Sunday, November 27, 2016

Fwd: reinventing food

Now that you are stuffed from your Thanksgiving feast, let's talk about the future of food!

Food and agriculture accounts for about 5.9% of global GDP.

Global food retail sales alone account for about $4 trillion a year, and food accounts for 15% of what American households spend each year.

It is an industry ripe for disruption.

In this blog, I'll be covering how converging exponential technologies are reinventing food. We'll discuss:

  1. Bioprinting meat
  2. Vertical farming
  3. Artificial Intelligence-driven food design
  4. On-demand food

Let's feast!

Food Production:

While this arena is going to change dramatically, we forget how much food has already changed over the past two centuries.

In 1790, farm jobs accounted for 90% of U.S. jobs, compared to <2% today.

While farming jobs have been lost to automation, the global food supply (per capita) has steadily increased.

As we move towards a world of food abundance, here are the top five disruptions shaping the future of food production:

1. Bioprinting of Meat: In 2016, it took 63 billion land animals to feed 7 billion humans. It's a HUGE business. Land animals occupy one-third of the non-ice landmass, utilize 8% of our water supply and generate 18% of all greenhouse gases.

Modern Meadow, a Singularity University company hopes to disrupt that industry by using bioprinting (tissue engineering and 3D printing) to grow meat (beef, chicken and pork) and leathers in a lab.

In 2016, the Brooklyn-based company raised  $40 million with the goal of becoming the top source of leather for the world's makers of fashion and accessories, luggage, sporting goods, upholstery and furniture. Their vision is to do this at scale and dramatically reduce the environmental impact of meat and leather production.

In success, bioprinting of meat (beef, chicken, pork) has huge advantages for humanity. By bio-printing of meat, we would be able to feed the world with 99% less land, 96% less water, 96% fewer greenhouse gases and 45% less energy.

2. Genetically Engineered Crops (GMOs): There has been a lot of outcry from the uneducated public about GMOs. After 30 years of research, a great many of our fears about genetically engineered products have been quieted. The fact is that GMOs have allowed us to feed the world -- saving millions of lives and -- to my knowledge, have never caused anyone medical harm.

Humanity will increasingly rely on genetically engineered crops. In 1996 there were 1.7 million hectares of biotech crops in the world; by 2010, the number had jumped to 148 million hectares. This 87-fold increase in hectares makes genetically engineered seeds (GEs) the fastest-adopted crop technology in the history of modern agriculture.

In 2016, over 75% of crop yield in the United States was genetically modified.

More than a trillion GMO meals have been served, and not a single case of GE-induced illness has turned up.

So where might scientists engineer GMOs crops in the future? How about:

  • Crops that grow faster, using sunlight more efficiently
  • Crops able to grow in saltier waters as sea levels rise
  • Crops able to grow in more arid lands
  • Crops packed with specific nutrients

3. Vertical Farming – Closer to Home: Incredibly, the average American meal now travels 1,500 miles before being consumed on your plate (e.g. beef from Argentina, wine from France and cheese from the American Midwest).

Because 70 percent of a food's final retail price comes from transportation, storage and handling, these miles add up quickly.

Imagine instead having your food grown a few miles from your home, in the center of your town. The concept is called vertical farming.

Vertical farming involves growing food in a specially outfitted high-rise building down the street.

The impact of technology here is powerful. Imagine a building where different food is grown on each floor. Where artificial intelligence controls the exact frequency and duration of light, as well as the pH and nutrient levels of the water supply.

Vertical farms using clean-room technologies avoid pesticides and herbicides, and the fossil fuels used for plowing, fertilizing, harvesting and food delivery.

Vertical farms are immune to weather, with crops grown year-round. One acre of a vertical farm can produce 10x to 20x that of a traditional farm.

This concept is already underway. The vertical farming market was $1.1 billion in 2015 and projected to exceed $6 billion in 2022.

4. Plant-Based Meat Alternatives: Recently I spent time with the CEO of Hampton Creek Foods. Hampton Creek is an incredible company turning plants into foods that look and taste just like meat and eggs.

Hampton Creek's data scientists are actively weeding out billions of proteins from hundreds of thousands of plants to learn what could form the equivalent of a chicken's egg.

The company argues that its "method for producing egg-like, plant-based foods is, in fact, 48% more cost-effective than traditional eggs."

Over the last two years Hampton Creek has raised $120 million, bought four product lines to market (Just Mayo, Just Cookies, Just Cookie Dough, Just Dressing), sells products in 15,000+ locations, and has an estimated $30 million in revenue.

Food Preparation:

The United States consumes nearly 1 billion meals per day and spends an average of 10.5 million minutes on food preparation and cleanup each day.

Here are the top four disruptions shaping the future of food production:

1. 3D Printed Food: Companies like 3DSystems, Natural Machines, Print2Taste, and others are experimenting with 3D printed food. While 3D printing in chocolates and sugars is well underway, we'll soon see 3D printed starches, proteins (and even new proteins like algae and insects) and spices. In fact, the military wants to "customize nutrition" for each soldier in the next few decades, and it's betting on 3D printers to do it. "Food could be printed with the exact requirement a warfighter need," says Lauren Oleksyk, a food technologist at the US Army's Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center.

2. Personalized Nutrition: Our genome, microbiome and even our blood type determine how we respond to certain foods/nutrients. Imagine if a 3D printed meal was custom produced depending on the amount of exercise you had that day, and your vitamin blood levels. Advanced biosensing will drive your diet and close the loop.

3. AI-Designed Recipes: IBM's Watson uses machine learning to construct new recipes and cocktails that no human chef would come up with. This algorithm matches foods based on extensive taste profiles and chemical makeup of those edibles in their database. In 2015, IBM launched Chef Watson so you can leverage artificial intelligence at your next dinner party. We tried a few of Watson's cocktails in previous years Abundance 360: Hoof-n-Honey Ale (veal stock, grilled beef and IPA), Plum Pancetta Cider (bacon and cider), and Corn in the Coop (old fashioned with chicken).

Food Delivery:

Latest estimates suggest that over a million meals are requested for delivery on delivery apps like GrubHub, Postmates, Doordash and UberEATS.

Here are the top two disruptions shaping the future of food delivery:

1. Food On Demand: Press a button and food will be at your doorstep in minutes. PitchBook Data reports that companies involved in delivering groceries and meals in the region attracted $433 million in funding last year. That's up from about $68 million in 2013 and only about $21 million in 2012.

Companies like UberEATS, Munchery, and many others deliver high-quality, restaurant and chef-prepared food to your doorstep on demand.

Since launching last year, UberEATS has partnered with hundreds of restaurants and made tens of millions of deliveries.

2. Drone Delivery: The commercial drone market is worth an estimated $552 million in 2016. There is a lot of buzz about drone delivery in Silicon Valley from companies like Amazon and Google, particularly with legislative strides made by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) this past August.

Current regulation covers unmanned aircraft weighing less than 55 pounds (25 kilograms) flown for "routine non-hobbyist use." In fact, Domino's pizza delivery has already began in New Zealand earlier this year. "It doesn't add up to deliver a two-kilogram package in a two-ton vehicle," said Scott Bush, a general manager for Domino's Pizza Enterprises, which is independent of the U.S. chain and operates in seven countries. "In Auckland, we have such massive traffic congestion it just makes sense to take to the airways." The company plans to broaden its New Zealand drone delivery in early 2017, including at night. Domino's has previously shown interest in alternative delivery services. In New Zealand, Domino's only sells pizzas in one size, which simplifies the challenge of a drone trying to fly in windy conditions with a large pizza box.

How are you going to capitalize on the changing food economy?

As technology converges, the future will be a tasty, and abundant, one.

Join Me

This is the sort of conversation we explore at my 250-person executive mastermind group called Abundance 360 (A360).

Interested in A360? The program is highly selective. If you'd like to be considered, apply HERE.

Share this with your friends, especially if they are interested in any of the areas outlined above.

P.S. Every week I send out a "Tech Blog" like this one. If you want to sign up, go to Diamandis.com and sign up for this and Abundance Insider.

P.P.S. My dear friend Dan Sullivan and I have a podcast called Exponential Wisdom. Our conversations focus on the exponential technologies creating abundance, the human-technology collaboration, and entrepreneurship. Head here to listen and subscribe: a360.com/podcast


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Sunday, November 20, 2016

Fwd: tearing down the walls


With all the talk of building walls, it seems to me that technology has actually been rapidly tearing down walls.

Besides your passport, what really defines your nationality these days?

Is it where you were live? Where you work? The language you speak? The currency you use?

If it is, then despite an increase in "nationalism" (i.e. BREXIT), we may see the idea of "nationality" quickly dissolve in the decades ahead… Or at least become an option you choose versus assume as a default.

Residency, currency and language are rapidly being disrupted and dematerialized by technology.

Here's how.

Where you live, where you work…

Increasingly, technological developments will allow us to live and work almost anywhere on the planet (and even beyond).

In the last 10 days, I've been in Beijing, Shanghai, L.A. and London, and never missed a beat of being connected, on the ground or at 37,000 feet (where I'm writing this now).

Soon, you'll be able to live full-time in the Greek Islands and work in Manhattan, London and Los Angeles.

Telepresence Robots & Avatars

Today, I use telepresence robots to telecommute around the globe, attend an XPRIZE meeting in India or, if I'm overseas, pop home for breakfast or dinner with my kids.

The product I personally prefer comes from Suitable Technology and is called the Beam. I have about 20+ beams across my different companies, and I'll be using another 20 beams at my Abundance 360 Summit at the end of January 2017 in Beverly Hills so some of the participants can attend virtually from overseas.

But what's even better than that?

Avatars!

At the XPRIZE Visioneers Summit this year, one of the prize concepts that won top honors was called the AVATAR XPRIZE, funded by the visionary leadership at ANA Airlines and driven by a bold innovator, Dr. Harry Kloor. Avatars are the best of converging exponential technologies.

Imagine being able to put on a VR headset, headphones and a haptic body suit that allows you to transport your eyes, ears, touch and movements to a robot located 3,000 miles away.

As you move, the robot moves. As the robot sees, hears and feels, you see, hear and feel.

It's basically transporting your consciousness without moving your body.

Virtual Reality (VR) & Augmented Reality (AR)

Over the past three years, every major tech company -- Google, Samsung, Apple, Facebook, Alibaba, HTC, Qualcomm and Cisco -- has invested heavily in VR and AR. By my count, something approaching $10 billion.

Each of these technologies is going to change how and where we work with others.

Fully immersive, high-fidelity, virtual worlds will allow you to beam into 'virtual workplaces' and hangout with virtual coworkers (each joining from other locations).

In these digital spaces, coworkers on four corners of the planet are colocated sharing ideas, presenting concepts to each other and hanging out.

In this fashion, companies will forgo bricks and mortar, and instead allow their globally distributed workforce to virtually transport themselves into the same environment and work cooperatively. Think of a kinder, gentler version of the Matrix.

Philip Rosedale, the founder/creator of Second Life, is working on this technology with his newest company, High Fidelity.

Augmented reality offers another colocation mechanism. Here, the AR gear that you're wearing as a pair of glasses in front of your eyes will allow your coworker to visually appear in front of you, superimposed on your coach, seated at your conference table or atop your water cooler (your choice).

Bottom line, VR and AR change 'the way' and 'the where' we collaborate.

What language you speak…

Star Trek showed us the Universal Translator. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy gave us the Babel Fish. Now a new generation of instantaneous translation technology offers the potential of a world where everyone can speak every language, in real time.

To begin with, Google Translate does a damn good job. The system built by Franz Och at Google over the last decade can now support translation between more than 100 language pairs.

Another example is the live simultaneous translation of the spoken word by Microsoft on Skype.

Skype's embedded artificial intelligence promises to translate your voice into another language in close to real time while you are video-chatting with someone on the other side of the planet.

Skype Translator currently offers voice-to-voice translation for seven languages: English, French, German, Italian, Mandarin, Portuguese and Spanish.

Then there's the Pilot.

At the convergence of wearable technology and machine translation, the Pilot is the world's first smart earpiece which translates between users speaking English, French, Spanish and Italian.

Pilot (developed by Waverly Labs) is offered at a cost of $129.

Imagine a world without language barriers.

What currency you use…

Decentralized, unregulated cryptocurrencies (like bitcoin) will make it easy to trade and transact across borders.

2016 has been a good year for bitcoin; after a two-year slump, the cryptocurrency is reaching new highs at $750 per bitcoin.

In any case, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are here to stay.

Take the 2014 Russian ruble crisis, for example.

In Q4 2014, the ruble had a rapid devaluation due to political instability and the crashing price of oil, ending up at a 14-year low.

So what happened?

Russians have started pouring money into bitcoin.

In mid-December 2014, CNBC reported, "Transaction volumes between the ruble and digital currency bitcoin enjoyed their biggest day of the year. This was close to a 250 percent increase in transactions."

Bitcoin dematerializes the banks and demonetizes transaction fees. It is global and unregulated. And it is easy to use.

With these characteristics, we will see a continuing shift away from national currencies toward global digital currencies that provide some level of stability and independence from your country's political turmoil, and the dependence of a country's GDP on any specific exports.

Massive, Global Connectivity

There's one more **really important** major force at play. A real game-changer.

We are about to hyperconnect the world.

Imagine every man, woman and child connected at a megabit per second (or better).

In 2010, 1.8 billion people were connected. Today, in 2016, we're at about 3 billion connected. By 2022 – 2025, we'll be at nearly 8 billion people connected and online.

The players at work include:

  • Facebook, focused on using drones and satellites
  • Google, with Project Loon (Balloons), drones and satellites
  • OneWeb, a 648-satellite constellation
  • SpaceX with their recent FCC filing for a 4,425 satellite constellation.

Consequences for the Entrepreneur/CEO

We live in the most exciting time ever.

In my mind, a hyperconnected, borderless world will be a more creative, lucrative, healthy and, frankly, exciting one.

Especially for entrepreneurs.

It's a world where you, as an entrepreneur, can become a 'multinational corporation,' and soon access 8 billion potential customers.

Join Me

Interested in learn more about Abundance-360? This is the sort of conversation we explore at my 250-person executive mastermind group called Abundance 360 or A360.

The program is highly selective, and we have only a few seats open (owing to a few members needing to shift into 2018 because of personal schedule conflicts).

If you'd like to be considered for the A360 Mastermind, apply here.

P.S. Every week I send out a "Tech Blog" like this one. If you want to sign up, go to Diamandis.com and sign up for this and Abundance Insider.

P.P.S. My dear friend Dan Sullivan and I have a podcast called Exponential Wisdom. Our conversations focus on the exponential technologies creating abundance, the human-technology collaboration, and entrepreneurship. Head here to listen and subscribe: a360.com/podcast


If you wish to stop receiving our emails or change your subscription options, please Manage Your Subscription
PHD Ventures , 800 Corporate Pointe, Suite 350, Culver City, CA 90230


Friday, November 11, 2016

Fwd: Abundance Insider: November 11 Edition



In this week's Abundance Insider: Cancer-detecting smartphone add-ons, Nobel Prize-winning nanotechnology, and a 3D printed heart-on-a-chip.

Cheers,
Peter, Marissa, Cody, Kelley, Greg, Sydney and AJ

P.S. Abundance Insider is creative fuel for big thinkers who see opportunity where others see problems. Protect your mindset by sharing Insider with those important to you: https://goo.gl/kUTb05

Uber's Self-Driving Truck Makes its First Delivery: 50,000 Beers

uber self driving truck

What it is: Uber recently made the world's first autonomous truck delivery, driving 120 miles to Colorado Springs, carrying 50,000 Budweiser cans as cargo. The self-driving semi uses three LIDAR laser detection units, a radar on its bumper and a camera above the windshield. Otto's long-term goals for the technology include navigating construction zones, predicting drivers' movements and dealing with hazards like bad weather.

Why it's important: In previous Abundance Insider issues, we've shared self-driving tractors, speedboats and delivery robots. Fully autonomous trucks in the future will not only help fill the trucking industry's driver shortage, but it will also improve safety, reduce emissions and boost efficiency -- a win for us all. Join the Discussion

Spotted by Aryadeep S. Acharya / Written by Sydney Fulkerson

Can This Year's Nobel-Prize Winning Invention Enable Immortality?

nobel prize winner chemistry 2016

What it is: This year's Nobel Prize in chemistry went to three scientists who developed "the world's smallest machines," and these molecular machines could hold the key to true longevity. Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Sir J. Fraser Stoddart and Bernard L. Feringa developed the nano-machines to target a human's plagued cells with the exact medicines needed; in the long run, they could even perform microsurgeries, changing medicine as we know it.

Why it's important: The global nanotechnology industry is projected to reach $75.8 billion (USD) by 2020. Peter's blog on nanorobots mentioned how entrepreneurial and scientific applications of nanotechnology -- including nanoscale drug delivery mechanisms -- can solve some of the biggest problems we face today. Join the Discussion

Spotted by Peter Diamandis / Written by Sydney Fulkerson

Scientists Develop a Cancer-Detecting Smartphone Add-on That's Up to 99% Accurate

cancer detecting smartphone app

What it is: Researchers from Washington State University have come up with a smartphone-based diagnostic rig that can diagnose cancer with 99% accuracy. The rig involves a 96-well ELISA assaying plate, a 3D printed cradle, a smartphone with a camera, and a microprism array. It detects the inflammatory biomarker interleukin-6 (IL-6); while this marker is mostly linked to depression, allergies and mood disorders, the researchers say it's also "closely linked" to a variety of skin, lung, liver and breast cancers.

Why it's important: This particular diagnostic will help patients quickly determine whether to get more detailed bloodwork done, but it's also a huge step toward an actual consumer tricorder. Imagine what healthcare -- and scientific research -- will look like when citizen-scientists have smartphone-sized handheld devices that combine the Internet, blockchain, health diagnostics, Geiger counters, projector and zoom lenses, infrared CCD cameras, a variety of lasers, and full-blown spectrometry and bioassay analytics? Join the Discussion

Spotted by Peter Diamandis / Written by Jason Goodwin

Edmonton Researchers' Tiny Discovery May Revolutionize Computers

atom sized transistor

What it is: Joint research from Edmonton's National Institute for Nanotechnology and Hamburg's Max Planck Institute has yielded an atomic switch for electricity that's 100 times smaller than today's tiniest transistors, as the Edmonton Journal's Bill Mah reports. Each switch is just a few atoms thick, and would use 1,000 times less power than the transistors in today's phones and computers. (For context: the smallest transistor is around 14 nanometers, and a single atom measures between 0.1 and 0.3 nanometers, depending on the element.)

Why it's important: Atom-sized transistors enable electronics to get even smaller, faster and cheaper -- and they also enable true quantum computers. (Be sure to also read Peter's recent tech blog for an in-depth look at the massive implications of quantum computing.) Join the Discussion

Spotted by Gregory Scherf / Written by Marissa Brassfield

Secretive Canadian Company Teaches Robots to Be More Like People

kindred ai

What it is: This week, Bloomberg Technology profiled Kindred, an artificial intelligence company founded by Suzanne Gildert and Geordie Rose that is working to create machines with humanlike intelligence. Kindred believes intelligence requires embodiment, so they have assembled 50 or so robots that will be operated and trained by humans. The human wears a VR headset and a hand controller to operate the robot's movements; data is then collected as the robot learns how to interact with the world, and over time, the robots become increasingly autonomous. (Disclosure: Peter is an advisor to Kindred.)

Why it's important: Kindred is a turbo-charger for AI, using human-driven tele-operations as a means to bootstrap AI development. This is a critical piece in the technology trajectory as we move towards a world of abundance. The capabilities they are building will help solve critical problems in every domain from education to manufacturing. Join the Discussion

Spotted by Cody Rapp / Written by Sydney Fulkerson and Cody Rapp

Harvard Researchers 3D Print a Heart-on-a-Chip

3d print heart on a chip

What it is: Harvard researchers have developed new printable inks for multimaterial 3D printing, allowing them to 3D print a heart-on-a-chip with integrated sensors to simplify data collection. In all, the team developed six custom 3D-printable materials that could replicate the structure of human heart tissue, except with embedded soft strain sensors, according to New Atlas.

Why it's important: Organs-on-chips let researchers study the effect of drugs, cosmetics and diseases on the human body without human or animal testing. Manufacturing and retrieving data from these chips can be costly and time-consuming, but this heart-on-a-chip addresses both of these challenges. By integrating sensors into the material, researchers can conduct complex drug screenings and disease modeling. What opportunities might arise when we can build such sensors into organ replacements, or embed them in healthy organs? Join the Discussion

Spotted by Aryadeep S. Acharya / Written by Jason Goodwin

Scientists Produce First 3D-Printed Magnets

3d printed magnets

What it is: TU Wien researchers have created permanent magnets using a 3D printer -- a world first. Their magnet printer uses specially produced filaments of magnetic micro granulate held together by a polymer-binding material. The printing process creates a three-dimensional object, which is then magnetized with a strong external magnetic field.

Why it's important: This novel application of 3D printing dematerializes and demonetizes experimentation in magnet design, enabling us to experiment with and rapidly prototype entirely new devices and materials. Because of magnets' sheer ubiquity, this breakthrough has implications for everything from fundamental physics to quantum computing, spintronics, biomedical imaging and sensors, and electric drivetrains. Join the Discussion

Spotted by Aman Merchant / Written by Jason Goodwin

Virginia Tech Flexible Solar Panel Goes Where Silicon Can't

flexible solar panel

What it is: Engineers and chemists at Virginia Tech have produced flexible solar panels that capture light from both the sun and indoor light fixtures. The panels were created through a screen-printing process that used low-temperature titanium oxide paste as part of a five-layer structure, similar to how bathroom tiles are layered. A single palm-sized panel provides about 75 milliwatts of power, and a panel the size of a standard sheet of paper could recharge a smartphone. The process enables us to efficiently fabricate large-area modules and place them in areas where silicon and glass aren't feasible -- for example, light-harvesting wallpaper, lampshades and curtains.

Why it's important: Similar to the shape-shifting panels from last week's Insider, these flexible solar panels open up a door to an entirely new era of energy-saving -- one that is more cost-effective, customized, adaptable and capable of capturing a wider variety of light wavelengths. When we can demonetize and democratize home energy recycling, we enable an abundant solar economy. Join the Discussion

Spotted by Gregory Scherf / Written by Sydney Fulkerson

Netflix vs. Cable, By the Numbers

netflix cable chart

What it is: Data scientist Samuel Bennett's latest chart compares cable, Netflix and Comcast subscriptions by quarter, and the trend lines are staggering. Between Q2 2012 and Q3 2016, cable subscriptions have decreased by just over 6%, while Netflix subscriptions have increased by over 98% and Comcast subscriptions have increased by 1.27%. If these growth patterns continue, we'll see more active Netflix subscriptions than cable subscriptions sometime in 2017.

Why it's important: Here's another clash between linear systems and exponential growth, as emerging business models and new technology-enabled capabilities threaten the status quo. These skirmishes will play out in nearly every area of business and industry, and organizations that aren't prepared to evolve only doom themselves to slow, inevitable extinction. Join the Discussion

Spotted by Cody Rapp / Written by Marissa Brassfield

What is Abundance Insider?

This email is a briefing of the week's most compelling, abundance-enabling tech developments, curated by Marissa Brassfield in preparation for Abundance 360. Read more about A360 below.

Want more conversations like this?

At Abundance 360, Peter's 250-person executive mastermind, we teach the metatrends, implications and unfair advantages for entrepreneurs enabled by breakthroughs like those featured above. We're looking for CEOs and entrepreneurs who want to change the world. The program is highly selective. If you'd like to be considered, apply here

P.S. Abundance Insider is creative fuel for big thinkers who see opportunity where others see problems. Protect your mindset by sharing Insider with those important to you: https://goo.gl/kUTb05


If you wish to stop receiving our emails or change your subscription options, please Manage Your Subscription
PHD Ventures , 800 Corporate Pointe, Suite 350, Culver City, CA 90230

Sunday, November 6, 2016

Fwd: Tech & 2020 Election



If you think this election is insane, wait until 2020.

I want you to imagine how, in four years' time, technologies like AI, machine learning, sensors and networks will accelerate.

Political campaigns are about to get hyper-personalized, thanks to advances in a few exponential technologies.

Imagine a candidate who now knows everything about you, who can reach you wherever you happen to be looking, and who can use info scraped from social media (and intuited by machine learning algorithms) to speak directly to you and your interests.

Here's what future election campaign marketing might feel like…

Key Trends: In Just 4 Years…

1. Social media will have continued to explode.

In 2016, 78% of Americans have a social media profile. This year, 162 million Americans (over 50%) will log onto Facebook at least once a month.

In four years, these numbers will continue to explode. And so will a campaign's knowledge about you, what you care about and who you are.

AI agents built by political campaigns will stalk your every move, scraping your social graph, reading your tweets and posts, analyzing your Instagram photos… mining your publicly available data to know more about you than ever before.

The single most important factor influencing your voting decision is your social network… so you can bet that political campaigns will be mining this data to find your top social influencers, what stories you're reading, and subjects that resonate with you.

2. Machine Learning/AI will move forward 10x.

This year, we saw chatbots emerge in a big way. Since they opened the platform, Facebook Messenger now has 11,000+ chatbots, where an algorithm communicates with end users over Messenger as if it were a person. These are clunky at best.

By 2020, things are going to get much more sophisticated. Voice interfaces like Siri, Cortana, Google and Alexa are going to get much, much better.

You'll be able to carry out in-depth conversations with these AIs, and thanks to machine learning and the exponentially increasing amount of data about yourself that you're generating each year, these AIs will learn how to optimally communicate with you in such a personalized fashion that you'd swear it's your closest friend. They'll incorporate your ideologies, preferences, choice linguistic styles and slang, favorite topics and content, and even inside jokes into the conversation.

It's going to get personal…

3. 50 billion devices & 1 trillion sensors will come online.

IoT is exploding exponentially, and we'll see billions of devices connected to the Web and interacting with you on a daily basis.

Your cars, your AR glasses, your computing devices, your biometric sensors, your home, your office, your appliances, restaurants, grocery stores, airports, planes and everything in between will be connected and communicating with each other.

Are voters who exercise frequently better Republican donors? An AI can pick up on your movements, track your phone, and perhaps even monitor your heart rate.

Ubiquitous cameras throughout our environment will be imaging everything, everywhere. Imagine passing by a sidewalk display where the cameras and machine learning protocols pick up your face, know exactly who you are and feed you a personalized advertisement.

Spooky? Perhaps, but this kind of hyper-focused, targeted advertising is on its way.

4. Digital avatars will become photorealistic and fully programmable.

In four years, we'll be able to fully manipulate photorealistic avatars of candidates to say, well… anything.

This year, researchers out of Stanford were able to take videos of humans and, in real-time, manipulate their faces to match expressions of another person in the lab. Scary.

Face2Face: Real-time Face Capture and Reenactment of RGB Videos

(Face2Face: Real-time Face Capture and Reenactment of RGB Videos)

By the next election, this is going to get even better. We'll be able to render any face to do and say anything, and you won't be able to tell it's fake.

Add this to advances in algorithmic audio dubbing, and we'll be able to type text into a program which will then spit it out in the exact voice of the presidential candidate.

5. Micropayments, Smart Objects, and Blockchain applications will go mainstream.

In four years, it's going to get easier and easier to pay for things. Mobile payments in 2016 will amount to over $600 billion. In 2020, this will likely be over $1 trillion.

More than that, we'll see a proliferation of apps that use "micro-payments" -- small payments, from a fraction of a cent to just a few dollars, built on digital protocols like the Blockchain.

You'll be able to "flick" digital objects that contain value -- like a Digital Political Sticker (which you bought for $0.05) with your face on it -- as endorsements to candidates from your phone to their smart billboards.

And while I doubt the regulatory environment will move quickly enough for the next election, eventually Blockchain will allow us to vote in the election from our own devices.

Hyper-personalized Political Ads: What it will feel like…

The bottom line is that the 2020 election is going to get very personal.

Imagine candidate advertisements that are so personalized that they are scary in their accuracy and timeliness.

For Example: Imagine I'm walking down the street to my local coffee shop, and a photorealistic avatar of the presidential candidate on the bus stop advertisement I pass turns to me and says:

"Hi Peter, I'm running for president. I know you have two 5-year old boys going to kindergarten at XYZ School. Do you know that my policy means that we'll be cutting tuition in half for you? That means you'll immediately save $10,000 if you vote for me…"

If you pause and listen, the candidate's avatar may continue: "I also noticed that you care a lot about science, technology, and space exploration – I do too, and I'm planning on increasing NASA's budget by 20% next year. Let's go to Mars!"

"I'd really appreciate your vote. Every vote and every dollar counts. Do you mind flicking me a $1 sticker to show your support?"

Fun times ahead.

Join Me

This is the sort of conversation we explore at my 250-person executive mastermind group called Abundance 360.

The program is highly selective. If you'd like to be considered, apply here. Share this with your friends, especially if they are interested in any of the areas outlined above.

P.S. Every week I send out a "Tech Blog" like this one. If you want to sign up, go to Diamandis.com and sign up for this and Abundance Insider.

P.P.S. My dear friend Dan Sullivan and I have a podcast called Exponential Wisdom. Our conversations focus on the exponential technologies creating abundance, the human-technology collaboration, and entrepreneurship. Head here to listen and subscribe: a360.com/podcast


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Friday, November 4, 2016

Fwd: Abundance Insider: November 4 Edition



In this week's Abundance Insider: Shape-shifting solar panels, hyperrealistic 3D hands, and Uber's plans for flying cars.

Cheers,
Peter, Marissa, Cody, Kelley, Greg, Sydney and AJ

P.S. Send any tips to our team by clicking here, and send your friends and family to this link to subscribe to Abundance Insider.

Microsoft CEO Says Mixed Reality is the 'Ultimate Computer'

microsoft mixed reality

What it is: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently spoke about augmented and virtual reality ahead of the company's fall product launch, revealing his vision of the future of computing. "The ultimate computer for me is the mixed reality world," he said. "Your field of view becomes an infinite display. You see the world and in the world you see virtual objects and holograms... Whether it be HoloLens, mixed reality, or Surface, our goal is to invent new computers and new computing."

Why it's important: Microsoft's announcement of a VR headset adds another competitor to the group of Oculus, HTC Vive, Samsung, Magic Leap, Meta, and Google's Daydream. With so many competitors and approaches, a mixed reality future is inevitable. Satya's bold vision of the future of VR also indicates how Microsoft might evolve its computers in the future. Imagine remotely collaborating on a CAD design with an overseas team member as if you were in the same room. At a more audacious level, consider a near future where you can zoom in and interact at the nanoscale just as you would with LEGO bricks. Join the Discussion

Spotted by Peter Diamandis / Written by Jason Goodwin

Scientist Creates 'Real' 3D Hands In Lab

real 3d hands

What it is: Professor Anil Jain from Michigan State University and his biometrics team have just created what he hails as "the first whole hand 3D target created to calibrate fingerprint scanners." Jain and his team were researching ways to consistently evaluate fingerprint scans at police departments, airport immigration counters, banks and other places around the world where fingerprint readers are commonly used. Funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, this study plans to develop a global standard procedure for consistent, reliable fingerprint scanner evaluations.

Why it's important: As Peter mentioned in a previous tech blog, 3D printing's large-scale customization and accurate reproductions will impact standard procedures across industries. Now that this study has identified the limitations of existing fingerprint scanning technology, 3D printing enables us to design systems that eventually eliminate all potential security loopholes. Join the Discussion

Spotted by Rishi Khemka / Written by Sydney Fulkerson

A New Class of Materials Could Realize Quantum Computers

materials quantum computers

What it is: Scientists at EPFL and PSI have discovered a new class of materials that are ideal for spintronics, an emerging field that explores spin-orbit interactions for efficient electronics and memory cells. Made of germanium and tellurium (GeTe) and doped with manganese (Mn), the material belongs to the small class of multiferroic materials where (ferro)magnetic and (ferro)electric properties are directly linked. "So when we switch one, the other is affected too," explained Hugo Dil, "which paves the way to future spintronic devices, since we can switch the magnetic orientation using just a small electrical field."

Why it's important: One of the challenges in quantum computing is decoherence, or the stability of a quantum state. The ability to switch the material's properties with just a small electric field is a big development; specifically, the structure here is is similar to that of topological insulators, which can be made as a thin film and are stable at high temperatures. Long predicted to exist, the experimental verification of the GeTe material enables smaller, lower-power quantum computing, and is exciting for a myriad of uses, from modeling chemical reactions to advances in medicine, energy storage and embedded neural networks. Join the Discussion

Spotted by Aryadeep S. Acharya / Written by Jason Goodwin

These Shape-Shifting Solar Panels Can Be Disguised as Tile or Shingles

shape shifting solar panels

What it is: Dyaqua, a family-run solar business based in Italy, has created what it calls "Invisible Solar" panels -- photovoltaic building materials that are indistiguishable from their wood, terracotta, slate, concrete and stone counterparts. They were inspired by the thousands of historic buildings in the Italian countryside, which by law must maintain their original appearance (and, accordingly, can't have traditional rooftop solar arrays).

Why it's important: Solar technology has already been dematerializing and demonetizing, and true energy abundance is just around the corner. Considering Elon Musk's recent reveal of Tesla's Solar Roof tiles, we're rapidly entering an era in which everyday surfaces -- like sidewalks, roofing shingles, windows and walls -- can be solar power generators. Join the Discussion

Spotted by Aryadeep S. Acharya / Written by Marissa Brassfield

Click here to #AskPeterD your question

In a Historic Moment for AI, Computers Gain Ability to Generalize Learning Between Activities

generalize learning

What it is: Using a new machine learning method schema called a differentiable neural computer (DNC), Deep Mind's engineers have created a machine that can take the lessons it's learned in one problem and apply them to another problem, demonstrating the ability to generalize between solutions. The DNC can learn to use its memory to answer questions about complex, structured data, including artificially generated stories, family trees, and even a map of the London Underground.

Why it's important: Previously, neural networks needed be trained with data sets, and without an architecture for adding memory, the network must be trained anew for each problem. Adding read-write memory capability to neural networks allows Deep Mind's DNC to generalize across networks. While this is not a true General AI, the incorporation of memory at minimum creates a new paradigm in how to build intelligent and effective AI systems. Fundamentally, adding historical external memory allows AI's to generalize across subdisciplines (e.g. different types of Atari games), and could facilitate much better pattern recognition across entire fields, from biology and genetics to materials science. Join the Discussion

Spotted by Jason Goodwin / Written by Jason Goodwin

MIT Launches New Venture for World-Changing Entrepreneurs

mit impact venture the engine

What it is: Massachusetts Institute of Technology President L. Rafael Reif recently announced the design of The Engine, the school's new venture to support innovative social entrepreneurs and startups. After raising an initial $150 million funding round, The Engine will provide funding, space and expertise to help entrepreneurs bring their boldest ideas to life. In the future, The Engine hopes to connect and power networks surrounding MIT, and then link those networks to innovation centers around the world.

Why it's important: In a previous blog post, Peter outlined how exponentially growing technologies will increasingly enable us to understand how to solve the world's most challenging problems. The Engine models one way that higher learning institutions can catalyze innovation and global transformation by supporting real-world entrepreneurship. Join the Discussion

Spotted by Marconi Pereira / Written by Sydney Fulkerson

Aussie Bank's 7,000-Mile Blockchain Experiment Could Change Trade

blockchain shipping experiment

What it is: Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Wells Fargo and the Brighann Cotton trading firm have joined forces on a 7,000-mile blockchain experiment that, if successful, demonstrates the tremendous promise of smart contracts and digital ledgers. The Marie Schulte container vessel is currently en route to the Chinese port of Qingdao with 88 bales of cotton. "As port staff scan the bales, an update to an electronic contract will be triggered, transferring ownership of the goods and authorizing the release of payment," reports Bloomberg. "The deceptively simple-sounding process is only possible because digital-ledger technology encrypts and stores the parameters of the contract, ensuring all parties are working off the same synchronized version, which cannot be unilaterally altered or tampered with."

Why it's important: Trade finance is a $4 trillion industry that traditionally involves a complex, paper-based system -- leaving it highly vulnerable to human error, fraud and malfeasance. By coding smart contracts that seamlessly execute payment and update ownership records in real time, we're able to exchange goods faster, easier and more accurately. Join the Discussion

Spotted by Peter Diamandis / Written by Marissa Brassfield

Inside Uber's Plan to Take Over the Skies With Flying Cars

uber flying cars elevate

What it is: Uber has just promised us flying cars in the next decade. According to a recently released 99-page white paper, Uber will create a network called Elevate that will provide fully electric aircraft on demand. The vertical-takeoff-and-landing plane will be able to carry multiple passengers, and can fly 100 miles at about 150 mph. Uber hopes Elevate will help alleviate congested roads, and will continue to convince lawmakers to embrace flying cars in the near future.

Why it's important: In the past decade, Uber has already shaken up the auto industry, and this just-announced future of flying cars will have new implications for automakers and logistics companies. As Uber's Chief Product Officer, Jeff Holden, has previously shared with us, a large part of Uber's success stems from continuous experimentation -- constantly testing crazy ideas, new business models, new products and new processes. (We also can't help but think of Peter's Law #22: "The day before something is a breakthrough, it's a crazy idea.") Join the Discussion

Spotted by Cody Rapp / Written by Sydney Fulkerson

Jeff Bezos, Mayo Clinic Back Anti-Aging Startup Unity Biotechnology for $116 Million

unity biotechnology

What it is: Unity Biotechnology, a startup with a focus on medicines to help delay effects from age-related diseases, recently announced its Series B financing of $116 million. With investments from Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Mayo Clinic, Ballie Gifford and several leading biotech companies, this startup can potentially slow the aging process by identifying ways to help shed our body's older cells, which cause inflammation and other age-linked diseases.

Why it's important: As Peter has described, we're rapidly entering an era where, thanks to companies like Human Longevity Inc. and innovative medicines from startups like Unity Biotechnology, healthcare is proactive, preventative and personalized. Imagine being able to predict which diseases your child is likely to develop, and then preventing those diseases before they ever happen. Considering the proliferation of longevity-focused startups, we're on the brink of a major breakthrough in extending the healthy human lifespan. Join the Discussion

Spotted by Cody Rapp / Written by Sydney Fulkerson

What is Abundance Insider?

This email is a briefing of the week's most compelling, abundance-enabling tech developments, curated by Marissa Brassfield in preparation for Abundance 360. Read more about A360 below.

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Fwd: 7 Steps to Genius




Click here to read the post on the blog or keep scrolling to read in-email.

What do geniuses do differently?

Do they have a unique morning routine? Interesting daily rituals?

To answer these questions, let us turn to one of the most brilliant minds in history: Leonardo da Vinci.

You might know Da Vinci as an artist, but he was also an architect, scientist, musician, mathematician, inventor, anatomist, geologist, astronomer, cartographer, botanist, historian and writer. He didn't just excel in one area, but rather he flourished across disciplines and created concepts that have lasted for centuries. Da Vinci had a very specific approach to life that anyone can learn. In this post, I will show you how:

You can develop your essential elements of genius.

Michael J. Gelb excavated Da Vinci's notebooks, writings and creations to figure out how he thought and lived differently. He found:

The 7 Da Vincian Principles

I chose How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci for our Science of People book club because I thought it was a fascinating look into the daily habits of a genius. Gelb explores how Da Vinci approached life and, most importantly, lays it out for readers in a practical framework for self-improvement.

If you didn't get a chance to read the book–which I highly recommend since it is filled with Da Vinci's original drawings and illustrations, I have outlined the 7 Da Vincian Principles for you here:

#1: Curiosità

Curiosita is an insatiably curious approach to life and unrelenting quest for continuous learning.

Da Vinci is not the only one who embodied a seemingly infinite supply of curiosity. Many of history's great inventors and leaders had the desire to unlock the mysteries of life. If you're like me, this one seems fairly obvious and something you already know is important. So, I think about curiosity in 2 basic questions:

  1. What if?
  2. How come?

I know I am embracing curiosity if I ask myself these 2 questions multiple times each day.

What If: Asks your brain to project into the future. It helps you see opportunities where you might have missed them, it helps you make connections and it is a sneaky way to get your brain more goal-oriented. What if I started a conversation with this person? What if I tried this new activity? What if I started that new workout program? What comes after 'what if…' is typically magical.

How Come: How come gets you into 'why'. Instead of passively observing the world or going into automatic responses, 'how come' helps you question both your actions and other's motives. I believe this question keeps me honest and alert. It forces me to live more purposefully. Da Vinci didn't waste a second of his life. He was always creating and guessing and tinkering. 'How come' helps you use every second of your life with a mission.

Here are some ways you can capture more Curiosita:

  • A Hundred Questions: Write down 100 questions that are important to you. These could be questions you wish to answer yourself such as, "What is my purpose?" or "What is the meaning of life?" or questions you want to know about everyone you meet like, "What is your passion? or "What makes you happy?" This is the ultimate 'what if' and 'how come' exercise.
  • Ten Power Questions: After you have brainstormed a list of 100 questions, select the 10 that have the most powerful impact when you read them. Which ones spark a feeling of motivation or achievement? These are your catalyst questions. For example:
    • When am I most naturally myself?
    • What is my greatest talent?
    • What is my heart's deepest desire?
  • Daily Themes: Da Vinci was an avid writer and note taker. He had a journal everywhere he went. I have a journal at my desk AND at my bed to take notes when all kinds of ideas pop into my head. Carry a journal with you everywhere and write down your ideas and observations. Each day, choose a theme or word. You can do this at the beginning of the day to set the intention or at the end of the day as a cool down or wrap-up.

#2: Dimostrazione

Dimostrazione is a commitment to test knowledge through experience, persistence and a willingness to learn from mistakes.

I love this principle, because it is empowering. Dimostrazione is the embodiment of taking your life into your own hands. This principle tells us:

Test every idea.

Don't take anything for granted.

Experience life first hand.

I believe life should be an experiment. That we should have a series of amazing hypotheses every day, and we should be testing them. A hypothesis consists of a 2 part statement:

If…, then…

For example, if I take this personal development class, then I hope to be happier. Or as small as if I reorganize my closet, then it will be easier to get ready in the morning. The 'If…, then…' exercise puts you into opportunity-hunting mindset, so you are always looking for and testing solutions.

Here are some ways you can capture more Dimostrazione:

  • Find Your Greats: You have probably heard of all the most popular artists and authors, but who are your favorites? Set out to find your greats. Don't take anyone else's word for it. Start your own search for the artists, classical musicians or writers that inspire you. Go to a museum and look at the paintings without glancing at the names.
  • Be Devil's Advocate: Try playing devil's advocate against yourself. Try making the strongest possible argument against one of your own beliefs just for the mental exercise. Write at least 3 points against yourself.

#3: Sensazione

Sensazione is the continual refinement of the senses, especially sight, as the means to enliven experience.

Fill in the blank:

___is so beautiful.

I love the way _____ smells.

What a lovely _____.

I adore the feeling of ____ on my skin.

The sound of ____ is music to my ears.

We forget to savor and sensualize our experiences. We have all heard 'stop and smell the roses,' but when was the last time you actually stopped and smelled the roses? Sure, literal roses, but also metaphorical roses. When was the last time you stopped to savor an experience? Da Vinci was incredibly inspired by the world around him and the more he honed his senses, the more heightened his genius became.

Here are some ways you can capture more Sensazione:

  • A Sense a Day: Plan out 5 experiences in the next few months where you practice honoring each of your senses.
    • For smell, go to the local botanical gardens, make your own perfume or cologne and learn to recognize herbs by their scent at the local grocery store.
    • For taste, (this one is easy!) eat a bunch of your favorite foods and try one new cuisine. Figure out your favorite spice.
    • For sight, go to your local museum, then hike to a vista or view point and learn some new photography techniques.
    • For touch, go to your local animal shelter and volunteer petting pups and kitties. Go through your closet and organize it by fabric. Go shopping and try to buy one new fabric you have never owned before — suede? Velvet? Flannel?
    • For hearing, go to a concert, stop by your local music store and try to play an instrument you have never heard before. If you are really ambitious, try to learn bird mating calls or spend some time trying to draw sound. For example, if you had to draw the sound of a trumpet, how would you do it? (mine looks like a messy swirl).

#4: Sfumato

Sfumato is a willingness to embrace ambiguity, paradox, and uncertainty. Da Vinci had a very unique ability to understand the extreme opposites of opinions and phenomenon. He was also able to explore unknowns and revel in the uncertainty. Most of us are uncomfortable with not knowing or unanswerable questions, so we avoid anything out of our control. We stick to what we know and immediately do a Google search the moment we don't know something.

A Story:

The other day, I was hiking with some friends in Columbia Gorge (one of the most beautiful places in the world) and we began passing all of these old wagons–like really, really old wagons. Now, I live in Oregon very close to the end of the Oregon Trail where Lewis and Clark explored, so we started to wonder if the wagons were somehow connected to the Oregon Trail. The more wagons we passed, the more perplexed we got. We had no service where we were hiking, so we couldn't just whip out our phones and consult Google. This began to drive us crazy. We are so used to knowing things or being able to figure things out almost instantly, that it was driving us nuts to not know. But a cool thing happened. We started to brainstorm all of the different reasons that all of these wagons were on the trail–a massive flood carried them across the plains, a wagon cult lived in the woods nearby, etc. And that was a really hilarious and fun exercise. It reminded me of the Sfumato principle that not knowing is actually the best mental activity. You search, you think, you create.

*We eventually Googled it and found out we had stumbled upon a 1900 wagon trail that used to transport apples.

Here are some ways you can capture more Sfumato:

  • Stop Googling: For the next week, anytime you need to look up a word or trivia fact, try to guess the answer instead. You can phone a friend for help as well, as long as they brainstorm with you too!
  • Embrace Your Ambiguity: List some situations from your life where you are confused or feel ambiguous about an outcome and explore the feelings that come up.
  • Cultivate Confusion Endurance: Tap into your own paradoxes by asking questions like, "How are my strengths and weaknesses related?" or "What is the relationship between my saddest moments and the most joyful ones?"

#5: Arte/Scienza

Arte/scienza is the development of the balance between science and art, logic and imagination.

Although Da Vinci wasn't around for the research on right and left brain thinking, this concept speaks directly to the idea of whole brain thinking. Mark the statements that sound like you:

Right Brained:

___ I like details

___ I am almost always on time

___ I rely on logic

___ I am skilled at math

___ I am organized and disciplined

___ I like lists

Left Brained:

___ I am highly imaginative

___ I am good at brainstorming

___ I love to doodle

___ I often say or do the unexpected

___ I rely on intuition

___I often lose track of time

Which one had more statements that you agreed with? Were you balanced? Da Vinci was a big believer in using both parts of your brain. He did this in his notebooks by tying ideas with drawings. Specifically, he was the original mind-mapper. Here is a cool overview on mind mapping:

The Power of a Mind to Map

Here are some ways you can capture more Arte/scienza:

  • Warm-up by mind-mapping the main ideas in your favorite TED Talk. Here are my favorites:

Amy Cuddy:

Your body language shapes who you are

Cameron Russel:

Cameron Russel TED Talk

  • Create a mind map of your life: Have you ever thought about how the different parts of your life are connected? Make a mind map of your major life moments and how they are connected.
  • #6: Corporalitá

    Corporalita is the cultivation of grace, ambidexterity, fitness and poise. Da Vinci was incredibly athletic in addition to his mental prowess. From early on, he realized that if he wanted his mind to perform at optimal levels, his body also had to be in top shape.

    I couldn't agree with this more. If I have a bad night's sleep, my work suffers. If I don't eat well, my energy slows. If I don't get enough movement, my back kills me.

    Here are some ways you can capture more Corporalita:

    • Learn the Science of Eating: I did a whole post on the science of eating on some really easy ways to make your food intake more purposeful.
    • Get on a Sleep Schedule: Everyone has different sleep needs and different sleep rhythms. For the next week, track your sleep times and hours and see which days you have the most energy. Are you a night worker? A morning person? Learn your cycles and then honor them by building a sleep routine.
    • Cultivate Ambidexterity: Da Vinci used both his right and left hands as he worked. You can do this by trying to brush your teeth with your non dominant hand or get a really patient person to play a game of pool, tennis or catch where you switch hands!

    #7: Connessione

    Connessione is a recognition of and appreciation for the interconnectedness of all things and phenomena.

    I think this is one of the most complex and interesting Da Vincian principles. It has to do with something called 'systems thinking'. Systems thinking is when you are able to take vast amounts of information and create routines, lists and organization. It also has to do with pattern recognition. I LOVE connessione. As many of you know, I have a number of courses and books–my favorite part of the curriculum creation process is taking huge amounts of research and condensing it down into an outline. I also love hunting for patterns. In our human behavior research lab, I am constantly looking for patterns in body language, thinking and relationships. For example:

    • In my Power of Happiness course, I had 128 pages of research and notes to condense into a 10 day program.
    • For my Master Your People Skills course, we had over 7,000 people take our body language and personality surveys. We had to pour over the data to find patterns to make the course.
    • For our next book, I will be using 9 years of research, over 2,400 studies and 356 in-depth interviews!

    When you can create systems and recognize patterns in your life, you are able to cultivate true genius.

    Here are some ways you can capture more Connessione:

    • What's Your Book Outline? If you had to create a table of contents for a book about your life, what would it be if you couldn't make it chronological?
    • 3 Objects: Pick 3 random objects in your house. If you had to find connections between them, what would they be? For example, I chose my blender, my garage clicker and a bottle of nail polish. Can you think of three connections? I thought: With all three of these things, the faster they work, the better. The faster the blender, the better the smoothie, the faster the garage door opens, the faster I get home and the faster my polish dries, the less risk there is of my mushing up my toe nails. This is a great one to play with kids!

    Bonus: Felicità

    Felicità is the cultivation of deep joy, happiness and life fulfillment.

    Looking over Da Vinci's masterpieces, inventions and works of genius, I couldn't help but think about his happiness levels. Did his genius fulfill him? Does an active mind mean an active heart? I have been studying the science of happiness in our labs and I think joy is an essential part of genius.

    Do you know what makes you happy? Science has a lot to tell us about how our happiness works. I want to teach you the science and psychology of happiness.

    Here's to you unleashing your inner genius!

    Cheers,

    Vanessa



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