Mental health and wellness are not areas you typically think of along with cutting edge exponential technology. However, that is about to change. My guest today is Nichol Bradford . Nichol is building the future of human possibility by facilitating bold new technologies for mental health and well-being. Nichol is the executive Director and co-founder of the Transformative Technology Lab, Transtech Conference, and the Transformative Technology Academy . We explore how technology can be applied to...
Jun 19, 2018•36 min
My guest today is John Underkoffler . As an early member of the MIT Media Lab , John was approached by Steven Spielberg and legendary world-builder Alex McDowell to help design the interface of the future for the film Minority Report . The system John and the team designed became legendary for its vision and conceptual innovation. He’s gone on to help design many sci-fi computer interfaces including Iron Man’s JARVIS . Building on these fictional computer interfaces, John has founded the company...
May 16, 2018•57 min
Today we look at Universal Basic Income , or UBI . With increasingly advanced artificial intelligence and robotics, we face the threat of job loss on an unprecedented scale — by many estimates well into double digits and some forecasting a majority of the workforce will at some point not be needed. Others look at current poverty rates and the difficulty of escaping a downward economic spiral and ask if we are doing enough to give members of our society the chance to invest in their own growth an...
Apr 25, 2018•49 min
My guest today is Liam Young , an architect and visionary futurist filmmaker who uses his design background combined with experience in crafting environments to prototype new worlds — worlds that reveal unexpected aspects of how we live today and how we will live in the future. Liam teaches speculative architecture and world building at Sci Arc, a leading architecture school. He founded Unknown Fields, a nomadic studio documenting expeditions to the ends of the earth, exploring unusual forgotten...
Apr 09, 2018•46 min
Tesla is changing the game for what an automobile can do, and can be. Not only are Tesla cars electric, but their data streams can function across a network with unprecedented interactivity. Add increasing autonomous driving capabilities, and the automotive equation changes massively. My guest today is Rahul Sonnad , the CEO of Tesloop . Tesloop is in operation today, and scaling to make a city-to-city network of Tesla cars available as a fast, affordable, comfortable alternative to plane travel...
Mar 28, 2018•1 hr 1 min
Exploring news about Autonomous Vehicles, Flying Cars and Smart Cities in this roundup analysis. More at www.mindandmachine.io
Mar 17, 2018•25 min
As new crypto coins are issued through ICO s at a frenzied pace — Bitcoin , the original, shows the greatest market strength, with the most liquidity, the broadest installed wallet base, and many argue the strongest security. Today we check back in with Tone Vays , a thought-leader and advisor on everything related to Bitcoin. Our previous episode with Tone was an intro to crypto, and if you're new to the subject I suggest you start there. Today we expand on the subject of crypto and bitcoin, di...
Mar 05, 2018•47 min
Clean Meat is coming — meat created in the Lab, instead of from animals but identical to animal meat in every way, down to the molecular level. We discuss what this is all about, how realistic it is, and what kind of time frame we're looking at (much sooner than you think). More at www.mindandmachine.io
Mar 03, 2018•24 min
An introductory look at CRISPR, how it works and why it matters. Plus a Cryptocurrency Headline Roundup: We look at Switzerland's categorization of ICOs into three types, and the first state-sponsored digital currency planned to be issued. More at: https://twitter.com/augustbradley www.mindandmachine.io
Feb 23, 2018•38 min•Ep. 32
Five years ago Elon Musk wrote a white paper proposing an alternative to slow, expensive transportation between distant cities. The idea was to replace air travel and trains with a Hyperloop , a 1,000 km per hour (or 600+ mph) passenger pod shooting through a tube hundreds of mile long in a vacuum, so no air resistance – levitating in the air so it avoids any friction. My guest today is Matt Jones , senior vice president of software at Virgin Hyperloop One , the leading developer of hyperloop te...
Feb 13, 2018•46 min•Ep. 31
When you combine natural language interface , emotion modeling , CG animation , and various forms of Artificial Intelligence , you get lifelike computer characters with autonomous interaction. This new kind of digital actor is called a Virtual Human , and can be deployed across a wide spectrum of functions -- enabling authentic human interaction with machines. From psychological counseling to education to customer service to endless other applications, virtual humans will play an increasingly ac...
Feb 06, 2018•41 min•Ep. 29
Today we’re going investigate the past — the most distant past imaginable: the Origin of the Universe . “How did the universe form” is such a profound question, that it informs everything we do today, and everything that will come next. My guest is James Bock . James is a Caltech Professor of Physics and NASA JPL Senior Research Scientist running experiments on what happened right after the Big Bang. As a leading cosmologist and astrophysicist, he and his team are at the forefront of understandi...
Jan 30, 2018•38 min•Ep. 28
Today we explore Artificial Intelligence (AI) through Neuromorphic Computing with computer chips that emulate the biological neurons and synapses in the brain. Neuro-biological chip architectures enable machines to solve very different kinds of problems than traditional computers, the kinds of problems we previously thought only humans could tackle. My guest today is Kelsey Sharnhorst. Kelsey is an Artificial Neural Network Researcher at UCLA. Her research lab (Gimzewski Lab under James Gimzewsk...
Jan 15, 2018•39 min•Ep. 27
Today we look at a fascinating approach to Artificial Intelligence (AI) in which a mind is created at an infant-like level, with no knowledge and limited ability. Then it learns and develops from scratch through its own experience within the body of a device -- be it a robot body or a toaster. My guest today is Michael Miller , author of the new book “Building Minds with Patterns”. Michael is an expert at natural-growth AI development. I’ve had numerous conversations with Michael and come away e...
Jan 08, 2018•41 min•Ep. 26
Today we look at OpenBazaar, the leading Bitcoin marketplace for goods and services. Can such emerging platforms challenge the likes of Amazon, Ebay and Etsy? Our guest is Brian Hoffman, founder and project lead of OpenBazaar. Brian is backed by leading VC firms Andreessen Horowitz and Union Square Ventures. While working for Department of Defense cyber-security consulting units, which included analyzing crypto-currencies, Brian became intrigued by these emerging forms of programmable monetary e...
Dec 18, 2017•47 min•Ep. 25
Today we begin with a discussion surveying a wide range of future technologies, then we dive deeper into the changing media landscape. Our guest today is Joanna Popper. Joanna has been the Executive Vice President of Media and Marketing at Singularity University, a pioneering institute teaching and fostering frontier technologies. Prior to that she was a Vice President at NBC Universal, developing strategies across digital, social and mobile.Joanna now works directly with a wide range of compani...
Dec 11, 2017•34 min•Ep. 24
Today we explore Decentralized Autonomous Organizations, or DAOs -- blockchain algorithms with the potential to perform the entire functionality of corporations or government agencies... without a single employee. Our guest today is Ismail Malik, a pioneer in Decentralized Autonomous Organizations, pushing the concept even further to what he believes will more accurately be Decentralized Autonomous Organisms -- where the blockchain algorithms’ behaviours go beyond that of an organization into th...
Dec 04, 2017•33 min•Ep. 23
Discovery is pursuing bold new methods of storytelling across their media portfolio (Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Science Channel, etc...). This week we talk with Jeff Abramson, the Head of Virtual Reality Content Development and Programming for Discovery Communications, and get his insights into what makes immersive media (VR, AR, MR and such) compelling as well as where he sees it heading in the future. More at www.mindandmachine.io
Nov 27, 2017•36 min•Ep. 22
We dive into the emerging arena of “ computational photography ” -- where cameras capture increasingly complex data that computers process to enable imagery never before possible. One of the most mind blowing areas of “Computational Photography” is “ Light Field ” imagery, which redefines much of what we took for granted about photo capture. With “Light Field” captures, we can change focus, depth of field and aperture at any point after the image has been taken. It also enables some degree of ca...
Nov 20, 2017•36 min•Ep. 21
1st Half: The Neuroscience of App Addiction 2nd Half: Artificial Intelligence from a Neuroscience Perspective (at 24:45) Apps are designed to grab us and keep us hooked as long as possible, as often as possible. Addictive traits built into the apps manipulate us at a primal biological level -- creating a stimulus/response pattern that can re-program our behaviors over time. The increasing role of Artificial Intelligence will inevitably hand-off some of this addictive-design work, setting up a sc...
Nov 13, 2017•55 min•Ep. 20
This week on the show we take a look at Augmented Reality SmartGlasses from AR hardware leader ODG, and explore the fast changing tech landscape, entrepreneurship, and how media-tech in particular is transforming our world. Our guest is Keith Boesky , an advisor and board member to many of the fastest rising ventures in the west coast tech-media scene — including ODG, an established hardware leader in the augmented reality space. Keith is a former president of top-tier gaming company Eidos, wher...
Nov 09, 2017•37 min•Ep. 19
Bitcoin is capturing headlines with it’s sharp rise in price, giving credibility to the claim that it has the potential to become major disruptor in the global economy. Our guest today is Tone Vays . Tone is a former Wall Street guy, having worked as a systems analyst at Bear Stearns and then JP Morgan. He has now become a thought-leader and advisor on everything related to Bitcoin. He’s an influencer in the space at Blockchain trade shows, through his YouTube Channel and Podcast, and via his bl...
Nov 06, 2017•55 min•Ep. 18
With fossil fuels polluting the earth’s atmosphere and being in finite supply, technological advances in renewable energy such as solar, hydropower and wind are becoming more essential for our future. Batteries are at the core of making renewables power possible. Our guest today is Duwayno Robertson. He’s an expert on batteries for future-forward automobiles and renewable energy systems. Duwayno was a Fisker Automotive lead engineer overseeing everything that interacted with the battery, helping...
Oct 30, 2017•37 min•Ep. 17
Review of the Future-Tech vision of Blade Runner 2049 — how it relates to actual development currently underway, and its potential connection to our technological future. A look at Augmented Reality, Holograms, Synthetic Biological Robots, DNA Storage, Memory-Tech, and Vintage Futuristic, The first of a series of shorter "thought piece" recordings. More at http://www.mindandmachine.io
Oct 26, 2017•8 min•Ep. 16
In this episode we do an introduction to Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies , beginning with basic definitions and then building into more complex concepts. Our guest is Hudson Jameson , the COO and Co-Founder of Oaken Innovations, a company focused on enhancing “Internet of Things” smart-devices with Blockchain technology. They’re using blockchain to empower the increasing array of app-controlled smart devices in our lives (from cars to medical devices to household thermostats, lights and much mor...
Oct 23, 2017•38 min•Ep. 15
We take a highly visual dive into Fractals — what they are, what they mean and what they reveal to us. It's an astonishing look into mysterious mathematical riddles that create infinite multi-dimensional worlds with a very sci-fi feel. Our guest is Anders Hjemdahl , a creative technologist who combines bold creative vision with a deep technological skillset. He’s been working in and on fractals for over 20 years, currently creating an extensive book exploring the mystery, science and beauty of f...
Oct 12, 2017•41 min•Ep. 13
SpaceX and its founder Elon Musk are redefining what it means to be a bold, forward-thinking company. With the goal of making humankind interplanetary, they've shattered expectations of what’s possible in a very short time period, and have re-invigorated our dreams about space exploration. Our guest today is Daniel Frohlich . Daniel was the very first intern with SpaceX back in 2002 when the company was just starting as a tiny team of fifteen people. Then after completing programs in aeronautica...
Oct 09, 2017•26 min•Ep. 12
Artificial Intelligence and Robotics are getting a lot of attention these days. But with all the utopian dreams and cautionary warnings effortlessly tossed around in headlines, I get excited looking at real, tangible use-cases happening now. My guest today is Sabri Sansoy -- he's created a "cognitive" Met Gala Gown powered by IBM Watson , a race car controlled by human voices across the internet, and a robot crab that cleans up trash on the beach. Sabri focuses on several sectors of AI: Machine ...
Oct 02, 2017•39 min•Ep. 11
Holographic Pioneer and Immersive Experience Creative Director Peter Martin is at the forefront of creating holographic live performances, having helped bring to life virtual performances with artists such as Gorillaz and M.I.A.. He is now coordinating with nearly a dozen popular performers and the estates of deceased artists to create iconic live concerts that would be impossible without holographic technology. Peter is the founder of VALIS Studios. Working closely with cutting edge technology ...
Sep 25, 2017•29 min•Ep. 10
Virtual Artist, Holographic Magician, and Immersive Creative Director Peter Martin has had a remarkable career — from launching an influential music magazine as a teenager, to producing music videos and interactive projects for bands like Gorillaz, to bringing holographic performances to life with MIA, and enabling Smithsonian Art Museum visitors to vanish into immersive virtual worlds as they physically approach the artwork. Peter is the founder of VALIS Studios . Working closely with cutting e...
Sep 21, 2017•33 min•Ep. 9
