Christine Peterson

Foresight Co-Founder and Past President Christine Peterson is interviewed on the Singularity Weblog in a 47-minute tour that covers nanotechnology, the founding of the Foresight Institute, her work on personal life extension through Health Activator, open source, and the Technological Singularity. “Christine Peterson on Singularity 1 on 1: Join Us to Push the Future in a Positive Direction“:

During my Singularity 1 on 1 interview with Christine Peterson we discuss a variety of topics such as: how she got interested in nanotechnology and the definition thereof; how, together with Eric Drexler, she started the Foresight Institute for Nanotechnology; her interest in life extension; Dr. Drexler’s seminal book Engines of Creation; cryonics and chemical brain preservation; 23andMe and other high- and low-tech tips for improved longevity; whether we should fear nanotechnology or not; the 3 most exciting promises of nanotech; women in technology; coining the term “open source” and using Apple computers; the technological singularity and her take on it…

Hear Christine discuss some challenges while presenting an essentially optimistic message—a wonderful future is coming from science and technology over the next few decades—a future that encourages everyone to get involved.
—James Lewis, PhD

Foresight Media Partner · Special Registration Discount
October 24-26, 2012 · Cambridge, MA, USA
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At MIT Technology Review, we believe that technology will be part of the solution to our greatest human problems, from disease and climate change, to traffic and clean energy. Throughout the year, our editorial staff finds and explains the significance of the new technologies that are disrupting existing industries, creating entirely new markets, and changing society.

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The EmTech MIT conference covers important innovations in energy, IT, bio, and the Web, and examines their impact for our audience.

Emtech MIT 2012

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January 11-13, 2013
Crowne Plaza Cabana Hotel, Palo Alto, CA USA

Over 30 speakers will present reviews and research on a wide variety of groundbreaking atomic- and molecular-scale science and technology, interesting intrinsically and for aiding the development of atomically precise technologies, devices and materials. Events will include an opening reception with a special panel discussion on Friday night and the Feynman Prize Awards Banquet on Saturday night.

Conference Co-Chairs
J. Fraser Stoddart, Board of Trustees Professor, Northwestern University
Larry S. Millstein, President, Foresight Institute

Conference Sponsors
The Thiel Foundation
Autodesk

Sessions
Atomic Scale Devices
Chair: John Randall – President, Zyvex Labs
Molecular Machines & Non-Equilibrium Processes
Chair: J. Fraser Stoddart – Board of Trustees Professor of Chemistry, Northwestern University
Self-Organizing & Adaptive Systems
Chair: Lee Cronin – Gardiner Chair of Chemistry, Glasgow University
Commercially Implemented Single Molecule Technologies
Chair: Steve Turner – Founder/CTO, Pacific Biosciences
Computation and Molecular Nanotechnology
Chair: Alexander Wissner-Gross – Harvard and MIT Media Lab

Look for further details on the conference, the speakers and the events in the coming weeks and months. Registration will open in late July or early August.

Foresight’s Director of Development and Outreach Desiree D. Dudley will speak on a panel at the Space Frontier Foundation’s NewSpace 2012 conference at NASA-Ames July 26-28. Right now the schedule has the panel titled “Approaching the Tipping Point: How Emergent Technologies Will Change the Way We Look at the Future of Spaceflight” at 2pm Saturday July 28th. From the Conference home page:

The next disruptive innovation is already underway and it is in space.
The commercial space industry is building a new market with efficient business processes, a wide spectrum of technology, and almost prescient investors. It’s been said that the first trillionaires will be made through space industrialization and we’re going to show how space pioneers are creating new products and profits. NewSpace is undergoing rapid expansion, similar to the Internet explosion of the 1990′s, and needs to be filled with revolutionary businesses like yours.

The Space Frontier Foundation’s annual conference is one of the most important commercial space conferences in the nation, and will be in July in Silicon Valley. NewSpace 2012 is where networking with leaders, supporters, investors and activists evolves into enterprises that propel the industry upward. It will host a wide-range of thought-provoking panels and visionary keynote speakers that will surpass NewSpace 2011′s already highly-praised programming. …

Foresight Presents: “GENOGEN: Regenerating Skin for Life“
Dr. Nancy Mize
Date/Time: Thursday, May 31, 2012, 6:30pm in PDT
Drinks/Dinner: 6:30pm, Talk: 7:30pm
RSVP: $40 via http://www.paypal.com/ to foresight@foresight.org
Location: Ristorante Don Giovanni
235 Castro Street, Mountain View, CA 94041

GENOGEN is developing products that activate resident skin stem cells to stimulate local areas of regeneration of skin naturally – the way children heal. GENOGEN’s first product is a re-purposed agent, currently FDA and EU approved and marketed, and used in humans for over 5 years, with significant utility in the aesthetics sector for treatment of aging skin. Localized skin delivery of the stem cell activator with a growth matrix activates local regeneration and repair in situ – with no stem cell isolation, no stem cell prep, no surgery, extraction or re-implantation – resulting in accelerated healing and young skin.

NANCY K MIZE, PhD, Scientist, Innovator, and CEO of GENOGEN Inc., has researched stem cell activators since 2000, and is the co-inventor on 11 issued patents. Dr. Mize served as the BioMarker Expert for Personalized Medicine at Pacific BioDevelopment, the Director of Protein Bioinformatics at Hyseq/Nuvelo, and Scientist, Drug Delivery Technologies at Alza Corporation. Dr. Mize holds a PhD from UCSF in Cell Biology in the department of Human Physiology, BS from UC Berkeley and has completed Postdoctoral studies at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Heidelberg, and Genentech.

Carl Bass, successor to the successor to the successor to me as CEO of Autodesk got up in front of an audience and spoke on “The Five New Rules of Innovation” among which was nanoscale and bio-inspired structures.

Unlike when I did it all those many years ago, nobody giggled.

And they say there isn’t progress!

Video (17 minutes–the nano bit is short, but it’s there):

John Walker’s thoughts on nanotechnoloogy were published about 22 years ago in a Foresight Briefing “What Next? Nanotechnology for Manufacturing“. The definitive copy of this essay, with the complete set of illustrations, is available on John Walker’s Web site.

Join us for an intellectually stimulating evening with best-selling author and tech analyst Sonia Arrison! Dinner and drinks will be served h’orderve/tapas-style at 7pm; Sonia will present at 8pm, with personalized, small-group Q&A on the future of technology to follow.

Wednesday March 21, 2012 at Ristorante Don Giovanni, 235 Castro Street, Mountain View, CA 94041

This is a limited-audience event; to RSVP, please Paypal $40 to foresight@foresight.org at http://www.paypal.com/

SONIA ARRISON is a bestselling author and technology analyst who has studied the impact of new technologies on society for more than a decade. Her book, 100 PLUS: How the Coming Age of Longevity will Change Everything, From Careers and Relationships to Family and Faith, is a national bestseller and has been featured in top media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, The Economist, MSNBC, Bloomberg News, Fox News, and the Today Show.

As a founder, academic advisor, and trustee of Singularity University, she is focused on exponentially growing technologies and their impact on society. She is also a Senior Fellow at the California-based Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy (PRI) and a columnist for TechNewsWorld. She is author of three books and numerous PRI studies and was also the host of a radio show called “digital dialogue” on the Voice America network.

What are reviewers saying about 100+?

NEW SCIENTIST
“Brilliant …. The chapters devoted to advances in regenerative medicine and the search for interventions that slow ageing are exhilarating. Growing new limbs, copying internal organs like a Xerox machine, exponential increases in computing power, better eyes and ears—I could read stories like this endlessly. We need such vision to help carry the science forward, and some of the most exciting advances in the scientific study of ageing are forthcoming. Arrison paints a realistic picture of the science driving the next longevity revolution, and makes the case that, if we play our cards right, humanity will reap huge dividends for the effort. In that way, this book is the most comprehensive treatment of the socioeconomic consequences of life extension that I’ve seen …. [T]he costs and benefits of life extension and, more importantly, health extension, are subjects in desperate need of open dialogue, and Arrison begins this process with elegance and style.”

WALL STREET JOURNAL
“Ms. Arrison entertainingly chronicles efforts to conquer aging and death from antiquity to today. Food, sex, exercise and alchemy have all been employed to keep the grim reaper at bay. But technology offers the most plausible route, she says, noting that biology and computing are drawing ever closer together with the sequencing of the human genome …. [Her] sunny outlook is infectious.”

SINGULARITY HUB
“Easy to read, and easy to understand, 100+ walks you through the incredible achievements in regenerative medicine we’ve already seen, projects them forward, and discusses the changes in environment, economy, family, and religion that will follow…. Arrison states her case strongly enough to convince almost anyone, and in a style that will be as accessible to your techno-phobic Uncle Walter as it is to your computer loving self.”

Remember, space is limited! To RSVP, Paypal $40 to foresight@foresight.org at http://www.paypal.com/

1. Foresight Announces Election of New President Larry Millstein
2. Meet The President: Dinner Reception Monday 12/12, 6:30pm @ Don Giovanni’s in Mountain View, CA
3. Annual Challenge Grant Kickoff: Donate this month for double the value to Foresight!

I. Foresight Announces Election of our New President

Foresight is proud to announce that Larry S. Millstein, Ph.D., J.D. has been elected President of the Institute by the Board of Directors. Larry has been a Foresight member since 1998. He was instrumental in establishing the Foresight Communication Prize in 2000 and in ensuring its funding since then; he has been a member of the Board of Directors since 2009. He has been interested in atomically and molecularly precise technologies for many years – since reading Nanosystems over a decade ago and strengthened by the development of mechanochemistry and the recent commercialization of single molecule DNA sequencing instruments.

“We are thrilled to have persuaded such a technically accomplished and experienced leader to be President of Foresight and to take on the task of accelerating the development of transformative nanotechnologies and their beneficial uses,” said Foresight co-founder and current President Christine Peterson, who will continue to be a member of the Board and active advisor to the Institute and will collaborate closely with senior staff in making the transition.

“I look forward to forging new tools for Foresight to catalyze the development of truly transformative technologies,” Larry says. “Foresight has a key role to play in forcefully communicating the power and potential of atomically precise technologies to transform the world in remarkably beneficial ways, and its activities will be a seminal catalyst for ideas and actions that will — by harnessing the power of atomic precision — realize some of humankind’s most fervently wished for goals.”

Larry has been very active for some time in educating and evangelizing the public on the beauty and power of science, arranging dozens of dinners and lectures with scientists and technologists in the Washington, DC area, particularly at the Cosmos Club. He founded and supports the Zimm Prize in Physical Chemistry at UCSD. He teaches on biotechnology (and on law) at Georgetown University. He developed the Emerging Technologies course there, which recently has been directed to NexGen DNA Sequencing Technologies and Personalized Genomics, and will soon turn to DNA Machines and Synthetic Genomics. He also teaches an introduction to Intellectual Property law to graduate students in the Biotechnology Program at Georgetown.

He is an author of a variety of scientific research articles and an inventor of several nucleic acid amplification methods and of inventions relating to molecular arrays and their manufacture. He has worked with inventors and written and prosecuted many patent applications on inventions in biotechnology and nanotechnology, and he has served in an in-house role for several start up companies.

Larry is a partner in Millen, White, Zelano & Branigan, PC, and Adjunct Professor of Biochemistry, Molecular & Cellular Biology and Chair of the Biotechnology Program Advisory Board at Georgetown University. He also is Treasurer and a member of the Board of the Washington Academy of Sciences and Program Chair, Past President and member of the Board of the Philosophical Society of Washington.

Larry earned his BS at CCNY-CUNY (Chemistry), his MS and PhD at the University of California-San Diego (Chemistry / Molecular Biology) and the Scripps Research Institute (where he did his graduate research with Joel Gottesfeld). He earned his JD at George Mason University, and is a graduate of the GMU Patent Law Specialty Track Program. He was a research professor at the University of Rochester before turning to law. And, as a lawyer, he was an associate at Foley & Lardner, served as Senior Patent Counsel at Human Genome Sciences, founded Millstein & Taylor and merged it a decade later with Holland & Knight, where he was a partner and led the biotechnology practice. He joined Millen White as a partner in 2008.

II. Meet The President: Dinner Reception Monday 12/12, 6:30pm @ Don Giovanni’s in Mountain View, CA

When: Monday December 12th, 2011, drinks/reception at 6:30, Dinner at 7:15pm
Where: Don Giovanni’s, 235 Castro Street, Mountain View, CA, 94041
RSVP: $40 to foresight@foresight.org via Paypal.com by midnight Saturday, 12/10/11
Meal options: List fish, chicken or vegetarian in your Paypal note!

Join us for an informal celebration reception and dinner with incoming Foresight Institute President Larry S. Millstein in Mountain View on Monday, 12 December 2011. We will be welcoming Larry on his first visit to our offices and chatting with him about his experiences, Foresight’s future and the power in transformative nanotechnology. He is looking forward to meeting members old, new, and prospective while he is here, especially Senior Associates. Please join us as we celebrate this year’s progress, present our thoughts on Foresight’s program for next year — and bring your own ideas and your enthusiasm for Foresight!

III. Annual Challenge Grant Kickoff: Donate this month for double the value to Foresight

This year, Foresight has again received a generous $30,000 Challenge Grant, where every dollar you donate between now and December 31st is matched and doubled.

Do you believe in Foresight’s vision of transformative nanotechnology? Did you enjoy the quality of this year’s conference and dinner lectures? Would you like to see us expand our youth outreach? If you would like to see these re-energized programs take off, now is a great time to support us by making your annual donation, or upgrade your membership.

Please send in your check, dated by Dec 31 to the address below, or donate online at:
http://www.foresight.org/challenge

Foresight Institute
PO Box 61058
Palo Alto, CA 94306 USA
main: 650-289-0860
fax: 650-289-0863

Or to find out more on how to help, contact Desiree Dudley at 650-289-0860, x259 or desiree@foresight.org.

We are excited about our coming year. We hope you are, too!

Come help us create the future.

Christine Peterson, Co-Founder/President
Larry Millstein, President-Elect
Desiree Dudley, Director of Development and Outreach

Nanotechnology: How should we evaluate the environmental impact of human-made machines that are too small to see? What limits should be placed on self-replicating nanodevices? What defenses should we institute against malevolent uses of such technology?

These questions were asked by Marc Goodman, a senior advisor to Interpol and founder of Future Crimes Institute, a think tank that explores the security implications of new technology.  In a report by Ted Greenwald at Forbes.com, Goodman urged “aspiring captains of emerging industries like synthetic biology, robotics, and nanotech to take a proactive attitude toward their impact on the global community.”

Great to see this message of foresight reaching such a key audience, in addition to Ralph Merkle’s frequent briefings on nanotech at SU.  —Christine Peterson