About IGF
Singapore and Quantum Computers
Singapore's Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, may be more than unique as a leader. I have met with many leaders, Prime Ministers and Presidents before, but this is the only one, whom at dinner last week, actually had a conversation with me about the status of quantum computing. No surprise, as Singapore is a global innovation economy leader. How many Prime Ministers do you think even know what a quantum computer is, or could be, let alone have a conversation about it?
I remain impressed with Singapore as a doorway to the innovation future that may well lead others to follow. You don't need to have size or scale to be successful. See Association for Computing Machinery
E.O. Wilson and the Encyclopedia of Life
At the last TED conference, E.O Wilson, the world class scientist and author, proposed building an Encyclopedia of Life. This would be a Wikipedia for cataloging the diversity of life on the planet. From insects, to fish, to animals. The idea is to raise our collective awareness of the diversity of life. A very cool idea.
Now the MacArthur Foundation is investing $50 Million to make it real. What is unique is that the outreach, the building of the encyclopedia, is based on individuals collaborating--social networking. Think mashups, maps, images in a super-hyperlinked online catalog. Keep an eye on the Encyclopedia of Life.
Transformers NOT the Movie
In case anyone has missed it, the robot revolution has begun. War fighting robots have joined the US Army in Iraq. Robots clear mines, robot drones patrol the sky and robots clean our house. So what's all the buzz about Transformers, the movie? These robots are silicon life forms, synthetic life with consciousness. Maybe more then we can see is evolving. Fast evolving.
Synthetic life anyone?
Some might compare this outcome of evolution to Craig Venter's new quest to create synthetic life by imitating DNA. In fact, that is what the hot shot geeks in the movie thought about the alien life forms "maybe they're made of DNA?". In the near future, this futurist knows, when robots will make robots. But will they rebel? Only if we give them a soul. Emotion. Guilt. More later.
AI in the Trading Room: From Algo to Quant Fever
AI stock trading has been around with few results over the past ten years. Now with Algo Trading, quants, and nextgen genetic programs spawning the global stock markets, we could be facing a new, smarter generation of intelligence that is profit oriented–oh yes, controlled by humans, for now. You will not be able to compete unless you are Quant. Over 50% of global stock trades are conducted by computers, actually networks. I forecast that over 80% of trades will be by computers by 2015. The speed, complexity and sheer intelligence, or pattern watching, is amazing. Humans, according to a Lehman Brothers top Director from the EU, are being replaced by machines. Long live AI. Until they become smarter then carbon. Then we close them down.
Data Mining for Fun and Profit
Talk about about a growth industry. Try over $100 Billion will be spent this year managing global data about consumers in various forms. From the Net to the wireless and blog spaces, data is everywhere. Making sense of it, for security, marketing and communications will be a daunting task that is still very much in the early stages. Here's a company that's making more than sense of data: SAS
Data Thieves are Us
Data thieves are making a hardy business of this treasure and it soon will rival drug profits, I fear and so should you. ID theft is only up 2000% this year alone. Talk about a growth industry. When they start hacking medical devices for data and wireless sniffers capture your identity, then we will all wake up and smell the danger. See: FTC's ID Theft site.
New Book Alert
Updating fans and foes alike, the paperback version of The Extreme Future will be coming out late August, courtesy of Plume, a division of Dutton. Check it out on Amazon, where you can pre-order, or fore more information on the book, go to Global Futurist
Sub-Prime Madness or Self-Healing Capitalism?
The curse of being a futurist is that you actually have to take your own medicine, or risk being a hypocrite. So the reality that the sub-prime real estate market has led to another, post-Internet like bubble is not news. Our forecasts showed this risk and it wasn't rocket science. How much funny money deals could the market endure? Plenty it seems.
This was an example of short sighted credit risk management and everyone was in on the take. Now only the credit-worthy will survive the shakeout. This experiment in value trade offs for taking on greater risk is not new. This Risk Leverage Trend led to the re-insurance industry to protect risk exposure to companies.Page 7 of 8