From the TED conference, Juan Enriquez gave an interesting talk in February that cast the current U.S. financial crisis in light of an impending, massive technological revolution. The theme was rebooting: the economy needs a reboot, and it needs to come in the form of technological leadership. In turn, intensely disruptive technology will soon reboot humanity itself.
Although massive cutbacks are the trend of the day, given the “flames of the crisis”, Enriquez noted that venture-backed start-up companies make up 0.02% of U.S. GDP investment, but provide 17.8% of it’s output. So we must continue to invest in research and development, which spins-off these start-up companies. It will save the economy and help define the future.
In his talk, Enriquez goes over numerous examples of game-changing technological developments, including advancements in cellular engineering, tissue regrowth, and robotics. If you are not interested in the economic angle, the Singularity Hub posted an edited version that has just the technological half of the talk. However, the full version is worth watching (18 min):
I wish that the Canadian government realized the value of basic research. It’s 2009 budget cut research funding by $158 million, in order to help fund "shovel-ready" infrastructure projects. While the new buildings will be welcome, cutting research funding is incredibly short-sighted!
