Foresight Brainstorming-Planning-Actionfest & NanoSchmoozathon How much change can you process? It's coming faster every month now nanotechnology, open source, ubiquitous surveillance, mammalian cloning, bizarre intellectual property laws, smart drugs all mixed with a big dose of media hype. How to cope? We invite you to trade ideas with some allies individuals who can examine these prospects without undergoing mental shutdown.
Who:
80 of the most forward-looking minds on the planet leaders and visionaries in emerging technologies and dynamic change meeting to pool their insights and conspire on strategies for improvement, broadly defined.
When:
September 17 evening through September 19, 1999
Friday, 8-10 PM, Saturday 8 AM-10 PM, Sunday 9 AM-5 PM.
Approximately.
Where:
Silicon Valley, the eye of the technological
hurricane. We'll be taking over the Hotel Sofitel on San Francisco Bay chatting in the hallways, lolling about in the spa, dashing through the lobby on our way to a demo, making deals in the schmooze room, and sometimes staying quiet long enough to hear a speaker. On Saturday evening, we party poolside in nearby Atherton.
How:
With a group like this, there's only one way we go where the ideas lead us. It's informal, impromptu, controversial, sometimes argumentative, but always polite. We have speakers, but the audience tends to speak up also, since they as a group often exceed the speaker's expertise in just about any field one can name. Meanwhile, there's always a little group off in the next room setting up YASC yet another startup company.
Why:
No matter what your values are freedom, the biosphere, the space frontier, the third world, or your company's economic well-being achieving your goals depends on understanding where technology is heading. It's impossible to do this alone; there's far too much going on. Let's put our heads together, examine the rush of technology, and see what is to be done about it. (And of course, have some fun while we're at it. We deserve it, right? ;^)
Who's coming this time?
Invited and Confirmed
Bruce Ames: controversial biochemist, inventor of "Ames test" for mutagens, speaks out on science as spontaneous order, government, and economics
Brian Behlendorf: web pioneer, co-founder of Apache and SourceXchange, a marketplace for open source software development
Tom Bell: controversial legal scholar who takes on tough issues, e.g. Internet gambling made legal