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Night with a Futurist: Smart Grid = No Grid?

Phil Watts Presenting 586

Night with a Futurist: Future of the Smart Grid

Monday’s Night with a Futurist saw Phil Watts discussing the Future of the Smart Grid, and more generally the future of power generation, use, and storage. Watts noted how little the power grid has changed relative to other technology in the 100+ years since its initial creation. While Alexander Graham Bell would be entirely lost looking at today’s cellular phones, Watts posited that Thomas Edison “could still work” given the lack of evolution in power transmission.

 

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Analysis, Breakthrough Thinking, People Making a Difference, Science & Technology News

Night with a Futurist Ponders the Prospects for Innovation

Night with a Futurist Ponders the Prospects for Innovation

Dr. Todd Siler speaking at  the Night with a Futurist about Future of Innovation

June’s Night with a Futurist saw Todd Siler discussing the future of innovation. Siler believes that the key constraints to innovation lie in the limitations individuals place around their thinking and creativity added to the subsequent inability to communicate ideas effectively to other people. Siler noted that people “live in a highly compartmentalized world” where different knowledge is siloed. Yet in order to innovate, people must “stand back and reintegrate.” This process can be frightening given the chaos that exists within the human mind but is necessary because inspiration results from the “chaotic moment of piecing elements together.” Siler urged people to “take time to reflect” which allows this integration of ideas to happen.

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Analysis, Breakthrough Thinking, People Making a Difference

Night with a Futurist on the Future of Politics with Host Tom Tancredo

Night with a Futurist on the Future of Politics with Host Tom Tancredo

Tom Tancredo at the Night with a Futurist on the Future of Politics

Tuesday’s Night with a Futurist offered perspectives on “The Future of Politics” provided by five-term Colorado Congressman and recent Presidential hopeful Tom Tancredo. Tancredo, who stood out during the Republican debates for his deeply held opinions on immigration and border security, prefaced his remarks by indicating he approaches the political system through “a partisan filter” and this vantage point would likely bleed into his remarks. He then went on to describe his start in politics in1975, which was prompted during his career as a 9th grade civics teacher in Arvada, Colorado. In an effort to motivate his students to become involved in public affairs, Tancredo pledged that if the whole class performed extra credit by getting involved with an issue or a campaign, he would run for public office. The class not only followed through on the challenge but also voted on which office Tancredo should pursue, and shortly thereafter he won his race for the Colorado State Senate.

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Business, Science & Technology News, Space

Night with a Futurist Explores Space 2.0

Night with a Futurist Explores Space 2.0

Thomas Frey, Burke Fort and John Metzger at the Night with a Futurist Explores Space 2.0

Monday’s Night with a Futurist provided thoughts on “The Business of Space 2.0” and an overview of the 8th Continent Project designed to support this business. Burke Fort and John Metzger gave the presentation, with Fort opening by walking the audience through the four evolutionary stages of space-related business: Space 1.0, Space 1.5, New Space and Space 2.0.

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Analysis, Great Videos, Historical Perspectives, Internet, Nanotechnology, Science & Technology News, Space

Year 2036: Mars colonization and a date with destiny

Year 2036: Mars colonization and a date with destiny

Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson host of the NOVA scienceNOW PBS program

From a half billion kilometers away, the message was powerful. In 1994, fragments of the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet slammed into Jupiter. The earth-size fireballs ejected into space were captured and relayed back to be seen again and again in Internet replay. The message: we need a foothold in space if our species is to survive.

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Analysis, Education, Historical Perspectives, Science & Technology News

Perspectives On “Next Generation Learning” At Night With A Futurist

Perspectives On Next Generation Learning At Night With A Futurist

 

Monday’s Night with a Futurist offered perspectives on “Next Generation Learning” provided by Michael Cushman. To Cushman, the opportunity for improved learning and training derives from the historically static nature of education combined with the potential offered by the increased pace of technology development. While “our founding fathers were born with the same technology they died with,” current generations are faced with an environment that changes much more rapidly. Advances in the fields of wireless communications and virtual simulation promise a Copernican revolution in education methodology, which Cushman currently identifies as the key constraint in solving the world’s largest problems.

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Analysis, Globalism, New Viewpoints, Science & Technology News

Night With A Futurist: “The Coming Data Tsunami”

Night With A Futurist: “The Coming Data Tsunami”

 Futurist Speaker, Thomas Frey, DaVinci Institute

Rocky Radar:  Monday’s Night with a Futurist featured Thomas Frey’s thoughts on “The Coming Data Tsunami.” Simply, this coming tidal wave exists because the rate of data creation is about to explode and exceed all solutions to store, transmit, process and extract value from the data. At the core of Frey’s thoughts on the subject is what he calls the cumulative law of information value. To paraphrase, this law says that more information, or data reserves, is more valuable and that this value grows exponentially. An important addendum to this law is that that a lag time exists between data creation and when the value from that data can be extracted. With this view on the value of information in place – postulating that it could even be a currency of the future – Frey went on to explore the challenges expected as the volume of information explodes.

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Breakthrough Thinking, People Making a Difference, Science & Technology News, Star Trek, Star Wars, Upcoming Events

An Evening with the Legendary Dr. Ben Bova

 An Evening with the Legendary Dr. Ben Bova

 Life on the moon as depicted by the legendary science fiction author, Dr. Ben Bova

On August 6th the DaVinci Institute will be hosting the legendary science fiction author, Dr. Ben Bova, at its Night with a Futurist event.

In his various writings, Dr. Bova has predicted the Space Race of the 1960s, solar power satellites, the discovery of organic chemicals in interstellar space, virtual reality, human cloning, the Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars), the discovery of life on Mars, the advent of international peacekeeping forces, the discovery of ice on the Moon, electronic book publishing and zero-gravity sex.

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Business, Latest Trend, Upcoming Events

The Future of Virtual Worlds

The Future of Virtual Worlds - Night with a Futurist - May 5, 2008 - DaVinci Institute

On may 5th Dave Elchoness will take a look at the major information and technological revolution that lies ahead

In a wide ranging keynote address at the 2007 Influence Forum, ICANN CEO Paul Twomey made the bold statement that virtual worlds are the future of global commerce.

Twomey sited several examples of the virtual interfaces companies will be using in the future, in fields including retail, client services, B2B and advertising. Specifically, he cited the interface behind Google Earth as one example of a “game-like interface” that has been put to real world use with a strong geographical focus.

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