This week's letter: (to read the entire letter, please enter your email in the box above)
| Welcome to the Future | March 6, 2010
 | | I, Robot | | The Mauldin Test | | Who Stole My Nanotech? | | Water, Water Everywhere, Nor Any Drop to Drink | | The Promise of Biotech | | DIY-Bio | | Random Takeaways | | Home Again, Cambridge, and Cincinnati |
We are in an era of accelerating change,
moving toward a future that will be profoundly different from the past we grew
up in. But what will the nature of that change be? What will the future look
like? For the last 7 days I have been in an executive program designed by
Singularity University (www.singularityu.org)
to give some insight into that complex question. We looked at a number of
technological fields, lectured by experts assembled to give us some idea as to
where current research is and to where it is going. We visited some of the
cutting-edge companies here in Silicon Valley. Just as interesting, I
got to visit with 44 of my fellow information seekers from 15 countries and extremely
diverse backgrounds, along with a dozen college students, as well as the
faculty. The group ranged from very successful entrepreneurs to academics to
relatively high-level government workers to starry-eyed young people just
starting out. There were a lot more applicants than could be accommodated, and
the staff did a good job of choosing a group of people who all "brought
something to the table" besides their entry fee of $15,000. The days were
typically 14-15 hours, and there was a lot of discussion amongst us on the
topics of the day. This week we depart
from my usual letter on finance and economics so I can report on a few of the
ideas I came across. Some truly grabbed my interest, some confirmed my thinking,
and others quite frankly either disappointed or alarmed me. This will not be my
normal narrative, but rather short observations cribbed from my notes and
thoughts. As I am on (yet again) a plane to San Antonio for a speech tomorrow
morning, there will not be the usual links; and in some cases I must confess I
made notes without writing down the name of the speaker. Mea culpa. So, sit
back and let me share what has been a great week. (And I suspect that a few of
you will be happy that we are ignoring Greece for at least one week!) Quick note. My
Strategic Investment Conference is almost sold out. Details at the end of the
letter.
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