James Martin

Voices from Oxford: The Meaning of the 21st Century with Dr James Martin

by

Dr James Martin, Founder of the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford discusses his book, The Meaning of the 21st Century.

Interviewed by Prof Denis Noble, University of Oxford, Dr Martin stresses that we will survive the 21st Century, but that it’s our choice as to whether it’s a century of disasters and near extinction, or whether we can create a new era of civilisation.

Other topics discussed during the interview: employment, artificial intelligence and leisure time; the technological singularity; the complexity of the human brain; quantum entanglement; technology and the humanities; the cathedrals of our future – cathedrals of the mind…

Related articles

They Were There: Errol Morris’ Centennial Documentary About IBM

by

Last week I interviewed James Martin for my Singularity 1 on 1 podcast.

Among many other things James spent decades at IBM and was among the key people who super-charged the company’s rise to dominance during the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, and in the process changed the world.

During our conversation James noted the vital importance of companies such as IBM, HP, Google and Microsoft, and stressed that it was firms like those (and not governments) that deserve credit for technological innovation and progress.

Yesterday, as I watched Errol Morris‘ centennial documentary about IBM, I recalled Martin’s words about the pioneering work the company has done for the last 100 years. While the movie was most likely commissioned by IBM itself, and does not go over some of the few dark spots of the firm’s history, it does a fantastic job of presenting the numerous pivotal milestones achieved by IBM-ers. In addition, Errol Morris’ film carries his unmistakable style through and through and is nicely enhanced by Philip Glass’ original music score.

Some of the major milestones included in the film are:

  • the designing and production of the pioneering mainframe computer System 360
  • the SABRE system for airline reservations, most recently used by AMTRAK, Expedia, Travelocity and many others.
  • the design and implementation of the bar code system, which effectively put a computer into every grocery’s check stand.
  • IBM’s role in the Apollo Moon program and especially during the Apollo 13 crisis.
  • the Acorn Project which designed and produced the IBM personal computer in the 1980’s and brought PC’s into the household.
  • the Genographic Project of reconstructing the entire human family tree.

Having watched the movie I understand why James insisted on the importance of the major tech companies for the future of humanity and why people who work in places like that are so proud of it. As someone who has felt the excitement of starting with an empty box and building a working machine one-hand-picked-part-at-a-time, I can strongly associate with the excitement and pride that IBM-ers feel for their work. This is at least one of the reasons why I can proudly say:

I am a PC! And I am proud of it!

Thanks IBM!

Related articles

James Martin: We Can Control Accelerating Technology

by

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Yesterday I was privileged to have an hour long Skype interview with James Martin for my Singularity 1 on 1 podcast.

James Martin is Andrew Crofts‘ archetype Change Agent in addition to being a world-renowned computer scientist, author, lecturer, teacher, philanthropist, futurist and film-maker. During our conversation we cover a whole spectrum of interesting topics such as: James’ interest in computers in particular and technology and futurism in general; his book that eventually turned into a movie –  The Meaning of the 21st Century, his current project titled the Transformation of Humankind; the technological singularity; the risks and promises of exponential growth of 21st century technologies such as genetics, robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnologies.

As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full. To show your support you can write a review on iTunes, make a direct donation or become a patron on Patreon.

Who is James Martin:

According to Computerworld James Martin is the fourth among the top 25 individuals who have most influenced the world of computer science.

The Sunday Times called him “Britain’s leading futurist.”

Martin has honorary doctorates from all six continents and has written 104 textbooks, many of which have been seminal in their field. He also wrote The Meaning of the 21st Century, which was made into a major film, and is a Pulitzer nominee for his book The Wired Society: A challenge for tomorrow. James is renowned for his electrifying lectures about the future and several years ago became the largest individual benefactor to Oxford University by donating over 100 million dollars and founding the Oxford Martin School, which has 30 institutes researching the problems, dangers and opportunities of the future.

Related articles

Andrew Crofts on The Change Agent, the Ghostwriter, and the Singularity

by

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

A couple of months ago I saw Roman Polanski’s film the Ghost Writer based on the titular bestselling book by Robert Harris. At the time, I could hardly imagine that only a couple of months after the movie premiere I will be communicating with Andrew Crofts – the archetype ghostwriter on whom Ewan McGregor’s character was most probably based upon.

Andrew wrote a popular guest article for SingularityWeblog.com where he shared the story behind his latest book The Change Agent: How to Create a Wonderful World.

The book talks about the life and ideas of Andrew’s archetype change agent – James Martin, a world-renowned futurist, computer scientist, author, lecturer and, among many other things, the largest donor in the history of Oxford University. (Most recently, James Martin produced a pivotal documentary film called The Meaning of the 21st Century. It is based on Martin’s titular book and examines the major perils and promises that humanity faces in the 21st century such as climate change, the technological singularity and others.)

Given the relevance of Andrew’s topic and the success of his guest blog post, I decided to ask him to do an interview for Singularity 1 on 1. We ended up having a 46 minute conversation during which we discussed a variety of interesting topics such as: Andrew’s experience as a guest on James Martin’s private island; the story behind, the accuracy and the goals of Crofts’ book The Change Agent; James Martin‘s life and ideas in general and his take on the future of humanity, technology and the singularity in particular.

As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full. To show your support you can write a review on iTunes, make a direct donation or become a patron on Patreon.

Andrew Crofts on Singularity 1 on 1 (full video)

Who is Andrew Crofts?

Andrew Crofts has published more than 80 books over 4o years as an author and ghostwriter, many of which have become international number-one bestsellers. His subject matters and co-authors have ranged from billionaires to bonded laborers, reality television stars to the rulers of medium-sized countries, rock stars to bar girls. He is also a travel writer, a business writer and a published novelist.

Related articles

The Change Agent: Onwards to Utopia or backwards to the Dark Ages?

by

“I’ve just bought an island in Bermuda. You must come out there so we can talk properly.”

James Martin (“Britain’s leading futurologist,” according to The Times), knows how to catch a person’s attention.

Partly because of the imminent arrival of the Singularity, he believes we are entering the greatest transitional phase of human development ever and that by the end of this century we will either have created a global Utopia or we will have catapulted ourselves back into the Dark Ages. So steeped is he in the subject he has become Oxford University’s biggest ever donor by gifting them well in excess of £100-million in seed money to set up the Oxford Martin School to study all the big issues of the 21st Century.

When it comes to creating Utopia Jim is well ahead of the game. Over the last thirty or so years he has roamed the world as a sort of freelance professor, studying, lecturing and writing on technology and the future and has amassed enough of a fortune to create eight acres of ecological paradise on his private island.

Now in his late seventies he is anxious to spread the message outside the relatively closed circles of academia, big business and technology enthusiasts and the invitation was proffered because he wanted an opportunity to convince me that I should write about it.

The resulting book, The Change Agent: How to Create a Wonderful World, is partly the story of how a shy boy from a poor family grew to be in the position that he finds himself today, partly the story of the island and the extraordinary secrets that Jim discovered beneath its rocks and undergrowth, but mainly a series of conversations with the man about the things he has learned and the way he believes the rest of this century is going to pan out now that the Singularity is upon us.

Book Update: The Change Agent is now available on Kindle for just 3.99.

About the Author:

Andrew Crofts – the king of British ghostwriters…. has ghosted a staggering number of books ….Crofts has spent a lot of time thinking about the nature of ghostwriting – what it takes to find another person’s voice … a one-man word factory. (Helen Brown, Daily Telegraph)

Related Articles:

James Martin’s The Meaning of the 21st Century

James Martin’s The Meaning Of The 21st Century

by

Last night me and Julie watched James Martin‘s documentary The Meaning Of The 21st Century. The movie is based on his titular book and is aimed to provide what James calls A Vital Blueprint for Ensuring Our Future.

In his 1 hour documentary Martin catalogues all the major perils and promises that humanity faces in the 21st century. In addition, he doesn’t forgo issues arising from advances in the fields of artificial intelligence, genetics, robotics and nanotechnology, or interviewing other futurists, scientists, inventors, singularitarians and transhumanists such as Ray Kurzweil, Hugo de Garis, Nick Bostrom and others.

The video is narrated by Michael Douglas and I think it is worth watching.

Synopsys:

We are at an extraordinary crossroads of human history. Our actions, or failure to act, during the next 20 years will determine the fate of the Earth and human civilization for centuries to come. This is a make-or-break century.

Humanity’s demands for affluence are growing rapidly. If we are able to make the planet work, as shown in this film, we face a magnificent future. If we fail, we could be headed for a new Dark Age.

Long Trailer:

You can watch the full movie by clicking here.

Related articles