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The Users Guide to the Future #1 – Designing for Flood Resilience in a Wetter World

We’ll be seeing more, heavier rain and coastal erosion. How can we prepare to meet these risks – to keep ourselves and homes safe?

We listened to some of the world’s leading climate scientists – including Australian of the Year Tim Flannery – to learn all about the future of precipitation, then spoke with a leading architect on how to make our homes resilient in floods – and even a storm surge!

Our great guests in this episode were:

Fellow futurist and friend Sally Dominguez;

UNSW climate scientist Professor Steven Sherwood;

Monash University climate scientist Professor Christian Jakob;

Brisbane architect James Davidson.

Tim Flannery has an amazing new book coming out – The Climate Cure shows us what the COVID-19 pandemic can teach us about how to take some necessary steps to manage our climate.

The Users Guide to the Future was produced in partnership with GIO.

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Episode 4.05 FEEDING TWICE THE PEOPLE ON HALF THE LAND

Planetary limits on farming will accelerate a post-meat future. Are plants the only path, or can we grow meat without raising animals? And what does it mean for food when we can grow any meat we want to eat in a brewer’s vat? We explore the sustainability of raising animals for meat with Main Sequence General Partner Phil Morle, and v2Food CEO Nick Hazell, then take a look at a whole new method of ‘cultured meat’ – growing it in vats – with VOW Food CEO George Peppou.

Some documents and facts referenced in this episode:

The EAT-Lancet report on food sustainability referenced by Nick Hazell.

A great article from The Guardian on water, food production, and waste.

Water footprints of various crops.

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Episode 4.04 FAKE MEAT IS VERY REAL

Now that we can make “meat” from plants that people prefer to animals – what will we choose to eat?  v2Food’s ‘Rebel’ Whopper charts that journey – from soybean to burger patty – via a lot of science, a blind taste test, and an ignored email.

Our cast of characters:

Jack Cowin is the self-made billionaire founder of Hungry Jacks;

Phil Morle is a General Partner in Main Sequence Ventures, the CSIRO-backed venture capital fund;

Nick Hazell is the CEO of v2Food;

Skye Anderson is the head of product development at v2Food – and knows more about the Whopper’s patty than any other person in Australia!

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THE NEXT BILLION CARS Episode 11 – The Next Billion Bubbles

Physical distancing makes personal transportation a necessity. When public transport risks infection, cars & bikes become our safe spaces. Co-host Sally Dominguez looks at the sudden reframing of the automobile as self-contained ‘safe space’ during the pandemic. Special correspondent Drew Smith rhapsodises about the Renault Espace, the first MPV designed – to carry people.

1984 Renault Espace

Be sure to sign up for Drew Smith’s “Looking Out” newsletter – grab it here.

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Episode 4.02 – SUDDEN FUTURES

We saw more change in March & April of 2020 than in the rest of our lives. How has the pandemic accelerated our journey into the future? We ask four guests from series 2 and 3 – John Robb talks about the ‘black swans’ revealed within the pandemic; Fiona Kerr explores the ways we need technology to connect – and the price we’re paying for our lack of physical contact; Ramez Naam looks at how the crash in the price of crude oil has accelerated the transition to a decarbonised economy; and Tiffany Shlain reminds us that in a world where we all want to be connected, a ‘Digital Sabbath’ is more important than ever!

John Robb is the author of “Brave New War” and shares his thoughts on the more-vital-than-ever ‘Global Guerillas‘ blog.

Fiona Kerr runs the NeuroTech Institute.

Ramez Naam guides, advises and invests in clean energy.

Tiffany Shlain is a filmmaker and author of the bestseller “24/6”

Author mpescePosted on 1 Comment on Episode 4.01 – INFECTED BY BIG BROTHER

Episode 4.01 – INFECTED BY BIG BROTHER

For a century, public health officials have contained pandemics by tracing outbreaks. COVIDsafe promises to do this – can we trust it?

How does contact tracking work? And did host Mark Pesce almost accidentally invent Bluetooth contact tracking during some experimenting back in 2005?

Dr. Genevieve Bell offers insights into the history of contact tracing – and how old ideas about sickness can be baked into the newest of our technologies.

Dr. Bell recently wrote a long and clear article on this topic for TECHNOLOGY REVIEW.

Toward the end of 2005, Mark Pesce did some ‘pinging’ of Bluetooth devices from his mobiles, and learned that a lot of other Bluetooth mobiles would answer his pings. He wrote it up in a paper:

Telephone Repair HandbookDownload

The following year, working with artist John Tonkin, they created ‘Bluestates‘ – using Bluetooth contact tracking to generate ‘social graphs’ – maps of who associated with who – for ISEA 2006 in San Jose California. It got a fair bit of attention at the time, including a review in The New York Times. Here’s a short movie of how John Tonkin visualised the contact tracking data Mark Pesce gathered:

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Betabank Episode 6 – THE BUSINESS OF BETABANKING

Banks are not like other businesses. Starting them, funding them and running them – it’s all quite different from your run of the mill software-as-a-service technology startup. In a live event at Stone & Chalk Sydney, co-hosts Andrew Davis & Mark Pesce talk to four neobank founders about what it takes to launch a neobank – and succeed.

Our amazing panelists are:

Dominic Pym, co-founder UP Banking;
Rob Bell, CEO of 86 400;
Simon Costello, co-founder of Frankie Financial;
Alex Twigg, CIO of Judo Bank.

Big thanks to the Stone & Chalk team for making this happen!

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