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"Believing in the Future."
Human beings take action based on trust in the future.
However, this belief in the future, which gives meaning to raising children, making money, and other aspects of life, is becoming more difficult.

The greatest revolution that resulted from agriculture was the newfound ability of human beings to believe in the future and to start investing in the future in the form of planting seeds.
This spirit has been passed down as the idea of capitalism, leading to today's society, which continues to grow through a cycle of production and consumption backed by investment.

So, up to this point, what kind of futures have people believed in?
For instance, during the ancient Roman era, a way of thinking took root in the ruling classes throughout the Roman Empire. This thinking was "Hard work makes you civilized, and hard work makes you Roman."
This mindset enabled the empire to operate.

During the Meiji Period in Japan, the concept of the future was synonymous with the dream of catching up with the world's superpowers.
The people of Japan saw themselves as climbing uphill toward this future, which seemed to float above the hill like a cloud.

In our modern capitalist and industrialized society, enterprises, rather than national governments, collect funds, make products, and return interest to laborers.
In a capitalist society, the idea that anyone, by working hard and acquiring skills, can sustain a family and live on a pension in their old age keeps the society stable.

The Japanese, in particular, are inclined to wish for the same level or a slightly higher level of happiness, compared to others around them.
This mindset is well-suited to a system of mass production for identical standardized goods.
This idea of wanting the same basic standard of living as others drove mass production, which led to economies of scale, which in turn led people to consider a higher standard of living to be "basic." This cycle drives people to work for standard goals, and allows for sustained rapid economic growth.

Tomorrow will be better than today. People's belief in the future, however, is becoming less clear.
In developed countries, the overseas relocation of production sites has led to the decline of the middle class, and fear of even temporary jobs being "taken" by incoming refugees has become more widespread.

Agriculture in Southeast Asia is largely driven by monoculture farming, in order to achieve mass production.
This practice is not suited to the characteristics of a tropical region, in which plant diseases or disasters represent a high risk of famine.

At the root of uncertainty for the future is the contradiction between growth, on which humankind has relied so far, and sustainability.
In the long term, growth with a focus on material wealth is incompatible with the sustainability of society.

Is it possible to build a sustainable society dependent on renewable energy and full recycling, without losing sight of our belief in a better future?
Will the desires of the human race shift from material wealth to something based on another set of values?

Can we establish a new set of values or ethics worth believing in?
Or, can we keep hope alive even if we know that tomorrow will be the same as today?

Human beings created society to escape from the fear of death and the fear of others.
Today, national governments serve as institutionalized societies, with the role of guarding citizens' lives and property.
The Japanese, in particular, show a stronger tendency to trust their national government than people in Southeast Asian countries.
Now, however, the independence of countries is becoming increasingly uncertain, and trust in national governments is being shaken.

In the mass-production and mass-consumption economy that arose after WWII, companies built production sites in various areas in Japan to secure employment, and the national and local governments built railways and roads to connect rural and urban areas.
This system spread benefits and promised more tax revenue.
In recent years, however, many production sites have been relocated overseas, and motivation for consumption is decreasing, while no value-added service that can provide a substitute for mass production has been identified.

The Japanese government's bond debt is increasing, and some local governments in financial crisis have begun to shrink their provision of public services.
Many young people, failing to find jobs in their own hometowns, are now moving to large cities to find low-paying temporary jobs in the service industry.

In Japan, the typical worker works from their 20s to their 60s.
If a person cannot earn the amount of money required to support a lifetime of consumption during that period, their personal lifetime balance falls into the red. When this happens, the person requires support from their family or from the government. Even if the birthrate increases, the financial situation of the Japanese government will only worsen unless this is remedied.
Companies also become unprofitable, and if unprofitable companies are taxed, they become unable to invest in growth.
This, in turn, makes even taxation difficult in the future.

Globally, the economy is spread too wide for any country to control their economy with only their own monetary policies. This makes it difficult for the governments of developed countries to satisfy their citizens.
When the existing government's capacity for leadership declines, citizens also lose trust in the highest-level politicians.
As a result, political forces that prioritize national interests are on the rise, leading to circumstances such as Brexit, Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election, and the rise of right-wing parties in Europe.
Protectionism, however, though temporarily effective, cannot eliminate the root cause of the issues.

In Japan, it is important to respond to population growth in Southeast Asia and to China's expanding influence.
Although the emerging markets of Southeast Asia are important, governments in the region are likely to become pro-China, as China further expands its influence, resulting in a relative decline of Japanese influence.

This would result in a decline of the national power of Japan in terms of finance and international presence, which leads to a declining level of trust in the national government.

People will have nothing to rely on.
Note, however, that the idea of relying on a nation was established after the concept of the "nation-state" arose. Is one of our options for the future to look back, on the systems that existed before the nation-state?
In Africa and Southeast Asia, for example, national governments are not considered to be trustworthy by nature.
The famine in Ethiopia caused by widespread drought in the 1980s was the result of the establishment of national boundaries that limited the movement of people.

In Southeast Asia, people generally take measures to protect themselves from risk, rather than relying solely on the national government.
This is partly because the modern national systems are lacking, but also because there are many natural disasters.
Many people take on additional jobs and sources of income in order to maintain multiple foundations for their lifestyle.

In Indonesia, people make active use of various associations such as mutual financing associations.
There are many overlapping networks of mutual help.
People in Africa generally put human relationships before other interests when buying and selling things.
People also lend money in order to solidify and deepen personal relationships, and these loans are not, customarily, repaid.

But in Japan, where we have already lost many communities and where human relations have suffered, can mutual aid among members of a community possibly replace governmental public services?

Or, would it be possible to use AI and robots to offer public services at a low cost?
Low-cost public services could be provided through technological advances, including infrastructure advanced and maintained through IT, cryptocurrencies that provide and distribute money through networks, and automatic driving to help the elderly stay mobile.

When the national government is no longer reliable, who will maintain public services and how? Is it possible to once again achieve mutual reliance within regional communities?
Or, will computerized devices be used to automatically maintain social services?

In today's society, technological advances are gradually allowing AI and robots to take on various roles originally filled by human beings.
What benefits do such advances provide us?
Will they lead to increased freedom, or to loss of identity due to isolation or loss of employment?

People have an innate need for personal approval-a desire to confirm the significance of their own existence through the approval of others.
Labor is not only a means of sustaining a livelihood, but is also a way of gaining validation from others, thus allowing people to feel that they have a purpose in life. People who understand the significance their own labor has to society and to others are less likely to suffer from burnout.
Research has shown that eudaimonia, the happiness that comes from virtue and a meaningful life, can actually make a person physically healthier than hedonia, the simple happiness associated with pleasure.

These days, technological progress and the progress of social systems have led to advances in the division of labor, allowing people to obtain everything they need without interacting with others.

Further technological advances could enable automation that substitutes for human labor, or AI with greater cognitive ability than that of human beings. If the cognitive and athletic abilities of AI and robots surpass those of human beings, it might be possible to automate all roles, eliminating the need for people to work.

On the other hand, an increasing number of younger people in Japan are moving from cities to rural areas.
They seem to prefer the idea of working hard to make essential items with their own hands, rather than comfortably benefiting from the trappings of urban life.

It is possible that a moderately inefficient and non-automated lifestyle could actually make it easier for people to maintain their own identity and reason for living.
It is said that people can obtain eudaimonia by working hard to overcome challenges that they set for themselves.

What would such an automated system be like, that provides comfort, sustainability, and resilience compatible with human self-esteem and identity?

Alternatively, can human beings live their lives without a relationship to society, by leaving every essential job to AI and robots and placing the highest value on self-satisfaction and pleasure?