Abundance

PBS NewsHour covers Singularity University

by Socrates
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Optimists at Silicon Valley think tank Singularity University are pushing the frontiers of human progress through innovation and emerging technologies, looking to greater longevity and better health. As part of his series on Making $ense of financial news, correspondent Paul Solman explores a future of “exponential growth” as envisioned by Singularity University.

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The Water Plasma Purifier: Clean, Safe and Cheap Water for Billions of People

by Socrates
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Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler have been making the case for Abundance for some time now. Whether you are skeptical or not, the evidence is piling up. One great example I came across today is the Chilean Water Plasma Purifier. (A few days ago I covered another example in Making Water Out of Air) The Water Plasma Purifier is documented by the two videos below. What is unique about this inventive gadget is not that it cleans water, but that it does it with the right combination of low cost, high energy efficiency, small size, low maintenance and high output. As Vivek Wadhwa notes in his Washington Post article: “If the system can be mass produced for less than $100, as Zolezzi believes, and the output passes the lab tests to which it is being subjected, it has the potential to provide clean, safe water to billions [...]

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Peter Diamandis on TED: Abundance is Our Future

by Socrates
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Onstage at TED, Peter Diamandis makes a case for optimism — that we’ll invent, innovate and create ways to solve the challenges that loom over us: “I’m not saying we don’t have our set of problems; we surely do. But ultimately, we knock them down.” Peter Diamandis is a self-admitted nine-year-old child-space-enthusiast and a visionary who dreams big and has the resume to prove that the best way to predict the future is to create it yourself. Just some of his resume highlights include: the Founder and Chairman of the X PRIZE Foundation; co-Founder and Managing Director of Space Adventures; the CEO and co-founder of Zero Gravity Corporation; and, most recently, the Rocket Racing League; the International Space University and the Singularity University. Related articles Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think Steven Kotler on Singularity 1 on 1: Get [...]

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Steven Kotler on Singularity 1 on 1: Get Off the Couch and Change the World

by Socrates
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Yesterday I interviewed Steven Kotler on Singularity 1 on 1. Together with Peter Diamandis, Steven is the co-author of Abundance: The Future is Better than You Think. Abundance is a book that provides both hope and inspiration in an ocean of doom and gloom. Its main message being that the future can and, most likely, will be better than we think. Impossible?! Check out the interview to see why you are probably wrong. During our conversation with Steven Kotler we discuss issues such as: running a dog shelter for special needs dogs; the story of how Steven got his first writing job and eventually published articles in Maxim, Wired, GQ, Popular Science and other periodicals; his first novel; environmental degradation, global warming and biodiversity; the neuroscience behind out cognitive biases such as why we are local optimists but global pessimists; environmentalism [...]

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Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think

by Socrates
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I wanted to talk about Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think as soon as I heard about the book during my first interview with Peter Diamandis. I have been putting off blogging about it because I’ve been secretly hoping (and plotting) to get Peter back for another interview. Lately, however, I am beginning to realize that stealing another 30 minutes away from Peter — who is a busy father of young twin-boys and a high-powered entrepreneur, may be a bit too selfish of me. So, I decided to steal Peter’s ever-available digital copy who can tell you in 3 minutes why Abundance is such a unique book that you must read.   If you want to find out more here are some other videos:   Abundance Book Trailer:   Evidence in Abundance:   Jason Silva – one of my favorite [...]

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