https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/heres-how-us-can-lead-world-climate-change-innovation-bill-gates
Do we need to disrupt the worlds physical economy to prevent climate change?
Maybe change from a capitalist economy to a central economy - where people are aligned -
Bill gates called out the microbe a few years ago and the world 🌎 was not ready for Covid-19!
What can we learn about this pandemic/disaster to be ready for the next one? What will the next one be ?
Will it be as a result of climate change?
Possibly!!
What can we do to prepare or prevent!
It’s time to disrupt the physical economy - and spend time, thought, money ingenuity, energy and focus on innovation in climate change he says!
How do we eliminate the world’s greenhouse gases.
How can we generate and store clean electricity, grow food, make things, move around, and heat and cool our buildings, so we can do all these things without adding more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.
Government investment and focus - innovation and where people focus their energy follows the money
The USA puts around $7 billion a year into clean-energy research, versus more than $35 billion a year into medical research. Putting energy on equal footing with health would be a key first step that would create more than 370,000 jobs while also advancing a clean-energy agenda.
All the governments in the world spend about $22 billion a year on it, or around 0.02 percent of the global economy. Americans spend more than that on gasoline in a single month.
I do not believe there will be any argument with increasing funding significantly for climate change and there should total support
A coordinated approach?
Bill Gates suggests we create a central organisation .....Is this not the policy of China 🇨🇳.?
“There’s no central office that’s responsible for evaluating and nurturing great ideas.”
We need a central office that’s responsible for evaluating and nurturing great ideas.
This will reduce duplication and encourage collaboration - and get the most innovation out of every dollar of funding,
Is a central body the best way? Will this not inhibit innovation ....
If there is such a body - Should this body not fund - and encourage innovation through funding?
One thing we know is that innovation follows the money !
a central organisation was not done
There have also been massive innovations in China - based on a centralised government . (5G case in point )
Who should control the agenda? A central body?
“The supporting of the National Institute of Health of The Gates Foundation’s work in global health simply would not be possible without the countless advances made by the NIH.” Says Bill
They supported it , helped fund it - encouraged collaboration - but did not control it
To find a solution - do we need to encourage innovation - encourage competition but also encourage collaboration .
Or
control the agenda through a centralised body run by Government
Maybe encourage innovation by supporting those working on solutions - or rewarding companies through competitions like the Olympic Games?
The benefits of a Centralised Body
Central Organisations that control agendas - seems to be the policy of China - which innovates brilliantly - those that are aligned with the central body will be rewarded - those that don’t will be punished -
decisions and funding is based on aligned thinking - stuff gets done and problems get solved.
Bill, is that what you are suggesting?
Or are you suggesting a body that will fund, encourage and support innovation -and still encourage free trade and thought and equity?
The 20’s have really started with a ...... bang? Fizzle? Disease? Wake up call??
We can either go into our shell and lick our wounds from the ravages of covid or realign, reinvent, refuel and get ready for the 20’s !!
So what is the next Google-sized business opportunities on the horizon?
Are we entering an era of technological booms, historic watershed moments, and extraordinary abundance?
Peter Diamandis talks about the 20 Metatrends that include augmented human longevity, global abundance, the surging smart economy, AI-human collaboration, urbanized cellular agriculture, and high-bandwidth brain-computer interfaces... just to name a few.
20 METATRENDS FOR THE 2020’s
(1) Continued increase in global abundance: The number of individuals in extreme poverty continues to drop, as the middle-income population continues to rise. This Metatrend is driven by the convergence of high-bandwidth and low-cost communication, ubiquitous AI on the cloud, growing access to AI-aided education and AI-driven healthcare. Everyday goods and services (finance, insurance, education and entertainment) are being digitized and becoming fully demonetized, available to the rising billion on mobile devices.
(2) Global gigabit connectivity will connect everyone and everything, everywhere, at ultra-low cost: The deployment of both licensed and unlicensed 5G, plus the launch of a multitude of global satellite networks (OneWeb, Starlink, etc.), allow for ubiquitous, low-cost communications for everyone, everywhere–– not to mention the connection of trillions of devices. And today’s skyrocketing connectivity is bringing online an additional 3 billion individuals, driving tens of trillions of dollars into the global economy. This Metatrend is driven by the convergence of: low-cost space launches, hardware advancements, 5G networks, artificial intelligence, materials science, and surging computing power.
(3) The average human healthspan will increase by 10+ years: A dozen game-changing biotech and pharmaceutical solutions (currently in Phase 1, 2, or 3 clinical trials) will reach consumers this decade, adding an additional decade to the human healthspan. Technologies include stem cell supply restoration, wnt pathway manipulation, Senolytic Medicines, a new generation of Endo-Vaccines, GDF-11, supplementation of NMD/NAD+, among several others. And as machine learning continues to mature, AI is set to unleash countless new drug candidates, ready for clinical trials. This Metatrend is driven by the convergence of: genome sequencing, CRISPR technologies, AI, quantum computing, and cellular medicine.
(4) An age of capital abundance will see increasing access to capital everywhere: Over the past few years, humanity hit all-time highs in the global flow of seed capital, venture capital and sovereign wealth fund investments. While this trend will witness some ups and downs in the wake of future recessions, it is expected to continue its overall upward trajectory. Capital abundance leads to the funding and testing of ‘crazy’ entrepreneurial ideas, which in turn accelerate innovation. Already, $300 billion in crowdfunding is anticipated by 2025, democratizing capital access for entrepreneurs worldwide. This Metatrend is driven by the convergence of: global connectivity, dematerialization, demonetization, and democratization.
(5) Augmented Reality and the Spatial Web will achieve ubiquitous deployment: The combination of Augmented Reality (yielding Web 3.0, or the Spatial Web) and 5G networks (offering 100Mb/s - 10Gb/s connection speeds) will transform how we live our everyday lives, impacting every industry from retail and advertising, to education and entertainment. Consumers will play, learn and shop throughout the day in a newly intelligent, virtually overlaid world. This Metatrend will be driven by the convergence of: hardware advancements, 5G networks, artificial intelligence, materials science, and surging computing power.
(6) Everything is smart, embedded with intelligence: The price of specialized machine learning chips is dropping rapidly with a rise in global demand. Combined with the explosion of low-cost microscopic sensors and the deployment of high-bandwidth networks, we’re heading into a decade wherein every device becomes intelligent. Your child’s toy remembers her face and name. Your kids’ drone safely and diligently follows and videos all the children at the birthday party. Appliances respond to voice commands and anticipate your needs.
(7) AI will achieve human-level intelligence: As predicted by technologist and futurist Ray Kurzweil, artificial intelligence will reach human-level performance this decade (by 2030). Through the 2020s, AI algorithms and machine learning tools will be increasingly made open source, available on the cloud, allowing any individual with an internet connection to supplement their cognitive ability, augment their problem-solving capacity, and build new ventures at a fraction of the current cost. This Metatrend will be driven by the convergence of: global high-bandwidth connectivity, neural networks, and cloud computing. Every industry, spanning industrial design, healthcare, education, and entertainment, will be impacted.
(8) AI-Human Collaboration will skyrocket across all professions: aI will become ubiquitous - The rise of “AI as a Service” (AIaaS) platforms will enable humans to partner with AI in every aspect of their work, at every level, in every industry. AIs will become entrenched in everyday business operations, serving as cognitive collaborators to employees — supporting creative tasks, generating new ideas, and tackling previously unattainable innovations. In some fields, partnership with AI will even become a requirement. For example: in the future, making certain diagnoses without the consultation of AI may be deemed malpractice.
(9) Most individuals adapt a JARVIS-like “software shell” to improve their quality of life: As services like Alexa, Google Home and Apple Homepod expand in functionality, such services will eventually travel beyond the home and become your cognitive prosthetic 24/7. Imagine a secure JARVIS-like software shell that you give permission to listen to all your conversations, read your email, monitor your blood chemistry, etc. With access to such data, these AI-enabled software shells will learn your preferences, anticipate your needs and behavior, shop for you, monitor your health, and help you problem-solve in support of your mid- and long-term goals.
(10) Globally abundant, cheap renewable energy: Continued advancements in solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, nuclear and localized grids will drive humanity towards cheap, abundant, and ubiquitous renewable energy. The price per kilowatt-hour will drop below 1 cent per kilowatt-hour for renewables, just as storage drops below a mere 3 cents per kilowatt-hour, resulting in the majority displacement of fossil fuels globally. And as the world’s poorest countries are also the world’s sunniest, the democratization of both new and traditional storage technologies will grant energy abundance to those already bathed in sunlight.
(11) The insurance industry transforms from “recovery after risk” to “prevention of risk:” Today, fire insurance pays you after your house burns down; life insurance pays your next-of-kin after you die; and health insurance (which is really sick insurance) pays only after you get sick. This next decade, a new generation of insurance providers will leverage the convergence of machine learning, ubiquitous sensors, low-cost genome sequencing and robotics to detect risk, prevent disaster, and guarantee safety before any costs are incurred.
(12) Autonomous vehicles and flying cars will redefine human travel (soon to be far faster and cheaper): Fully autonomous vehicles, car-as-a-service fleets, and aerial ride-sharing (flying cars) will be fully operational in most major metropolitan cities in the coming decade. The cost of transportation will plummet 3-4X, transforming real estate, finance, insurance, the materials economy, and urban planning. Where you live and work, and how you spend your time, will all be fundamentally reshaped by this future of human travel. Your kids and elderly parents will never drive. This Metatrend will be driven by the convergence of: machine learning, sensors, materials science, battery storage improvements, and ubiquitous gigabit connections.
(13) On-demand production and on-demand delivery will birth an “instant economy of things:” Urban dwellers will learn to expect “instant fulfillment” of their retail orders as drone and robotic last-mile delivery services carry products from local supply depots directly to your doorstep. Further riding the deployment of regional on-demand digital manufacturing (3D printing farms), individualized products can be obtained within hours, anywhere, anytime. This Metatrend is driven by the convergence of: networks, 3D printing, robotics, and artificial intelligence.
(14) Ability to sense and know anything, anytime, anywhere: We’re rapidly approaching the era wherein 100 billion sensors (the Internet of Everything) is monitoring and sensing (imaging, listening, measuring) every facet of our environments, all the time. Global imaging satellites, drones, autonomous car LIDARs, and forward-looking augmented reality (AR) headset cameras are all part of a global sensor matrix, together allowing us to know anything, anytime, anywhere. This Metatrend is driven by the convergence of: terrestrial, atmospheric and space-based sensors, vast data networks, and machine learning. In this future, it’s not “what you know,” but rather “the quality of the questions you ask” that will be most important.
(15) Disruption of advertising: As AI becomes increasingly embedded in everyday life, your custom AI will soon understand what you want better than you do. In turn, we will begin to both trust and rely upon our AIs to make most of our buying decisions, turning over shopping to AI-enabled personal assistants. Your AI might make purchases based upon your past desires, current shortages, conversations you’ve allowed your AI to listen to, or by tracking where your pupils focus on a virtual interface (i.e. what catches your attention). As a result, the advertising industry—which normally competes for your attention (whether at the Superbowl or through search engines)—will have a hard time influencing your AI. This Metatrend is driven by the convergence of: machine learning, sensors, augmented reality, and 5G/networks.
(16) Cellular agriculture moves from the lab into inner cities, providing high-quality protein that is cheaper and healthier: This next decade will witness the birth of the most ethical, nutritious, and environmentally sustainable protein production system devised by humankind. Stem cell-based ‘cellular agriculture’ will allow the production of beef, chicken and fish anywhere, on-demand, with far higher nutritional content, and a vastly lower environmental footprint than traditional livestock options. This Metatrend is enabled by the convergence of: biotechnology, materials science, machine learning, and AgTech.
(17) High-bandwidth Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI) will come online for public use: Technologist and futurist Ray Kurzweil has predicted that in the mid-2030s, we will begin connecting the human neocortex to the cloud. This next decade will see tremendous progress in that direction, first serving those with spinal cord injuries, whereby patients will regain both sensory capacity and motor control. Yet beyond assisting those with motor function loss, several BCI pioneers are now attempting to supplement their baseline cognitive abilities, a pursuit with the potential to increase their sensorium, memory and even intelligence. This Metatrend is fueled by the convergence of: materials science, machine learning, and robotics.
(18) High-resolution VR will transform both retail and real estate shopping: High-resolution, lightweight virtual reality headsets will allow individuals at home to shop for everything from clothing to real estate from the convenience of their living room. Need a new outfit? Your AI knows your detailed body measurements and can whip up a fashion show featuring your avatar wearing the latest 20 designs on a runway. Want to see how your furniture might look inside a house you’re viewing online? No problem! Your AI can populate the property with your virtualized inventory and give you a guided tour. This Metatrend is enabled by the convergence of: VR, machine learning, and high-bandwidth networks.
(19) Increased focus on sustainability and the environment: An increase in global environmental awareness and concern over global warming will drive companies to invest in sustainability, both from a necessity standpoint and for marketing purposes. Breakthroughs in materials science, enabled by AI, will allow companies to drive tremendous reductions in waste and environmental contamination. One company’s waste will become another company’s profit center. This Metatrend is enabled by the convergence of: materials science, artificial intelligence, and broadband networks.
(20) CRISPR and gene therapies will minimize disease: A vast range of infectious diseases, ranging from AIDS to Ebola, are now curable. In addition, gene-editing technologies continue to advance in precision and ease of use, allowing families to treat and ultimately cure hundreds of inheritable genetic diseases. This Metatrend is driven by the convergence of: various biotechnologies (CRISPR, Gene Therapy), genome sequencing, and artificial intelligence.
All of the above will require you to reskill and realign . The job you have today will not be the job you have tomorrow.
Make sure you are a lifelong learner - are you part of the #nexttechrevolution?
Link to Peter Diamandis’ blog - Peter Diamandis
Remember the postman on a bicycle that was being chased down the road by your dog?
Well, the Postage service is being disrupted again - by Drones!
Imagine a world where ordering a video can be delivered immediately with a press of a button - unheard of 20 years ago - it’s become ubiquitous with Netflix now the new normal!
Imagine Your Thai food/ grocery shopping/ online orders being delivered within half an hour to your balcony .. by a 24/7 drone service!
Will that be the new normal? - it’s already happening.
Jeff Bezos is leading the way with Amazon Prime Air - as he focussed totally on improving customer service
Drones are already being used as high-tech photography and film where you can , create films that capture the world from a new angle - great for selling real estate!
They are being used for emergency services as well as first-aid vehicles and tools for police departments.
Will Drones replace jobs? Maybe, but the prediction is that they will create more jobs... drone technicians, programmers, operators, network administrators and software engineers.
Are you positioned to adapt to the Nexttech Revolution?
I for one am looking forward to a future rich with Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and automation on steroids where people and technology work together to build a connected universe.
One thing you can be sure of - the winners will be those that can adapt and learn ..... are you a “life long learner?
Join our Nexttech Revolution
Education in the 20’sis not what students will learn, but how they will learn it:
The advantages of AI and VR to the lifelong learner and educator
Artificial intelligence in education is and will continue to be an indispensable tool to support both teachers and students. Robits and artificial intelligence should be embraced as it can improve the human side of the school experience.
Tracking students’ behaviour, data and engagement with the learning material through AI will enable students to customise their experience so they can learn in a way that is optimal to their personal style, and also raise red flags for educators to notice and offer help to students who seem to be developing not optimal behaviour.
Educators workloads will be greatly reduced as technology takes care of collecting data, highlighting learning and behavioural patterns, planning and grading.
Teachers will focus on valuable class time while which will improve their quality of life and reduce the feeling of overwhelm to the point of wanting to quit.
Learning through video, and gamification will make learning more immersive through virtual, augmented and mixed reality.
Students with learning disabilities and other difficulties will also benefit greatly from instructional videos, text-to-speech technology and a wealth of other aids available as compensating tools that give them a fairer chance at learning at the same pace as their peers.
The key is - what does the content need to change to - what is the new curriculum ?
What do our children need to have in their armoury to face the doubting world of the future of work?
I for one am super positive of the future of learning and the opportunities that will stem from the various technologies that are available.
Onwards and upwards I say!
Life-long learning has been proved to be one of the ways to stay relevant and not get disrupted by machines.
Acquiring new knowledge is a such an integral part of your life - you need to learn how to absorb new knowledge and eventually create your own knowledge - which is key to not only to your advancement.
It is clear that for us to advance an indeed continue to proliferate the survival of human existence. we will need to learn how to effectively and efficiently learn new skills - over the course of our lives!
There is a great article by Erika Anderson https://hbr.org/amp/2016/03/learning-to-learn
that shares 4 attributes needed to learn how to learn all based around your mindset.
Well worth a read
A Mindset shift to change your focus from challenges to benefits - self talk is key
Think about the last time your company adopted a new approach—overhauled a reporting system, developed Referron , replaced a CRM platform, revamped the supply chain. Were you eager to go along? I doubt it.
Your initial response was probably to justify not learning. (It will take too long. The old way works just fine for me. I bet it’s just a flash in the pan.)
When confronted with new learning, this is often our first roadblock: We focus on the negative and unconsciously reinforce our lack of aspiration.
When you want to learn something, you focus on what you’ll gain from learning it—and envision a happy future in which you’re reaping those rewards.
That propels you into action.
Focus on the process vs the finished product
If you are writing a novel, focus on the chapter at hand. If you are writing software focus on the iteration, you are on right now, and everything will eventually connect.
Procrastination is a killer - and I am so good at it! delaying or postponing something that you are very well aware of needs to be done. If this is a problem work our strategies on how to deal with procrastination.
Emails, whatsapp, LinkedIn , Facebook notifications, tiktoks , YouTube and anything else that gets your mind off your task - shut it down so you can chunk that knowledge into your brain.
You have got to know the signals that get you off your attention spree and learn to shut them down for a period.
You can reward yourself after you have accomplished your goal, by maybe doing some social media!
Learning in short bursts followed by either taking a nap, social media or doing some exercise helps your brain make the necessary neural connections that build long-lasting chunks of knowledge into your long time memory.
Be comfortable being uncomfortable and vulnerable - by testing your knowledge by doing challenges that will force you to remember what you studied.
Practice is key , and going deep into the subject over a period of time - plan your activities
It is much easier learning with others - especially if you know like and trust them
Building long term relationships with people who are interested in like minded things will hold you in good stead
Having a mentor or coach that cares about you is key to your ability to learn and get you to your top game. There is a reason why top athletes and CEOs have coaches!
How cool would it be for BBG to create a process to enable lifelong learning!
