Incidentally, I am pretty obsessed with 22nd century Singapore. I think we have a real shot of becoming one of the most interesting, exciting cities in the world. I’m talking Golden Age shit, like 1000s Baghdad, 1400s Florence, 1860s Vienna. But we have to work to make it happen
As a friend recently put it, you need two core things for a great city to attract ambitious people: great opportunities, and a great story. We have lots of the former, but not nearly as much of the latter. Yet. I’m planning to help fix that
People often talk about Singapore in somewhat stale and sterile terms, and the city itself is sometimes described as such, too. “Oh, you can make money, it’s very clean, it’s very safe.” Yeah ok uncle. I say it’s time to make 🇸🇬 sexy again. We are due for a cultural awakening
As I’ve said before, a lot of what is “sterile” about 🇸🇬 is a consequence of post-WW2 trauma. And while that hasn’t entirely been resolved, there’s a new generation that’s been born & raised, & they are going to be much more interesting than ppl realize
We like to pretend that we have no natural resources. But we do have one of the best ones: location! A primary chokepoint along a core global shipping route. A quarter of all global shipping passes through our straits; we have the (now 2nd) busiest shipping port in the world 
I bring this up because it has *cultural* significance. Being a maritime city-state along a global shipping route means having a diversity of cultures, and it means having people who are amongst the most skilled in the 🌏 at navigating cultural conflicts
As the 🌎 hurtles towards what looks like a Forever Culture War, 🇸🇬 has a real shot of being an embodiment of sincere and grounded optimism - a place where the East meets the West, where people of many cultures might demonstrate an ideal to strive for
Ofc, we’re not there yet. There’s still a lots of work to do. LGBTQ friendliness, more support for arts and culture, more room for experimentation. But it’s happening! I’m confident we can get there. The city is small enough that 100 of us can change it
