A study produced by Thomson Reuters last month says that China should pass both the US and Japan in the number of patent applications made by next year. In 2009, China made 403,000 patent applications, putting it in third place after Japan. The US topped the rankings with 474,000 applications.

Is this an issue? From an overall standpoint no. The more scientific and technological progress the better. From a national GDP or technology competitiveness point of view yes. Patents are a good measure of innovativeness and there are also correlations between the number of patents and the number of Nobel Prize winners, so this will impact on national optimism and the feel-good factor generally.

There are lots of scenarios here. One is that China falls over and turns inward economically. Another is that China starts to top lists like this, becomes the world’s #1 economy (by 2030 or 2035?) and other nations, such as the US, turn inwards economically and lash out politically.

Remember tough guys? Men like Steve McQueen and John Wayne – strong silent types that got the job done. Recently we’ve had SNAGS – Sensitive New Age Guys, Metrosexuals and Ubersexuals  – men who are fragile and flawed.

These guys have been feminised by society. Their hands are manicured, they cry and don’t know how to fix a car when it breaks down. Indeed, the only solid things about new age guys like Johnny Deep and Leonardo Decaprio are their hair-care routines.

Perhaps the reason that real men have disappeared – or that society has become gender neutral – is that real men scare the pants off us. Feminism says that women can do anything that men can do but according to Harvey Mansfield, a US conservative theorist, this is patently untrue. According to Mansfield, men are far more likely than women to stick their necks out for an idea or a cause and men have a far greater taste for physical and intellectual combat.

This means that men are far more likely to start wars and torture people but it also means that they are more likely to invent things or knock ideas down that don’t make sense. Whether you agree with this or not, it’s certainly an interesting area for debate.

Perhaps there is a long and bloody battle to be fought in societies where women are behaving more like men and men are acting more like women. Some people would like to see this situation partially reversed with women returning to a level of female modesty and men becoming stronger and more gentlemanly.