Azeem Azhar's Exponential View

Latest Episodes:

AI and Cancer: Unlocking the Immune System (with Immunai’s Luis Voloch) Apr 06, 2022

Show notes

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 co-founder, two machine learning engineers, decided to start a bio startup.
How Immunai uses single-cell genomics to map out the immune system.
The trajectory of Immunai’s experiments from the lab to the patient.

@Azeem
@exponentialview
@Immunaitech

Further resources:
Scaling Synthetic Biology (with Gingko’s Reshma Shetty), Exponential View Podcast, 2022
The Future of Healthcare: Personalization and AI (with ZOE’s Jonathan Wolf), Exponential View Podcast, 2022

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How To Make Nuclear Energy Safe (with Seaborg’s Troels Schönfeldt) Mar 30, 2022

Show notes

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 movement influenced their thinking about the future of energy.
What it takes to create and scale safe nuclear power.
The learning rates that are driving the optimization of new energy systems.

@Azeem
@exponentialview
@SeaborgTech

Further resources:

Nuclear Fusion’s Time is Coming, Exponential View Podcast, 2022
Why Energy Storage is the Future of the Grid, Exponential View Podcast, 2022

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The Meaning of Life in the Metaverse (with David Chalmers) Mar 23, 2022

Show notes

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 philosophical precedents for virtual worlds.

@Azeem
@exponentialview
David Chalmers

Further resources:

Azeem’s 2022 Trends: Web 3.0, Sci-Fi Tech, and the Metaverse – Exponential View podcast, 2022
What Studying Consciousness Can Reveal about AI and the Metaverse (with Anil Seth) – Exponential View podcast, 2022
Reality+, by David Chalmers

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The Future of Warfare Is Here (with General Sir Richard Barrons) Mar 16, 2022

Show notes

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’s offensive capabilities and how they have previously deployed cyber and disinformation strategies.
What societal resilience is and how it can ensure democracy’s survival.
What better leadership looks like in the exponential age.

This episode was originally broadcast on October 23, 2019.

@Azeem
@exponentialview

Further resources:

When the Pieces Land (Exponential View 2022)
How The Russia-Ukraine Conflict Will Change Cyber War (Exponential View Podcast 2022)
How to Stay Informed on the Future of War (Tim Fernholz, 2019)
The Future of War is Already Here(P. W. Singer, 2019)

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How the Russia-Ukraine Conflict Will Change Cyberwar (with Robert Hannigan) Mar 09, 2022

Show notes

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
‘Cybersecurity in the Age of AI’ – Exponential View Podcast, 2019
‘AI, Warfare and Global Security’ – Exponential View Podcast, 2018

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Vertical Farming and the Future of Food (with ZERO Farms’ Daniele Modesto) Mar 02, 2022

Show notes

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 AI and Genomics are Reshaping Farming – Exponential View Podcast, 2020
Zero Farms

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Scaling Synthetic Biology (with Ginkgo’s Reshma Shetty) Feb 23, 2022

Show notes

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, business model, and how big she thinks synthetic biology could become.

@Azeem
@exponentialview
@reshmapshetty

Further resources:

The Bio Revolution: Innovations transforming economies, societies, and our lives – McKinsey, May 2020
Engineering Biology: The Next Frontier – Exponential View Podcast ft. Vijay Pande, June 2020
The Next Trillion-Dollar Market – Exponential View Podcast ft. Deep Nishar, April 2020

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Micromobility Will Change Our Cities (with Horace Dediu) Feb 16, 2022

Show notes

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 boost the market, and how big tech firms like Apple and Alphabet might claim a piece of the pie.

@Azeem
@exponentialview
@asymco

Further resources:

‘The Impermanence of Modes,’ Horace Dediu,
‘The 10 Micromobility Commandments,’ Micromobility Industries/Horace Dediu
Free EV briefing today: Micromobility with Horace Dediu

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How Venture Capital Made the Modern World (with Sebastian Mallaby) Feb 09, 2022

Show notes

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:

What sets the most successful VCs apart from the pack.
How an unknown Russian investing in Facebook changed the VC game forever.
Why venture capital is here to stay.

@Azeem
@exponentialview
@scmallaby

Related resource:

The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future – Sebastian Mallaby

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The Future of Healthcare: Personalization and AI (with ZOE’s Jonathan Wolf) Feb 02, 2022

Show notes

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 Azhar to discuss what the ZOE process looks like, the growth of the company, and the importance of the microbiome to our health.

They also discuss: