Azeem Azhar

And I identified this idea, although I didn't have quite the pithy communication that you have, technology is a substitute for globalization, that there are technologies that will do the job that globalization used to do.

And that would be things like

3D printing or vertical farming that allow localized production, particularly of food.

But also, I think critically, the change in the energy system.

So you buy solar panels once, they last for 25 years.

You buy batteries, they last for much longer than we ever thought.

And you don't need to be a vassal to a sort of a petro state.

And that, I think, does create an interesting path for countries like Bangladesh or Pakistan or Vietnam, where a lot of their sense of sovereignty and ability to develop is about their access to energy.

How much energy catch do they have as an economy?

How many energy services can they actually use?

And in the last

Two years in Pakistan, there's been this remarkable change driven by the falling cost of solar panels, which has meant Pakistan has become one of the largest importer of solar panels and broke the link between measured grid delivered electricity and GDP growth.

Because businesses could not be bothered to sit behind brownouts and blackouts and went off and bought solar panels to keep their businesses running.

And I think that there is this possibility where the declining cost of this technology can provide

a much more affordable energy sovereignty for the long tail of the world that is not energy sovereign, especially smaller and poorer countries.

And the first kilowatt hour of consumption a family has in a day from zero is the one that delivers the water pump, the refrigeration, the lights.

the charging of the smartphones and could make a big deal.

Now, of course, that is me, Paul, as an absolute relentless optimist about the human condition and where we can go.

But it is sort of one bright spot that I look at.

A quick note.