As our annual conference approaches in Tucson, Techonomy Media seeks to broaden its scope and impact. We want to further highlight the opportunities and challenges for business in a world being transformed by technology. We need your help as we crowdsource an important brainstorming exercise. We want to figure out more exactly what characteristics make a company tech-savvy, forward-looking, and resilient. We see every industry's dynamics being turned upside down by the Internet, by empowered consumers, by data, and by entrepreneurial insurgents. We say every company ought to be a technology company, and like to talk about "techonomic" companies, but what exactly do you think that means? What is a techonomic company? More
Ray Kurzweil on Using Exponential Thinking to Predict the Future
Next week's Techonomy conference in Tucson, Ariz., will feature Ray Kurzweil, a leading thinker, inventor, and futurist known for his track record of accurate predictions. On November 13 Kurzweil is releasing a new book, How to Create a Mind, which applies neuroscience research to the possibilities of super-intelligence. In this video, recorded in Kurzweil's office near Boston, he talks to Techonomy founder David Kirkpatrick about how his exponential perspective of the future is different than the typical linear perspective. Thinking exponentially, Kurzweil says, has allowed him to predict the future of information technology. More
What Social Media Told Us on Election Day
Tuesday was not only a big win for the Democratic party but also for social media. From campaign organization to mobilization of people to polling stations, Twitter and Facebook drew massive amounts of participation around yesterday's election. Facebook recorded over 9.6 million users who specified that they voted on election day. Of these users, 65% were female voters, and 31% were between the ages of 25 and 34. Meanwhile Twitter witnessed the highest spreading piece of content to ever be recorded on the network. A Tweet that included a photo of the Obama's hugging became the most viral Tweet we've ever seen, gaining over 300,000 retweets within an hour, surpassing @longcat111's long-lasting rule as the most RT'd tweet by a longshot. More
Five Forces Shaping the Future
The 21st century didn’t start in the year 2000. It started in 2010, the same way the 20th century began in 1908 with the advent of the automobile. It became the century of highways and freeways, the century of the auto—the American century. Similarly, if you look at what happened a couple of years ago, there were all kinds of crossover points that happened around the same time: more cell phones than landlines, more laptops than desktops, more debit cards than credit cards, more farmed fish than wild fish, more girls in college than boys. More
Business Digital Techonomy 2012
Why Co-Creation Is Key to Survival in a Trillion-Computer Era
It may not feel like it, but the computer revolution is only getting started. Having one PC or even multiple devices that are like supercomputers in our pocket isn’t the end of the story. It’s the beginning. The Age of Trillions is around the corner. Trillions of computing devices, communicating with each other and with us is a done deal. More
Business Digital Techonomy 2012
Six Ways Organizations Can Survive Until 2100
I am a Techonomist, and this year will be attending my third Techonomy conference. Techonomy explores "the role of technology in business and social progress." I love the word “progress.” It has that gentle flavor of positivism; in the direction of better. I am more and more convinced that we don’t need innovation; we need progress. How is progress reflected in a modern company? What does a 21st century company look like? Or maybe we should start thinking about what a 22nd century company would look like. More
How a Stanford Scientist Used His Genome Data for Preventive Care
The much-heralded $1,000 genome isn't here yet, so if you have easy access to state-of-the-art sequencing technology and you lead a team of genetics experts, it must be pretty tempting to sequence your own genome. Craig Venter famously did it on the sly, and Mike Snyder, director of the Stanford Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine, couldn't resist either. More
Will We Finally Get Serious About Climate Change?
To those of us who believe in science, which includes the rest of the world and apparently no more than half of Americans, it has been painful in recent years to see continued bizarre and destructive weather, even as data clearly suggested climate change is at least partly responsible. Now in the wake of Hurricane Sandy's devastation, experts like Eric Pooley of the Environmental Defense Fund are clearly articulating yet again why we must act. This will be hard politically, because reasonable action will by necessity be global, not just national. We're not too good at that here. Not to mention that many Americans, including powerful politicians, still willfully disregard reality and the likely costs of inaction. This essay by Pooley from The New Republic eloquently underscores the basics. Business Week's cover story entitled It's Global Warming, Stupid! also is a must-read. (Pooley, a great supporter of Techonomy, was my editor at Fortune.) More
Techonomy Media Returns to Tucson, Announces Techonomy 2012
Techonomy Media today announces its annual conference, Techonomy 2012, a unique three-day multidisciplinary gathering at The Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain in Tucson, Arizona, taking place November 11-13, 2012. More
Google Casts a Big Shadow on Smaller Websites
As a go-to search engine and powerful online advertiser, Google has great influence over online consumers. But is this influence illegal? As Google has moved beyond search and search advertising and into online commerce and local reviews, antitrust officials have become suspicious. Regulators in the U.S. and Europe are conducting inquiries into whether Google is using its power to stifle competition—specifically whether the company uses its search engines to favor offerings like Google Shopping and Google Plus Local over rivals. More
