with higher expected inflation the economy will be forced into a recession caused by Trump’s tariff announcements and enactments. As this will lower prices of oil and gas as well as other raw materials, his electoral base of tycoons following a « drill baby drill » device experience also losses. A lot of damage all around him leaves millions of people in the US with losses to digest. Probably even more across the world, particularly in the poorest countries of the world. Such a real world macroeconomic experiment is like playing poker on a global scale. However, many countries may build new alliances that may wither the storm better than Trump anticipated. Hence, the game of poker will reenter economic textbooks again in addition to game theory and maybe chess strategies. (Image winter sunset). 
Rich richer
The US economy under Biden had continued to make Americans richer. In an article by Talmon Joseph Smith in the New York Times from 2025-4-3 p. 7 the puzzle that Americans have grown richer, but don’t feel it, has been well explained. The large share of households owning their homes albeit with mortgages from low interest periods have witnessed their increased wealth. However, inflation is eating into their cash available for daily purchases. With another round of tariffs and additional inflationary pressure caused by those, the average person or household doesn’t fell much better off than some years ago. Economic anxiety and our preference for loss aversion or loss avoidance make us react with consumption restrictions to prepare for increased risks as well increased uncertainty about the directions of the whole economy and our very private wealth and consumption patterns. How and when the US economy will get back on track remains to be seen. Higher uncertainty usually reduces investments and with increasing interest rates again the economic recovery might be protracted. The NYT p.7 cites business owners with statements like “we’re not putting our foot on the brake, but we’re taking our foot off the gas.” Betrayel of working class people due to rising unemployment after 3 years of very low unemployment is likely to widen wealth gaps in the US population even further. The rich will get richer, but at high costs to the population as a whole. (Image: ceiling painting in Petit Palais, Paris). 
Tariffs trumped
Economists are used to differentiate between micro-and macro-level effects of tariffs. For each buyer of a car, import tariffs raise expectations about prices for a product. Many consumers will then decide to buy lower quality at the same price or postpone buying a new or replacement product for some time. For cars it might mean that many people will then decide to buy rather later than sooner. If thousands of people do so, the market will fall into recession overall and it will take months or years to come back to the same or a higher level. A political economy perspective has taught us that eager politicians are in favor of a short recession immediately after an election which increases the chances of re-election once the economy gets back to normal or catches up on lost growth.
The US under Trump apparently gambles with such an economic rationale. Short term inflation is already rising, interest rates stay high before the upheaval caused by tariffs starts to settle.
There is, however, another alternative mechanism at work as well. Thorstein Veblen long ago hinted towards what is not called in economics the Veblen effect. Some fancy cars for example can raise prices well above others because of their cleaving image. Just because they get even more expensive the buyers of such products gain additional attention as part of a social class which does not have to care much about their additional spending. The consequences of tariffs will most likely widen the gap between those saving dearly and those able to splash out cash despite increased tariffs. The most felt consequences, therefore, will be on social inequality within the US (compare WSJ 2025-4-24 A2 by Juliet Chung, “Richest of Rich Gain §1 Trillion”). 
Bricks and algorithms
Construction as an economic sector has suffered for decades from skill shortages. The PWC study on skill needs in construction and management of digitalization in this sector shows various deficiencies. Labor demand in excess of own training efforts in the related professions is further increasing in coming years. Migrants from across the world have come to Europe to fill the skill shortages and willingness to work in the sector. Population aging increases demand for adaptions of housing and tertiarization of the economy asked for new office space and adaptation of existing ones.
The skills involved in construction have also evolved. Digitalization and understanding of new technology needs of modern housing increased the level of cognitive skills in the sector enormously. “just let the liquid concrete flow” will no longer suffice. Environmental obligations, renewable energy and design issues had an impact on the sector.
Many enterprises in this sector have trailed other sectors to adopt strategies like digital pairs of a building or connected manufacturing of facilities with data sharing and compatible software. All this led to the fact that younger employees or university graduates (m/f/d) have preferred other sectors. IT development and applications are interesting and challenging in this sector as well. Logistic arrangements a formidable task as well.
The claim of too much bureaucracy is just an excuse for lacking digitalization of the sector. Years ago we stated that every task you carry out more than once can be automized. With AI in construction digitalization starts with each singular case as a learning occasion for humans and algorithms supporting us. 
La défense Végétale
Greening a metal and concrete block and buildings is a big challenge. The logic of unrealistic growth and big business has left liabilities for future generations. More vegetation in inner cities is part of our responsibility towards future generations. Therefore, urban planning has started in Paris to get rid of concrete walls and floors. 
Eventually the district might have a more human touch which attracts citizens and new businesses and services. The adaptation of the infrastructure to facilitate mobility with bicycles and secured pedestrian paths has started but will take a lot of time before people adopt again these more healthy modes of transport. The big boulevards reserved for polluting transport is no longer adequate in combination with residential living spaces. 
It will take a change of a whole generation to accomplish such a fundamental change. The reduced demand for office space due to more employees choosing to work from home contributes to such a change as well. Many other cities go ahead with similar changes (Copenhagen, Berlin). In combination with the „All electric society“ there are fundamental changes at work which will make inner cities more attractive again. Ease of clean transportation and other infrastructure for urban lifestyles ensures that cities remain strong points of attraction. They keep pulling people from nearby and far away towards them, if we like it or not. 
La Défense reframed
- The whole new business area „La Défense“ was a huge investment project with international speculators highly motivated to reap the benefits of a business location just next to Paris, which at best would even feel a little bit like being „intra muros“. However, being at La Défense you see „L’Arc de triomphe“ only quite far away and you don’t really get the impression that you are in Paris. The high rising buildings around there originally gave god reasons for expensive office space. Few residents spaces made the area uncomfortable in the evenings after office hours. After 2025 most office spaces no longer are attractive for businesses and lack behind environmental standards of the 2020s. Many projects attempt to renovate the former office space into residential buildings with a considerable loss in the value of previous office space. For people working in the multiple shopping centers there this might be a feasible option if the rent is not excessively high. Students in transit through Paris might find this attractive as well. Families, however lack an adequate infrastructure as this area was built for an outdated business center and business model where families were believed to obstruct business efficiency. As the project developers have written off their investments over 25 years society can clean up the remaining space and repair. It will be another medium term project to re-create a convivial environment and community there as before the overriding device was make money there and run to a more human and diverse space.
Hands-on AI
The use of AI in translation and to streamline texts and preparation of communication has become a common experience. The applications in medical fields are less well known. Scans and checking of skin cancer could be a game changer for many who live far away from the next medical doctor. AI assisted brain surgery is another issue, but a very specialized application. The interface of AI and robotics might be another game changer as such applications where you train the robot with for example weight lifting and transportation charges can contribute to alleviate human skeletons. Handheld devices can guide the robot and data from sensors will complement the learning of the tasks through assistance from AI. Applications are manifold and we have not even seen the most promising ones. The application potential in warfare are particularly troublesome as humans do not necessarily enter into the concern of AI-assisted weaponry. In the social sphere trust is a crucial behavioral and ethical concern. These issues AI can only learn from us. Any attempts to do without human input and control is doomed to fail. We are not indispensable yet, we are simply turning more and more into responsible, supervisory roles.
(Image: Acatech exhibition with hands-on AI applications, Berlin in collaboration with IQZ and DTM, German museum of technology.) 
More eCooking
Cooking powered by electricity rather than fossil fuels like gas is an efficient and smart solution. Through the daily cooking activities over the course of a year the savings due to eCooking add up quite a bit. Even compared to an ordinary electric stove the eCooking by induction technology saves almost an additional 10+ percentage of energy as you heat the pot or pan directly rather than an in-between metallic element, which stores heat even after you have switched it off already for a while. In private kitchens the induction option is straightforward. In professional settings the change to induction eCooking needs careful planning. The health aspect of no burnt gas emissions in the kitchen is, however, a strong argument in favor of eCooking as well.
If we apply this logic to low-income countries and cooking in schools or other institutions as well as companies, the environmental and economic benefits add up quickly. In rural areas where no electricity grid is available or stable enough, the decentralized provision of electricity through for example solar energy creates a cost-effective alternative. In urban areas with high levels of various kinds of pollution the “clean” alternative could make a considerable difference as well.
The eCooking evidence is another pillar of the “all electric society” of the 21st century.
(Image: Rirkrit Tiravanija, untitled (Café Deutschland) and extract from “Freiheit kann man nicht simulieren“, Berlin Martin Gropius Bau, 2024-2025)
Unwinding USA
Stock markets move largely due to expectations. Therefore, the mixing of economics and politics can create lots of signals, which are likely to raise price expectations. Inflationary pressures will call for central banks to increase interest rates which will reduce economic activities that are largely financed through the credit market.
The unwinding of the economy reduces turnover and most likely also profits of companies. The fate of Tesla cars in the last 2 months (Link) and the stock market value of Tesla shares (Link) have plummeted. The unwinding of shareholder value and inflation on the rise as well are a the effects of the MAGA narrative and Musk‘s appointment in politics as chief of GOPE.
The „home made recession“ in the US and the choice to prioritize own products might work in the long run, but the costs of the short-term induced inflation will affect vulnerable consumers more than the people who buy many products that show few price increases. The unwinding of the economy of the USA is likely to cause shock waves rippling through the global economy.
Image: Prices to charge e-cars with solar energy in Germany according to sunshine.
Corruption Caught
In fraud or corruption it is primordial that the probability to be caught is very high to deter potential fraudulent activity. The new Trump administration has enacted as one of the first executive orders that the FCPA stops to take on new cases of suspected corruption as well as reconsider some of the running procedures. In the same vein, the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) has been silenced so that American companies to not have to disclose ownership information that fall under the CTA until 2025-3-21 until a major reform will be published.
These policy shifts concern more than just US citizens. The competition between countries will be effected because as companies trading with the US which used US bank accounts were also liable under this legislation and subject to prosecution. The FCPA has been an important example for other countries to follow at least within the Member countries of the OECD. The shift in priorities of the Trump administration might open doors again to corruption which we believed were shut with lasting effect.
In conjunction with the rapid increase in military spending when the capacity for the production of military equipment is slow to increase might increase the risks of corruption talking hold again. Market economies build on fair competition, but less prosecution of corruption introduces a bias into negotiations which works against innovation and competitiveness. We have a hard time to understand any kind of logic in such economic and legal strategies.
Image: Bridge collapsed due ro material defects. Archive Berlin Tempelhof Schöneberg.
Digital Visions
Urban planning has been digitalized for a long time. 3D modeling of places and buildings including their interiors are state of the art. As urbanization is also about investment, speculation and anticipation, digital imaging has entered the public spheres in form of cover up of building sites behind fences and in form of large digital prints for information, curiosity and advertising purposes. The inner cities are frequently an avantgarde and microcosm of societal developments. Some dream of full or total flexibility for office spaces (see image below), others experience the inner cities as the spotlight of inequality in society. The best paid executives are catered for by the worst paid delivery personnel. The photographers of the Landesarchiv Berlin, Grönboldt and Wunstorf, brought together a documentary exhibition entitled „Pixel aus Beton“, pixel made of concrete. 
With a bird‘s eye view they reveal past, present and future details of how Berlin is experienced and envisioned by investors, architects and people living through the seemingly endless construction going on in the city. The keywords list as part of the exhibition creates a link to scientific literature and to the TU Center for Metropolitan Studies. Photography and even more so digital photography offers a social science perspective to the digital images exhibited. Cities are data spinning areas and a formidable place for digital visuals and visions. 
Betrayal Politics
Most economists would hold that in free market economics there is no room for moral statements. Betrayal, therefore, is left out of most standard text book economics courses. However, more advanced courses that include strategies based on so-called “game theory”, where actors may breach prior commitments, betrayal has entered economic science. A “tit-for-tat” strategy is frequently the best “game-theoretic” solution to such strategic behavior to deter also repetition of defecting on agreed rules or bargaining outcomes. For real world applications beyond the simple strategic advice, the maths involved are quite challenging. We’ll check soon, how AI is changing that game.
Another popular economic theory is one of “gift exchange”. You gift a sum of money (or weapons for self-defense to a country) with no explicit consent that the money should be repaid (through rare earths) in peace time. A betrayal occurs, if a country suddenly asks things in return for the previous gifts. For politicians that understand themselves as “market marker” and “deal maker”, there will be a tendency to claim back a gift in order to come to some kind of gift exchange rather than an altruistic donation.
William A. Galston wrote in the WSJ (2025-2-26) naming the US political action of the 2nd Trump administration a “betrayal of Ukraine and American values”.
If free markets mean making ruthless use of “tit for no possible tat” and “gifts are always a gift exchange”, we move back to mercantile and medieval practices, where settles could claim land at gun point.
What way out of this? Adam Smith, champion of classical economics, wrote before his famous book on “The Wealth of Nations” a lesser known, precursor book on “The Theory of Moral Sentiments”. Actually, he was convinced that the one would not work without the other.
Maybe, going back to classical economics is much better than a Trump administration version of neo-classical economics in a new era of political economy 3.0. 
More BRICS
The move towards a multipolar world order is in full swing. With the USA retreating from a primordial international role discarding UN institutions and the defense of major elements in the fight for individual freedom, the diplomatic order of the last 80 years has changed. The liberation of the concentration camps in Germany and the 80 years of the end of the 2nd World War on 1945-5-9 had forged an alliance in which the common enemy was defeated and the the next major confrontation in Europe or on the globe had to be warded against.
The evolution of peace in Europe has been marked by the Cold War and a bipolar world order which confronted the USA and Russia at various places. The rollback of Russia has seen its high time with the Northern and Eastern extension of the EU and NATO. This goal of US strategic interests has been largely accomplished.
In the shadow of this bipolar relationship the BRICS have moved towards greater economic power and therefore influence in the international arena. Economic data on the biggest economies in the world over the last years show the rise of the BRICS, bit mainly China and India. Their population sizes create enormous and largely shut off internal markets. All these developments create new challenges to the previously relatively stable world order. Technological advances have been narrowing more rapidly than before since the access to the best available knowledge spreads fast and more equally across the globe through the internet.
The ugly face pf imperialism is returning front stage and attempts to change the previous versions of imperialism into a new hegemonic world oder. Updated views of economic power and influence zones let us look with a rational perspective on the new power play. Due to the containment of Russian influence, the USA has China as the major power to confront, a major shift as of the 2020s. The China-driven Silk road project with strategic landing points across the globe has „trumped“ American efforts to align BRICS to human rights values over the last decades. European diplomacy will have to recognize that we entered another phase of „Realpolitik“ due to major economic shifts over several decades. (Image: extract from Max Klinger, The walkers, ambush, 1878 in Berlin SPK). 
Blue Sky
In the period of romanticism the associations with a blue sky were very different from today. Getting out into the sun was a kind of privilege for the “leisure class”, of people who could afford to enjoy time outside for boating, walking or other pleasures. In our technology-driven 21st century the associations with Blue Sky are more like a technically enhanced view through for example “Windows” at the news and opinion platform or “Bluesky”.
Several scientific websites that report data on blue skies and air quality more generally across the world report indicators like ozone values O3, sun intensity, micro particles 2.5µm and 10µm, Nitrogen Dioxid NO2 to name the mostly quoted indicators. Hence, just enjoying the blue sky outside isn’t the same as it was before. People working outside in the sun or at times of a blue sky but with high air pollution levels are incurring severe medium-term health risks. The Ozon layers at very high altitudes protect our skin and eyes against high UV-radiation, but O3 on the ground is tough for eyes and lungs.
Technology has come with many blessings, but the negative effects on a global scale become also more evident. Getting used to a particular lifestyle, which produces lots of emissions of aggressive fine particles will make it more difficult to just simply enjoy a blue sky.
In consideration of all these background data with regional variations, we surely need an AI-system which we can ask for advice, whether we should go outside and enjoy the blue sky with or without respiratory mask.
Romanticism has led us all the way to Californication and dangerous enshittification of the air that surrounds us. Youth and the next generations will have very different associations with Blue Sky than we have the chance to, at least, have had. 
United by travel
The economic rationale of profit maximization privileges the construction and management of profitable connections. For train transportation this has spurred over decades the construction of new train lines between metropolitan cities or regions. Whereas connections between Paris and Brussels are abundant and expensive from central stations those living somewhere in between the 2 cities, for example in Mons, have had little chance of access to reasonably priced and fast train connections. This neglect of the in between cities is slowly changing. Sufficiently fast and reasonably priced connections allow Europe to grow together also at the margins. Public transport as alternative to car traffic across borders for „in-between cities“ will bridge the gap between the ease of travel between metropolitan an more remote areas. There is economic growth to be reaped as connected infrastructures allow for economic as well as social mobility and joint development. This is the real European challenge ahead of us and not the numerous summits without tangible results for rural and urban populations beyond metropolitan regions. For regions spanning countries, some will be finally reunited by better public transport a kind of ecological unification. 
Sustainable Food
Climate change has a severe impact on sustainable food production. The OECD reports annually on the evolution of volumes of production and monitors the resources and subsidies allocated to the agricultural sector of the economy. The sector and the whole nutrition chain are frequently perceived as a major driver of shrinkflation, greedflation and cheatflation.
Changes need to be introduced with a medium and long-term perspective in order to allow for smooth adaptations of the sectors involved and to avoid so-called hog cycles.
Most economic debate is focused on the quantity of production. The loss of production due to climate change and Russia’s war in Ukraine has been and continues to be substantial causing starvation and premature deaths. Another issue is the lower quality of food due to droughts. Repeated events call for adaptations. Certainly the adaptation of more resistant crops is part of the answer. However, the other side of the same coin consists in the consumer’s readiness to buy products that suffered during a drought. Just as the reduction of fertilizers and less water in the production of droughts reduces the size of fruit, for example, we, the consumers will be systematically challenged in our purchasing habits of fresh food.
Price-sensitive consumers will have to choose the products that have reduced prices due to drought quality loss. Other consumers may choose the drought affected product if a “resilience message” is attached to such products. Solidarity with climate affected farmers, just like bio-farmers’ products in ecological production, opens up another perspective to more sustainable consumption and farming. 
Existence as Eggsistence
Artists have their own ways of hallucinating. They don’t need an AI to generate ideas beyond the normal, even allowing for 2 standard deviations off the usual. As a result of the thorny question about your existence, Ram Katzir came up with the impressive statement about his „eggsistence“ being subjected to a squeezed experience. Ever increasing shares of the labor force would subscribe to this statement about the modern workplace. Each turn of the screw risks to crack up the egg‘s shell. Rather focus on the egg, try to get a grip on the screw. There are thousands if not millions who crack up under the excessive pressure of economic and political circumstances. The new platforms of food, grocery and parcel delivery at home have become the latest example of AI-assisted and algorithmicly managed screws. What is driving your eggsistence. It is about time to ask fundamental questions again. (Image: Eggsistence, by Ram Katzir 2021 in Brussels, Galilas Collection Belgium) 
Electronics repaired
The all electric society will have a number of consequences. We need to think about durable electronics. Many electronic appliances get broken rather quickly even by normal usage. The task to repair the beloved electronic gadgets of your children or simple electronic household devices reveals the fallacy of the consumerist societies. “Use it and throw it away, if it is not working any more”. This is the standard mantra of our societies. In order to save resources, we have to reuse, repair and re-engineer a lot of electronic devices. So far, the engineering process consisted largely in finding ways to assemble fast and with inputs as cheap as possible. The task of designing products that are repair-friendly, circular and allow to disassemble the product easily is a bit counter-intuitive to the consumerist society. If your juicer lasts for years, you will be unlikely to buy another more fancy one or even a connected one very soon.
Repair-friendly design and assembling will be the next generation products of the all electric society. Plugs, interrupters, relays and electric engines of older devices will be valuable after the original use in a household product, which has seized to function. Many parts can be put to other use. Re-engineering with sustainability in mind has an important function also in the move towards gaining autonomy again. For the repair of electronic devices we shall focus more on fine motor skills of our hands again. The shortages of electronic components to build cars after the Covid-19 crises and the disruption of supply chains for other reasons provide a good lesson to advance faster in the direction of electronics repaired. 