2025 is America's Next Reboot

If you’re new here, welcome to Lead with Tech — where I share AI-centered insights, news and fresh ideas gained through our work at Techery.

Now onto this week’s issue…

In 2026, the United States will turn 250 years old. Semiquincentennial. Big word. Bigger moment.

And here’s the crazy thing: according to people who spend their lives studying the future, we’re not heading toward collapse. We’re standing at the beginning of a deep transformation — maybe even a new American renaissance.

One of those people is Peter Leyden. You probably haven’t seen him on mainstream media — because he’s not chasing clickbait crises. Peter was managing editor of WIRED back in the earliest days of the digital revolution, before he built two startups focused on the future. And here’s what he’s saying today:

“Mainstream media misses the real story. Progress is happening — slowly, quietly — while the headlines scream about disaster.”

Leyden believes we’re entering another massive cycle of reinvention. He calls it The Great Progress, and he sees it playing out from 2025 to 2050.

The 80-Year Cycle You Didn’t See Coming

According to Leyden, America doesn’t just randomly evolve. It goes through massive rebirths every 80 years — like clockwork.

· 1785: After the Revolutionary War, the Founders drafted the Constitution.

· 1865: After the Civil War, America reinvented itself — industrialization, civil rights, westward expansion.

· 1945: After World War II, the US rebuilt itself into a superpower, created the UN, NATO, the global financial system, and the modern middle class.

· 2025: We’re due.

 Every one of these moments came after a period of collapse: old systems breaking down, huge technological shifts, political chaos. Sound familiar?

1945 and 2025: The Parallels Are Uncanny

In 1945, Americans stood on the rubble of a broken world order. The Great Depression was barely over. Fascism had been defeated — but at a massive human cost. Entire economies were shattered.

Yet in the ashes, new systems emerged:

· New global alliances (UN, World Bank, IMF)

· New technologies (nuclear power, civil aviation, computers)

· A massive middle class boom (suburbs, highways, college education)

· Tax rates on the rich were over 90% to fund this rebuilding

It wasn’t just luck. It was intentional reinvention at every level: political, economic, societal.

And right now? The conditions are shockingly similar:

· Old systems are crumbling (globalization fractures, political gridlock, climate disruption)

· New technologies are exploding (AI, clean energy, biotech)

· Society is splitting into two competing visions of the future

In short: the next big American reboot is overdue.

The Technology Wave Is Real

Every major American reinvention rode a wave of general-purpose technologies:

· 1780s: Steam engines, textile machines

· 1860s: Railroads, steel

· 1940s: Oil, cars, plastics, nuclear power

· 2020s: AI, clean energy, synthetic biology

These aren’t gadgets. These are civilization changers.

Right now, AI isn’t just about replacing interns and writing emails faster. It’s about rebuilding the way economies work, from biotech labs to energy grids.

Clean energy isn’t just solar panels. It’s about making oil obsolete and reshaping geopolitics.

Synthetic biology isn’t just CRISPR headlines. It’s about rebuilding the materials economy — plastics, textiles, even food.

If you’re still thinking “this is hype,” you’re missing the main event.

Generations Are Lining Up for a Reset

Here’s the weirdest part. It’s not just about tech or money. It’s about people.

Every 80 years, the four generation archetypes (Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z) align in a specific way that creates massive pressure for transformation.

Right now, the alignment looks like this:

· Boomers (Prophets): the visionary old guard

· Gen X (Nomads): skeptical, independent

· Millennials (Heroes): group-oriented, idealistic, ready to rebuild

· Gen Z (Artists): sensitive, pragmatic, creative

Last time this lineup happened? 1945. Right before America rebuilt everything.

Coincidence? Probably not.

The Real Danger: Missing the Moment

Every previous rebirth wasn’t automatic. It required a decision: to rebuild differently, not just patch the old.

Right now, there’s a real risk we blow it.

· Leaders obsessed with preserving broken systems

· Companies clinging to old business models

· Governments fighting yesterday’s wars

The forces are here. The technologies are here. The generational energy is here.

But the question is: will we actually use them?

Why This Time Could Be Bigger Than Ever

Leyden thinks this time could be even bigger than the post-WWII boom. Because it’s not just one technology. It’s three or four converging at once:

· AI

· Clean energy

· Biotech

· (and down the line, maybe nuclear fusion)

He calls it the potential for a Triple Long Boom — a 25-year wave of unprecedented productivity, new wealth, and abundance.

Not hype. Not dreams. Real possibilities — if we don’t screw it up.

So What’s the Move?

If you’re a leader today — of a company, a city, a university, a family — you need to zoom out. You need to think in decades, not quarters.

The old world is collapsing. The new one is up for grabs.

The real winners won’t be the ones who “wait and see.”

The real winners will be the ones who build like it’s 1945 again — only bigger, faster, smarter.

That’s where we are.

That’s what’s on the table.

That’s why 2025 matters.

The pattern goes even deeper. If you rewind 80 years from 1945, you hit 1865—the end of the American Civil War. Another brutal, society-ripping moment that forced a total rethinking of the country.

By 1865, America was split in two.

· The North: an industrial economy built on free labor.

· The South: an agricultural economy built on slavery.

It wasn’t sustainable. It snapped. Hard.

750,000 Americans dead. Cities burned. Economies shattered.

But after the horror, came Reconstruction.

A burst of legal, social, and technological change that reshaped the nation:

· The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments.

· The Homestead Act, giving away land to fuel westward expansion.

· The birth of the public university system through the Morrill Land-Grant Act.

· The building of the transcontinental railroad.

It was messy. It was imperfect. It didn’t fix everything. But it rebooted America for the industrial age.

And again—just like after 1945—it was new technology (steel, railroads) that amplified the change.

But we’re still not done.

Go back another 80 years from 1865, and you land around 1785—the decade after the American Revolution.

The Founders faced an even bigger blank canvas:

· No federal system.

· No national economy.

· No constitution.

Everything had to be invented from scratch.

And they did it.

With imperfect results, sure. But they birthed a new model of democracy for the modern world.

They flipped the game board.

And that’s the key:

Each time America hit an 80-year crisis point, it didn’t just fix things. It reinvented itself — fundamentally, structurally, creatively.

Why 2025 Is Bigger Than Another Election Year

When you think about 2025, don’t just think about who’s sitting in the White House.

Think bigger:

· It’s about new systems rising from the ashes of old ones.

· It’s about new technologies redefining what’s possible.

· It’s about new generations demanding different rules.

America isn’t “ending.” It’s rebooting.

The only question is:

Will we design the reboot… or let it happen to us?

Three Things That Make This Cycle Unstoppable

1. Generations Are Aligned.

The same 4 generational archetypes that remade America in 1945 are aligned again right now. Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z—each playing their historical role.

2. Transformative Technologies Are Here.

AI, clean energy, biotech — three separate civilization-scale waves all hitting at once.

We’re not just building apps. We’re redefining the economy, society, and life itself.

3. Economic Expansion Is Poised to Explode.

Every technological revolution creates a “Gilded Age” of early winners… followed by a “Golden Age” where everyone benefits.

We’re standing right on that pivot point.

If history holds—and it usually does—the next 25 years could deliver more prosperity, invention, and progress than anything we’ve seen before.

If we lean in.

If we think bigger.

If we stop clinging to dead systems out of fear.

Final Thought

There’s an old saying:

“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”

The United States has hit this moment before.

Three times, in fact.

Each time, it nearly tore itself apart—and then reinvented itself stronger.

2025 isn’t the end.

It’s the start of something huge.

The only question is:

Will you be ready to build it?

That’s all for this week…but one more thing. If you’re enjoying this, can you do me a favor and forward it to a friend? Thanks.

-Alex

AI Strategy & Execution for Enterprises → Techery

Let’s connect on Twitter/X: @pshenianykov

Or on LinkedIn: Alex Pshenianykov