An adversarial stress test exploring how a post‑AI Britain must radically shift its economy from digital services like finance, towards shameless physical tourism.
Me: Britain's main exports are going to dwindle in a post-AI world. Finance will become increasingly automated, migrating to borderless crypto networks and sovereign algorithmic systems that eliminate the need for traditional institutional intermediaries. Pop music is flattened by streaming, and Britain has lost the premium it gained from its highly individualistic pop sector in the 70s 80s and 90s.
To pay for imports, we have to sell what can't be digitised. Our physical history. Castles and places. The problem is our cultural elites. They hate British history, ostensibly because of colonial guilt and disapproval of the class system. They won't market it as hard as it needs to be.
To pay for imports, we have to sell what can't be digitised. Our physical history. Castles and places. The problem is our cultural elites. They hate British history, ostensibly because of colonial guilt and disapproval of the class system. They won't market it as hard as it needs to be.
Kiki: Tourism is historically a low-wage, seasonal economy – the Office for National Statistics regularly tracks it as one of the lowest gross-value-added sectors per job. It cannot fund a modern nation's multi-billion pound import bills alone. Besides, the people running our heritage sites are the ones pushing the guilt. How do you bypass them? Who takes control of the castles?
You don't try to change the dinosaurs. You let the non-institutional part lead the way. Once private operators start doing it and making money, the old institutions will copy them out of fear, fear of losing revenue and status. Maybe the state will have to make it easier for private businesses to exploit our historic assets, by stripping the National Trust etc. of some of their monopolies and privileges.
To get the whole thing going, we need a massive, national marketing campaign. It will have to be financed primarily by government, but perhaps the private sector can increase its share, as in the US and Switzerland. This will be a total disruptor, putting us centre stage of global tourism, and making our heritage a more high-value sector. Britain has more globally recognised history than anyone.
To get the whole thing going, we need a massive, national marketing campaign. It will have to be financed primarily by government, but perhaps the private sector can increase its share, as in the US and Switzerland. This will be a total disruptor, putting us centre stage of global tourism, and making our heritage a more high-value sector. Britain has more globally recognised history than anyone.
Kiki: A marketing campaign doesn't fix a low-yield economy. VisitBritain data shows average inbound visitor spend is under £800 per trip, mostly leaking into hospitality margins. A castle ticket costs twenty quid. A single financial algorithmic trade makes millions in seconds. Are you suggesting we turn the entire realm into a tacky, high-volume Disney theme park just to pay for our microchip imports?
The full version of this post has been moved to:
The Kiki Dialogues – at Substack
To read the second half, please go to Substack.