An American Century Ends... What Will the Next Century Bring?

In my experience, America is the most inventive country on Earth. From the cotton gin to Google self-driving cars, this country thrives on unexpected disruptive innovation. Most historians describe the twentieth century as The American Century, and with good reason. American optimism and industrial might turned the tide of two world wars. Our economy and military were unchallenged for much of the century, and were the dominant economic and political forces of the century. We engaged relentlessly in exporting democracy and faced, by the end of the century, a world shaped largely in our image. As our technology and unbridled national optimism forged a world based on our own grand experiment in representative democracy, we entered a century which suddenly and startlingly felt very different. While most historians consider the twentieth century the American Century, many now look East. Most historians today believe that the twenty-first century will be The Asian Century, or perhaps more specifically The Chinese Century. The cranes which once clustered in New York in the Roaring Twenties, defining an exuberant Art Deco architecture which today still defines the skyline of America's most prominent city, now gather in Dubai and Shanghai, not New York and San Francisco. The greatest art and architecture in the world - the bold, the audacious, the unexpected, now more often happens away from our shores. I was struck recently when flying back from an international destination into Los Angeles airport (LAX), that the architecture of that airport - and indeed too much of that city and this country - looks like the 1950s version of what we thought the future would look like, complete with Jetsons style and visions of jetpacks. Was the twentieth century The American Century, never to return? Will our 250th anniversary - coming up in 2026 - be an occasion largely for nostalgia about our former glory? I believe that the answer must be NO. It is important on the occasion of our 250th anniversary as a country that we make a clean and unequivocal statement to the world - YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHING YET. I believe that our 250th anniversary must not be an occasion simply for looking back with pride, but an occasion for looking forward with vision, audacity, and an eye for inspiration for the next 250 years. Others share this vision. Today, we are a small band of a few dozen collaborators. But we are just begininning.