Quantitative hedge funds (or “quant funds”), which rely on the work of employed mathematicians to develop complex trading strategies, are nothing new. But what if the mathematical work is outsourced to anyone, via a contest where the best predictions are rewarded with cryptocurrency? Richard Craib , founder of Numerai, explains to Azeem Azhar why his $70 million fund uses collective intelligence to perform well, despite the turmoil in the markets. They also discuss: The history and theory of qua...
May 25, 2022•43 min•Ep 34•Transcript available on Metacast Hydrogen has long been hyped as a fuel of the future. It’s abundant and its waste product is water. But it’s only recently that the availability of cheap renewable energy has allowed hydrogen to be produced competitively without the use of fossil fuels. Azeem Azhar speaks with Raffi Garabedian , co-founder and CEO of Electric Hydrogen, to explore the market opportunity and roadmap to wide adoption of “green hydrogen.” They also discuss: What the hydrogen industry can learn from scaling renewable...
May 18, 2022•40 min•Ep 33•Transcript available on Metacast Volocopter’s CEO Florian Reuter joins Azeem Azhar to explore how this radical new transport could transform our cities. They also break down the steps required to fulfill Volocopter’s vision of creating a door-to-door taxi service to rival Uber, via autonomous electric helicopter. In addition, they discuss: Why Volocopter expects to have their service running in Paris in two years. How data have led them to conclude that the optimum taxi capacity is two people. Why they’re opting to build and op...
May 11, 2022•54 min•Ep 32•Transcript available on Metacast Web3’s ability to attach value and incentives to almost every part of human activity has radical implications not only for how businesses engage with their customers, but also for how people can self-organize to drive social change. Web3 investor and analyst Packy McCormick makes the case, in conversation with Azeem Azhar, that an optimistic outlook rooted in market-dynamics can enable new sustainable businesses that operate for the public good. They also discuss: Why framing human behavior in t...
May 04, 2022•44 min•Ep 31•Transcript available on Metacast What is the metaverse, how will we use it and why might the financial innovations of Web3 and blockchain technology be crucial to its success? Citi’s Ronit Ghose, one of the world’s foremost analysts of technology’s influence on financial innovation, returns to the podcast to discuss how money will function in the metaverse with Azeem Azhar. Ghose argues that we shouldn’t think of the metaverse as replacing our real world with a virtual world, but instead imagine how real and virtual experiences...
Apr 20, 2022•39 min•Ep 29•Transcript available on Metacast Venture capitalists offer their investors outsized financial returns in exchange for taking on considerable risk. But what if that risk includes backing products where the economics of the end market aren’t clear? Moreover, what if the companies being supported have the non-financial goal of tackling climate change? As more money than ever pours into climate tech, Azeem Azhar speaks with Shayle Kann, a partner at Energy Impact Partners, about the challenges of investing in the net zero economy a...
Apr 13, 2022•47 min•Ep 28•Transcript available on Metacast Today’s cancer therapies are difficult, expensive, and slow to create. But the combination of new computing and new biological technologies is leading to a better understanding of the human immune system, with the goal of offering a better class of cancer therapies. Azeem Azhar speaks with Immunai co-founder and chief technology officer Luis Voloch about how AI is unlocking the secrets of the immune system and opening new avenues for novel cancer treatments. They also discuss: Why Luis and his c...
Apr 06, 2022•47 min•Ep 27•Transcript available on Metacast Meeting rising energy requirements in a safe and climate-friendly way is one of the key challenges humanity needs to solve. Danish start-up Seaborg Technologies has a blueprint for the future of power that uses a new type of nuclear reactor that is safe, can be manufactured quickly, and deployed on barges to any location worldwide. Seaborg CEO Troels Schönfeldt talks to Azeem Azhar about how the future of power stations could be sailing to your town soon. They also discuss: How the anti-nuclear ...
Mar 30, 2022•38 min•Ep 26•Transcript available on Metacast We could soon be living more of our lives in immersive virtual worlds, but what will that look like and how will it affect us? New York University professor of philosophy and neural science David Chalmers joins Azeem Azhar to discuss what the metaverse might offer us, the moral quandaries it could pose, and what our rights there might look like. They also address: What the consequences of wrongdoing in the metaverse might be. How governance and society could develop in virtual worlds. The philos...
Mar 23, 2022•51 min•Ep 25•Transcript available on Metacast General Sir Richard Barrons , the former commander of the UK’s Joint Forces Command — whose remit included military intelligence, special forces, and cyber, joins Azeem Azhar to discuss how technology is changing the definition of warfare and why our society’s resilience in the face of threats to peace must be founded on education. As war returns to Europe, General Barrons’ warning about how technology is transforming conflict is more prescient than ever. They also address: The nature of Russia’...
Mar 16, 2022•39 min•Ep 24•Transcript available on Metacast Many experts expected Russia’s war with Ukraine to be accompanied by a large-scale cyberattack, but that hasn’t yet materialized. Azeem Azhar speaks to Robert Hannigan , the former director of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) – the UK’s equivalent to America’s NSA, to find out how the conflict is playing out in cyberspace and what might happen next. @Azeem @exponentialview Blue Voyant Further resources: ‘AI and the Future of Warfare’ – Exponential View Podcast, 2019 ‘Cybersecuri...
Mar 09, 2022•45 min•Ep 23•Transcript available on Metacast Technology is making traditional agriculture more efficient, but farming still has its problems. It takes a huge amount of land and can be energy- and water-intensive. In addition, produce needs to be transported to customers, often over great distances. Daniele Modesto, CEO of ZERO Farms, tells Azeem Azhar how building upward will be part of the solution for the future of farming and why his technology could be used to produce more than just food. @Azeem @exponentialview Further resources: How ...
Mar 02, 2022•49 min•Ep 22•Transcript available on Metacast Science is getting better at re-engineering micro-organisms for all kinds of uses, from better medical treatments to more durable materials. But there are still hurdles to overcome, including scaling the process. Boston-based Ginkgo Bioworks was one of the first billion-dollar companies in the synthetic biology space. The NYSE-listed company uses machine learning and automation to coax biology to work at industrial scale. COO Reshma Shetty talks to Azeem Azhar about the company’s technology, bus...
Feb 23, 2022•48 min•Ep 21•Transcript available on Metacast Eighty percent of urban trips are less than two miles long. So why do so many of us make them in big, inefficient, and expensive vehicles? Tech analyst Horace Dediu, who coined the term “micromobility,” joins Azeem Azhar to discuss why the future of cities lies in “looking up,” rather than “looking down,” and what that tells us about a new era of consumer behavior both on- and offline. They also discuss how the micromobility industry has grown so fast, how an urbanizing population will further b...
Feb 16, 2022•49 min•Ep 20•Transcript available on Metacast Seventy-five percent of the total value of US companies that have floated since 1995 has been created by venture-backed firms, including Alphabet, Facebook, and countless others. But how did an obscure investment strategy become the engine of modern innovation and where might it go next? Sebastian Mallaby , author of an excellent new book, The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future , joins Azeem Azhar to discuss the history (and future) of venture capital. They also discuss:...
Feb 09, 2022•57 min•Ep 19•Transcript available on Metacast Nutritional science has long been one-size-fits-all. Advice on a healthier diet has been generic, failing to consider the huge variance of our bodies. ZOE is trying to change that by combining new research about our microbiomes with AI and machine learning. The healthtech startup offers dietary advice tailored to an individual’s microbiomes – the unique makeup of microorganisms present in our human gut – to change the way we eat for the better. ZOE co-founder and CEO Jonathan Wolf joins Azeem Az...
Feb 02, 2022•44 min•Ep 18•Transcript available on Metacast The workings of the brain have long puzzled scientists and philosophers, but the last twenty years have been a golden age for consciousness research. Cognitive and computational neuroscience professor Anil Seth is at the cutting edge of that work. He and Azeem Azhar discuss theories on how and why our brains work the way they do and explore how learning more about those questions could lead to new discoveries in medicine, AI, and virtual reality. They also address: How is it possible to scientif...
Jan 26, 2022•44 min•Ep 17•Transcript available on Metacast Companies of all sizes and sectors have committed to net-zero emissions targets, but getting there is not straightforward. Measuring carbon dioxide output is tricky, carbon markets are fragmented, and the quality of offsets varies hugely. Michelle You , co-founder and CEO of Supercritical, is on a mission to help companies better measure, reduce, and remove carbon emissions – and her first target is the tech sector. Tech doesn’t attract as much criticism regarding emissions as some other sectors...
Jan 19, 2022•48 min•Ep 16•Transcript available on Metacast Azeem Azhar sets out his vision for 2022 and shares the trends he thinks will change our world this year. Some changes are hurtling down the pike, like the growth of Web 3.0 and the metaverse, while others are rumbling along more slowly: the continued dominance of Big Tech, and the tireless march of artificial intelligence. Azeem’s discussion touches on: Why we should differentiate between “tech crypto” and “money crypto.” Why the metaverse is so much more than Meta. Why the “climate tech” tag m...
Jan 05, 2022•24 min•Ep 14•Transcript available on Metacast As 2021 draws to a close and Covid cases spike, it’s easy to think not much has changed. But in between pandemic waves, we’ve made major progress in science and technology. And that progress gives us clues about how the future might play out. Host Azeem Azhar reflects on the tech trends we’ve seen this year and key shifts in industry and society that are changing cities, the labor market, and the semiconductor business. He also discusses: Why semiconductor chips were hot property (and will only ...
Dec 29, 2021•27 min•Ep 13•Transcript available on Metacast Andreessen Horowitz general partner Andrew Chen and host Azeem Azhar have something in common: they were both tech company insiders and early-stage investors before becoming authors. They explore why they decided to write their books, how writing intersects with their day jobs, and whether they’d do it all again. They also discuss: What selling a book online has taught them about e-commerce. How the future for factual books has changed as publishing has decentralized. What books can communicate ...
Dec 22, 2021•44 min•Ep 12•Transcript available on Metacast Quantum computing won’t be an incremental improvement – it will be a step-change in the power of the technology that underpins a huge part of our economy. Exponentially faster computing won’t just help us solve problems more quickly, but it will also allow us to tackle problems that have been impossible to answer and find answers to questions we did not know to ask. Chad Rigetti , founder and CEO of Rigetti Computing, speaks to Azeem Azhar about just how revolutionary quantum computing will be. ...
Dec 15, 2021•48 min•Ep 11•Transcript available on Metacast Nuclear fusion seems to have been “twenty years away” forever, but recent advances could mean fusion is finally on its way to becoming part of our energy mix. Azeem Azhar speaks to Nick Hawker , co-founder and CEO of First Light Fusion, a UK-based company that uses an approach it calls “projectile fusion” to generate energy. That method uses an electromagnetic launcher to fire material towards fuel at high speeds. Nick explains why it’s one of the most promising approaches to a problem that has ...
Dec 08, 2021•44 min•Ep 10•Transcript available on Metacast Murray Shanahan , professor of cognitive robotics at Imperial College London and a senior research scientist at DeepMind, joins Azeem Azhar to discuss AI: where developments have exceeded expectations, where they have fallen short, and what the next steps are towards an artificial general intelligence (AGI). They explore the hurdles that stand in the way of truly intelligent computer programs: why an AGI might need to exist in a body that can sense the world around it to reach its full potential...
Dec 01, 2021•48 min•Ep 9•Transcript available on Metacast Former Greek Finance Minister, economist, and bestselling author Yanis Varoufakis joins Azeem Azhar to discuss his speculative novel Another Now. In that book, he presents a world where mass organization, technological progress, and an overhaul of companies and markets have made society more equitable. Like all great science fiction, the book is as much about the present as the future. Yanis is an advocate of blockchain technology and “one person, one vote” structures, as measures to redistribut...
Nov 24, 2021•53 min•Ep 8•Transcript available on Metacast Artificial intelligence had a breakout year, with major new developments in disparate fields, from medical biology to defense. AI investors Nathan Benaich and Ian Hogarth , who co-author the annual “State of AI” report, join Azeem Azhar to explore why AI is thriving in those sectors. In addition, they offer their take on the flood of new investments in AI and how we can best keep this technology safe for humanity. They also discuss: Why AI is fundamentally changing how we research medical scienc...
Nov 17, 2021•46 min•Ep 7•Transcript available on Metacast Renewable energy is the future of power, but relying on solar, wind, etc. will require a more reliable and resilient grid. Effective energy storage would make it possible to smooth out discrepancies in supply and demand, and harness renewable power more efficiently. A range of technologies are being developed and refined with that mission in mind, including large-scale lithium-ion batteries and clean hydrogen storage. Former Alphabet X moonshot spinoff Malta Inc. uses established industrial proc...
Nov 10, 2021•50 min•Ep 6•Transcript available on Metacast Hopin is one of the fastest-growing startups in history. Founder and CEO Johnny Boufarhat joins Azeem Azhar to talk about how he grew the virtual events company from six employees in February 2020, at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, to more than eight hundred, and a valuation of almost $8 billion, a year and a half later. Johnny explains how he seized the opportunity presented by the pandemic, what it was like learning to lead at one of the fastest-growing startups in history, and why he dre...
Nov 03, 2021•25 min•Ep 5•Transcript available on Metacast The transition to a greener economy is absolutely essential for the future of life as we know it. Governments and companies have committed to net-zero emissions by 2050, but it’s not clear how they plan to get there – or how much it will cost. Today’s guest, though, has some idea. Michele Della Vigna runs the Carbonomics research program at Goldman Sachs, which looks at the economics behind a transition to net-zero emissions. On the eve of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26...
Oct 27, 2021•44 min•Ep 4•Transcript available on Metacast Ford has been making cars for 118 years — nearly all of them with internal combustion engines. It now faces the biggest challenge in its history. As the electric vehicle (EV) revolution accelerates and people rethink their relationships with cars, both automotive incumbents and upstarts are planning for a radically different world. Ford’s chief product platform and operations officer Hau Thai-Tang is ideally placed to discuss what that shift looks like. He and Azeem Azhar explore how EV uptake w...
Oct 20, 2021•48 min•Ep 3•Transcript available on Metacast 
