Techonomy

Techonomy 2011

Be sure to visit the main website for Techonomy 2011 at http://www.techonomy.com/ or access live coverage at http://www.forbes.com/techonomy .

Reflections on Techonomy 2010

Techonomy 2010 is in the can. The event exceeded our greatest expectations for a variety of reasons, but they all boil down to the intellectual synergies that emerged from the eclectic and amazing group that came together for three days in early August at Lake Tahoe. We thank all who participated in any way.

We are hard at work putting together edited video, transcripts and other documentation of the event that we'll be making available of the next weeks. We'll also be working on a more elaborate and interactive website in order to keep our new community in closer touch and to keep the discourse going. 

The feedback is already streaming in. Here is a sampling of some of the comments we have received from participants who are filling out our post-conference survey:

-There is an astounding number of extremely bright people out there pushing the envelope.

-Techonomy is the place to recalibrate the assumptions that one uses to create one's perceptions.

-I really enjoyed being in the classroom. Also, the bio-engineering stuff is fascinating.

-I learned that the value of social media is to agggregate power for useful purposes. Second, that transparency and privacy are two opposing but essential components in our techonomic future. Finally, technology has the potential to successfully address many of the world's problems, but the delays of government red tape and bureaucracy may thwart our ability to respond fast enough for our own survival.

-There are more interesting solutions out there than I thought. The problem is getting them to scale.

-I just want to thank the organizers for inviting me. This was an outstanding meeting -- one of the best I have ever attended. The interaction during breaks and meals was particularly interesting, and I really like the way you arranged brief speeches during the dinners.

-Thank you for your vision and insight in creating this conference.

We will be posting more content from the event at this site over the coming days, so be sure and check back. And for those who attended to the event, please don't forget to complete the survey. We're already planning our next events and want to make sure we get a sense of what worked and what didn't.

Finally, thanks again to all who participated.

Brian Wang Outlines Proposals and Expectations for Reduced Coal and Oil Usage

Written by Brian Wang of nextbigfuture.com

I have criticized Amory Lovins energy plan. Here is an outline of my energy expectation and suggestions.

62% of the world's energy usage is from coal (26%) and oil (36%).

50% of oil is used for cars and trucks. There are one billion cars and trucks in the world and we add 55-65 million each year. So getting older cars and trucks to be much more efficient can have up to twenty times larger and faster impact than rules for making more efficient new cars and trucks.

Retrofitting old cars and trucks and motorcycles with aerodynamic shells and attachments (commercial CIY aeromodding) can reduce fuel usage by 30-100% at highway speeds.

Retrofitting the older cars and trucks and motorcycles with aerodynamic shells and attachments (commercial CIY aeromodding) can reduce fuel usage by 30-100% at highway speeds.

Retrofit cars and trucks with engine modifications or overhauls to reduce fuel usage. A Honda 125 cc Innova was increased from 114 mpg to 214 mpg with an aerodynamic shell

There are several do it yourself aerodynamic modifications of Honda Civics to get 90-114 mpg.

Bill Gates on in-person vs. online education

At the Techonomy conference in San Francisco, Bill Gates closed the event and answered questions from the audience.

One woman asked him whether he thought that online education could potentially supersede in-person education.

Amory Lovins on Energy in 1976 Versus Today

Written By Brian Wang of nextbigfuture.com

Amory Lovins wrote the Energy Strategy : The Road not Taken? in 1976 for Foreign Affairs.

Cogeneration at that time was 4% of the energy of the United States. It is now 18%, and Amory now calls it micropower. Amory talked then of coal, conservation and soft technologies (wind and solar) reducing energy demand and squeezing oil and gas usage. He also called for the elimination of nuclear energy. He also indicated that there would be reduced use of some capital intensive energy sources. He has repeated the mostly the same points in his new Reinventing Fire proposal to eliminate oil and coal usage by 2050.

Here is what actually happened with US energy. The US energy usage is 7-11 quadrillion BTU lower because of imports from China of energy intensive manufacturing.

Bill Gates: Non-profits vs. for-profit businesses

At the Techonomy conference in San Francisco, Bill Gates closed the event and answered questions from the audience. One woman asked why non-profits can't behave more like for-profit businesses. Gates said that wasn't necessarily the best idea.

Techonomy - Friday 8/6 photos

Small group breakout sessions kicked-off the day

Geoffrey West, Sante Fe Institute presents "The Secrets of Scale"

CNBC covered the conference with live interviews and feed

 

Maria Bartiromo of CNBC moderates panel on What Techonology Wants vs. What People Want  with Bill Joy of KPCB, Kevin Kelly of Wired Magazine, Nicholas Negroponte of One Laptop Per Child Foundation and Willie Smits, of the Masarong Foundation

Techonomy co - founder Brent Schlender interviews Bill Gates who discussed how to jumpstart what the marketplace can't

 

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Fortune Magazine alumnae in full force at Techonomy 2010!

Techonomy Thursday evening - 8/5 photos

Larry Page, Google and Bill Gates, Gates Foundation at reception ( Steven Sprague, Wave Systems in background)

Reception on Pines Terrace

Gondola from Village at Northstar to the Ritz Carlton Highlands

Roy Singham, ThoughtWorks, a featured techonomist, provides remarks at dinner al fresco

Ory Okolloh, Ushahidi, a featured techonomist at dinner on terrace

A Techonomic Engineering View of Life Extension

Written by Brian Wang of the nextbigfuture.com

There was a writeup by Chris Mooney about the Longevity Dividend session with Jay Olshansky. There is a lengthier presentation of Jay Olshansky's case for a Longevity Dividend. I agree that longer and healthier lives provides a massive economic boost. This is seen by the historical rise of life expectancy from about 35 years to 80 years over the last hundred years. It can also be seen by the economic devastation when life is shortened and health is destroyed by Aids in Africa.

However, Jay Olshansky is only talking about extending current life and health expectency by 7 years. Standard medicine and public health are providing increases in life expectancy of 0.1 to 0.3 years for each calendar year that passes. There is an another approach to life extension which is strategies for engineered negligible senescence (SENS). This is an engineering (techonomic) approach that was initiated by Aubrey de Grey.

 

 

Sean Parker on Facebook Causes and the value of Chat Roulette

During the final sessions of the Techonomy conference, moderator David Kirkpatrick conversed with Reid Hoffman, Founder of LinkedIn and Sean Parker of the Founders Fund, Founding President, Facebook.

Parker talked about Facebook Causes and why he's obsessed with live video and why Facebook invested in Chatroulette.

Nicholas Negroponte on the latest success of One Laptop per Child

At the Techonomy conference in San Francisco, Nicholas Negroponte talked about the latest success of the One Laptop per Child. The most impressive advance is that children are teaching their parents to read. Watch.