Year: 2022

ENTREPREBEURS, beware the naysayers, the carpers, those tiered pessimists with their dry dull eyes, beware! It is your job to swim upstream, prove that the Emperor is naked, dance against reason! Beware the deadly hammer of false statistics! Realistic hope is finding the opportunity. There are thousands. Say begone to the Naysayers, walk your own path, make the future that does not exist in those ghastly tables. Hold your dream born of a creative imagination! Dare to be bold. "Explore. Dream. Discover!"(Mark Twain). Did I mention that pessimists puss me off? View in LinkedIn

PESSIMISTS DRAIN your spirits and hope. I once worked with one who was enormously highly qualified, but had sunk into a severe depression, although well disguised. The first clue was how long it took to debrief simple encounters. The second clue were the 70 slide pitch decks. The third clue was that it was simply not fun being around him; it was exhausting and draining. Lesson: spot early and avoid pessimists!! View in LinkedIn

GENE THERAPY for an enzyme deficiency causing severe disease in children appears to have been successful. A single CSF injection of the gene encoding the enzyme in a harmless virus restored enzyme replacement. Enzyme Replacement Therapy (ERT) is available for about six diseases, and involves IV enzyme infusion twice a month for life (in some cases generating neutralizing antibodies), and at an enormous cost. Pioneered by Genzyme and followed by Biomarin, this has been the state of the art treatment to date. Gene therapy can be a game changer, with infrequent inoculations. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130702100344.htm?goback=.gde_1955065_member_255195820 View in LinkedIn

LONDON'S TECH CITY or the Silicon Roundabout is proof that Silicon Valley can be replicated quickly under the right circumstances. In 2008 there were a cluster of 15 tech companies. After a boost by David Cameron in 2010, there are now about 5,000 SME tech companies in the Old Street Roundabout (Wired magazine), including heavyweights like Google. Thus, in just three or four years this tech hub burst into vibrant life, proving that Silicon Valley can go viral under the right circumstances. A marvelous example to the world. " "" " http://lnkd.in/yrwbke View in LinkedIn

REMOTE CONTROL of life forms seems inevitable. Just as surely as the mind-computer connection has permitted us to remotely control machines we will have the sane ability with organisms. Imagine a fly, or millions, implanted with the same kind of chip that allows visual sensors to communicate with the brain of blind people. It is a small step to conceive of being able to control the brain of fly ( or more). For remote observation, or more sinister tasks, millions of robotic flies will be a likely reality in the not distant future. View in LinkedIn

REMOTE CONTROL of life forms seems inevitable. Just as surely as the mind-computer connection has permitted us to remotely control machines we will have the same ability with organisms. Imagine a fly, or millions, implanted with the same kind of chip that allows visual sensors to communicate with the brain of blind people. It is a small step to conceive of being able to control the brain of fly ( or more). For remote observation, or more sinister tasks, millions of robotic flies will be a likely reality in the not distant future. View in LinkedIn

VC ANALYSIS: extremely useful and great work. However, the ranking is based solely on a quantifiable metric, namely money. Granted that this is is necessary it may not be sufficient. In the late 1980s, VC money was relatively plentiful, and the competitive edge brokered by the VCs themselves was that they did not just offer money, but that it was "smart money". It has been a while since I have heard this term, perhaps for obvious reasons. Great introductions, smart strategic thinking, and wise counsel are hard to doll out if you are on at least six boards, and are raising your next series. http://lnkd.in/xJ2T9a View in LinkedIn

REMOTE CONTROL of life forms seems inevitable. Just as surely as the mind-computer connection has permitted us to remotely control machines, we will have the same ability with organisms . Imagine a fly, or millions, implanted with the same kind of chip that allows visual sensors to communicate with the brain of blind people. It is a small step to conceive of being able to control the brain of fly ( or more). For remote observation, or more sinister tasks, millions of robotic flies will be a likely reality in the not distant future. View in LinkedIn

CYBORG insects and rats have already been constructed (little did I know!). DARPA has had a Hybrid Insect program since at least 2009, for insects with microelectronic implants. These and labs including Cornell's Lab for Intelligent Machine Systems have controlled insect flight via electronic implants powered by insect electrons. In 2013, rats were chip-implanted to communicate by thought alone. The "Hive Mind" (open source collaboration?) is also a hot area of investigation. We are living in the future. View in LinkedIn

CYBORGS = BIONICS, hybrids between living things and electronics, at its simplest an insulin pump, at the extreme, communication via thought alone. The linear extension of this is"intelligence amplification", a fancy term meaning a living supercomputer. The theoretical advantage of this is that unlike bits of wire, living things have native hardwired (genetic) intelligence. If we could tap that innate wisdom, we could design all manner of things tapping this deep fountain. Biomimicry will look small. View in LinkedIn