How can we build a more secure digital future?

Cyber-attacks and data-breaches are escalating, attackers are employing all manner of sophisticated tools, AI is transforming the ‘arms race’ for both attackers and defenders. We see the headlines, but is this a future we have to accept? What are the pathways to a more secure digital future?

I asked Bruce Schneier, the biggest name in cybersecurity.

Bruce is a DEEP thinker. He’s been researching and writing prolifically on cybersecurity since 1998, has authored more than 12 books, is a Fellow and lecturer at Harvard’s Kennedy school and a board member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and is also Chief of Security Architecture at Inrupt, a data-security venture co-founded by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web.

Who better to shed light on pathways forward?

What I like best about him is this: he thinks about cybersecurity as the product of social, political, economic AND technical factors. He's a realist. Added to which, he has a wonderful turn of phrase: his razor-sharp one-liners slice right to the heart of an issue.

We discussed incentives, why government intervention is crucial for correcting market failures, IoT laws, the benefits of data decentralization and compartmentalization, disrupting cryptocurrencies to disrupt ransomware, treating superfluous data as a toxic asset, the unknowns of the post-quantum world, the need for crypto-agility, the benefits of zero trust authentication and more. I know you will enjoy his insights!

As always, you'll find my personal takeaways, links to some of Bruce’s related blog posts so you can take a deeper dive, and a full transcript of our conversation on the FutureBites page, where you can also learn more about my work as a futurist speaker.

The fifth largest economy in the world is smashing renewables records! For 41 of the past 49 days, California's grid has met more than 100% of electricity demand using solar, wind and hydro generation supplemented by grid-scale batteries. Supply is frequently exceeding 140% of demand, with the excess exported to neighbouring states. On some days renewables have supplied more than 100% of demand for more than 9 hours. These outstanding milestones for the atmosphere, the US economy and for consumers, are taking place earlier and faster than expected, with energy prices projected to fall steeply as California races towards the ultimate milestone: 100% solar, wind and hydro 24/7 365 days a year.

What factors are responsible? What lessons can be learned? What does this tell us about future of energy?

I asked Professor Mark Jacobson, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Director of the Atmosphere/Energy Program at Stanford University.

Mark is a GIANT in his field. As well as being the current #1 cited scientist, he is a prolific public commentator and regularly cited as one of the world’s most influential people. When it comes to the science, engineering and economics of the global transition to renewable energy, I consider him the most respected voice on the planet. His leadership, as a tireless educator to the public as well as to policy-makers, as he helps steer all 8 billion of us towards a better, healthier, safer future, is an inspiration. What a privilege to listen to his insights!

As always, you'll find my personal takeaways, a ton of links to further resources, data and reading kindly supplied by Mark, and a full transcript of our conversation on the FutureBites page, where you can also learn more about my work as a futurist speaker.

Enjoy the conversation, and see you in a cleaner, greener future!!!

Welcome to Part 2 of my interview with Michael Barnard, global energy expert and consultant to the biggest investors on the planet. In this episode we discuss biofuels, long-range shipping, carbon pricing, nuclear reactors, geothermal, grid-scale energy storage and more, and we wrap up with Michael's Short List of Climate Actions That Will Work. There's a ton of insight and wisdom to help you target the real energy opportunities. We also had a ton of fun. Wait until you hear some of Michael's one-liners as he eviscerates projects that fail on both science and economics -- priceless!

Michael lives and breathes energy tech. He is utterly pragmatic, laser-focused on cutting through the nonsense, and backs all his assertions with science and comprehensive, quantified, costed analysis. He is also passionate at debunking the myths and spreading the word about where the real opportunities lie. He shares these messages via his Redefining Energy – Tech podcast, and publishes prolifically in Clean Technica and Forbes Magazine. All of which explains why he's the perfect person to discuss what the future of energy generation will look.

For further reading, you'll find a list of Michael's go-to articles on the FutureBites page, where you can also learn more about my work as a futurist speaker.

See you in the future!

What will the global mix of energy generation look like in 2060? Which technologies are dead ends and which should we be paying more attention to? What will power long range ships and aircraft? What about nuclear?

Who better to answer these questions than Michael Barnard, global energy expert and consultant to the biggest investors on the planet.

Michael lives and breathes energy tech. He is utterly pragmatic, laser-focused on cutting through the nonsense, and backs all his assertions with science and comprehensive, quantified, costed analysis. He is also passionate at debunking the myths and spreading the word about where the real opportunities lie. He shares these messages via his Redefining Energy – Tech podcast, and publishes prolifically in Clean Technica and Forbes Magazine.

All of which explains why I like him so much. Honestly, he's a standout. I endorse him fully and unequivocally: the more organizations and investors who consult Michael the better -- for their balance sheets and for our future.

For further reading, you'll find a list of Michael's go-to articles on the FutureBites page, where you can also learn more about my work as a futurist speaker.

See you in the future!

What does the future of medicine look like when microchips and nervous systems speak the same language?

I asked Dr Elisa Donati, a Senior Scientist working at the cutting edge of neuroscience and engineering at the Institute of Neuroinformatics at University of Zürich and ETH Zürich.

It starts with mimicking the way neurons work in nature. Real neurons are analog, not digital. They process information event-by-event, not in lock-step with computer clocks. They transmit and process large volumes of information in parallel, and dispatch complex tasks using astonishingly little energy.

By re-thinking medical computer chips, Elisa and her colleagues are designing prosthetic hands that let wearers to feel pressure and texture and temperature through their fingertips. They are making cochlear implants with more fidelity, and pacemakers that take cues from our respiratory system as the heart does in nature. They are creating implants that bridge severed spinal chords.

And that’s only the beginning. By improving communications with the autonomic system, they aim to create new ways to manage type 2 diabetes and other hormonal imbalances, obesity, erectile dysfunction, depression and more. Elisa hopes to one day unlock new treatment pathways for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. The future of healthcare is an amazing place!

We recorded our conversation outdoors, at a beautiful seaside location at the 2023 NeuroEng Workshop hosted by the International Centre of Neurmorphic Systems, so you may hear the occasional walker or vehicle passing us by :-)

Don't forget to check out all the other interviews and insights on the FutureBites page on my website, where you can also learn more about my work as a futurist speaker.

See you in the future!

Affordable age-reversal drugs. Xenotransplants to eliminate organ shortages. Revolutionizing health economics. Keeping methane sequestered under the tundra. Editing livestock and crops to be resistant to ALL viruses ... What are the genomics pathways to a better future? Which are closest? Where could we be in twenty years? I asked George Church, the greatest genomic pioneer in the world.

George is a professor of genetics at both Harvard and MIT, the developer of the first direct genomic sequencing method, an initiator of the Human Genome Project and the Personal Genome Project, inventor of molecular multiplexing and tags, homologous recombination methods, array DNA synthesizers and many many more tools that help us investigate, analyze, edit and synthetize life.

His contributions, both directly and indirectly, via the accomplishments of the students and colleagues who have passed through his lab, have improved the lives of hundreds of millions, and will soon improve the lives of billions.

Who better to clarify how genomics can create a better future for HUMANITY?

It’s a wide-ranging discussion. The opportunities to revolutionize medicine and agriculture in particular will astonish you, as will the pace of progress. Some of this is coming SOON! And if that isn't enough to inspire you, how about a sprinkling of de-extinction and interstellar exploration to consider? What a joy it was talking to him.

Enjoy the podcast!

For additional comments, and to read the interview transcript, check out the FutureBites post on the website.

Learn more about my work as a futurist speaker.
See you in the future!

The future of medicine is one where all cancers are either 100% curable or turned into manageable diseases. You’ve heard me tell the story in my keynotes for many years. Now it’s time for you to hear from one of the heroes of that story, Bruce Levine.

Bruce and his colleagues pioneered CAR T-cell therapy, one of the most important breakthroughs in the history of medicine, where your own immune cells are reprogrammed to attack and destroy your cancer. They developed it, applied it, saved the first lives, achieved the first FDA approvals, and perfected a therapy that has now been applied to tens of thousands of patients around the world and will soon be hundreds of thousands.

Now Bruce is targeting solid tumors. And he’s moving CAR T-cell production INSIDE the human body to slash the costs. And he’s not stopping at cancer …

Which makes CAR T-cell therapy not only one of the most important breakthroughs in the history of medicine, but also one of the most important platforms for the FUTURE of medicine.

Enjoy the podcast. As always, I’ll add a post to the FutureBites page soon with additional thoughts and further reading, as well as a copy of the full interview transcript.

Learn more about my work as a futurist speaker.

See you in the future!

Will AI exacerbate inequality? Can we stop that from happening? As the world grapples with guardrails to protect us from future dangers of AI, I thought it timely to talk to an ethicist who has spent a lifetime pondering these challenges. Enter, Wendell Wallach, Carnegie-Uehiro fellow at Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, where he co-directs the Artificial Intelligence & Equality Initiative (AIEI). He is also Emeritus Chair of Technology and Ethics Studies at Yale University’s Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics, a scholar with the Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics, a fellow at the Institute for Ethics & Emerging Technology, and a senior advisor to The Hastings Center.
We recorded our discussion over cups of tea in his lounge room in Hartford CT. He was grounded and thoughtful and had a refreshingly broad perspective on the many complex forces shaping our future. Most importantly, while worried about bad corporate behaviours and all the ways A.I. can make things worse, he was also optimistic about the actions available to us to re-shape the trajectory for the better.
Enjoy the podcast!

As always, I’ll add a post to the FutureBites page soon with additional thoughts and further reading, as well as a copy of the full interview transcript.

Learn more about my work as a futurist speaker.

See you in the future!