The world faces a future shaped by transformative yet unsettling forces, primarily artificial intelligence, which replaces brainpower unlike previous revolutions. Despite unprecedented progress in poverty reduction, health, education, and longevity, particularly in Asia, significant challenges persist. These include widening inequality, declining trust in institutions, geopolitical fragmentation, and the stress on the liberal world order. Five key forces—global economic shifts, productivity, inequality, demography, and AI—will determine humanity's ability to sustain progress amidst this era of both extraordinary advancement and profound peril.