Field Note on 2035, Investing, and the World We’re Building

This morning I sat at the kitchen table with a pencil and a sheet of paper, sketching out what the future looks like in my mind. Not a business plan, not a spreadsheet—more like a treasure map. A hand-drawn landscape of flying vehicles, sensor-rich cities, energy hubs, humanoid robots, and tiny pockets of opportunity scattered like gold.

It was messy, playful, and strangely grounding.

Because what I realized while drawing is that the future isn’t a distant abstraction. It’s taking shape right now, and the lines on my page reflected what the Top 10 Metatrends for the Decade Ahead report makes undeniable:

We are entering a decade where the world becomes a frontier again—a place to explore, design, invest in, and teach our kids to navigate with curiosity instead of fear. Metatrends Report_ Top 10

The report outlines a world where 2035 is not an endpoint—it’s a launch point. My sketch was my attempt to visualize that launch point for myself, my family, and the capital I steward.

Here’s what stood out.

1. Abundance as the New Landscape

My drawing looked like a map because that’s what the first metatrend feels like: a new terrain where food, energy, and education are everywhere and almost free.

The report shows micro-farms on rooftops, atmospheric water harvesters, solar-mesh energy webs, and AI tutors delivering world-class education to every kid on Earth. By 2035, scarcity dissolves. Abundance becomes infrastructure.(pages 10–14) Metatrends Report_ Top 10

On my map I drew vertical farms near homes, small villages connected by drones, and a “learning valley” where kids move through mixed-reality education zones the way we once moved through classrooms.

Investment implications:• decentralized energy• AI education platforms• personalized nutrition• water systems• urban + off-grid food production

These sectors won’t grow linearly—they will explode.

2. Intelligence as the New Substrate

One of the report’s central truths: AI becomes the foundation of civilization (pages 22–28). Metatrends Report_ Top 10

In my sketch, I drew a “Silicon Forest”—a region where personal AI agents, quantum solvers, and autonomous R&D labs run millions of experiments while humans sleep.

The idea is simple: Every person will have thousands of minds working on their behalf. The limiting factor won’t be intelligence—it’ll be imagination.

Investment areas:• AI agent ecosystems• autonomous research labs• quantum-enhanced problem-solving• AI copilots for every industry

For kids, this future means we must teach them how to ask better questions, not memorize answers.

3. Robots Everywhere

Humanoid robots appear throughout my drawing—construction, farming, caregiving, teaching—because by 2035, over 100 million humanoid robots integrate into society (page 32). Metatrends Report_ Top 10

This isn’t sci-fi. This is the new industrial revolution.

Investment opportunities:• humanoid robotics (Tesla, Figure, Agility)• robotics in care, logistics, and education• autonomous construction

For my boys, this means growing up alongside robots the way we grew up alongside computers.

4. Longevity Becomes Normal

In my drawing, “Health Mountain” features sensors, peptides, mRNA therapies, and digital twins—because the report shows a world where aging becomes partially optional and disease becomes predictable (pages 40–47). Metatrends Report_ Top 10

High-conviction areas:• continuous biomarker sensing• personalized medicine• longevity platforms• home bioreactors• AI health copilots

This is both investable and personally transformative.

5. Vertical Mobility & the Sky Economy

Skyports, drone highways, eVTOL corridors—the sky is a major theme in both the report and my sketch. Transportation becomes airborne, autonomous, and silent by 2035 (pages 57–64). Metatrends Report_ Top 10

Investment opportunities:• droneports• eVTOL makers• autonomous logistics• mobility subscription models

And on the personal side: this is exactly the kind of world I want my kids to explore.

Why I’m Drawing Maps Now

Because the future isn’t a spreadsheet—it’s a story. It’s a landscape our families will walk through. It’s the playground for the next generation.

My investment lens is shifting from:“ Where can I make the highest return?” to“ Where can I plant capital into the world my kids will thrive in?”

That’s a different game. A more satisfying one. A more honest one.

The map I drew this morning is not finished. But it’s the first draft of something I’ve needed for years:

A visual blueprint of the world I want to help build—for my clients, for my kids, and for myself.

And the Metatrends report makes this clear: we’re not waiting for the future anymore. We’re drawing it.

Dustin