The TOA Speaker Guide 2018: The University Dropout Saving The Planet; An Artist Selling His Blood As Blockchain & The Storyteller Telling Frankenstein’s Monster’s Tale Through AI
If the future sometimes feels more concerning than hopeful — you know, robots stealing jobs, the potential for hackers to hijack elections, the probability that one day we’ll have to submit to our AI overlords — then you should visit Tech Open Air this year. Counterintuitive, right? But our festival’s mission is to make you future-proof.
We’ve identified four topics that should be at the top of your mind this year and reached out to some of the sharpest individuals working in those fields to deliver life-changing talks. So who’s talking at TOA 2018? Read on for a few selected speakers.
AI & Machine Learning
Whether you’ve been following Sophia the Robot on Twitter, enjoyed an AI system’s first poem or read The Cut’s take on dating male sex robots, you’ve probably spent some time obsessing over artificial intelligence this year. Get set for further food for thought! Some of the biggest names in the field will address how machine learning will affect everything from computing to medicine to storytelling.
Quantum Computing, A World Of Endless Impossibilities
Whurley (Strangeworks)
At this year’s SXSW, whurley announced the launch of his startup Strangeworks. The startup makes software for quantum computing — a form of computing which harnesses the fact that subatomic particles can “exist in more than one state at any time,” and which, also according to Wired, means they’re more energy-efficient than the average computer you’re used to. In his TOA talk, whurley will explain why quantum computing isn’t just a possibility, it’s an inevitable next step that will forever change the computing landscape and potentially the balance of international power.
Deep Learning For Medical Imaging
Lily Peng (Google)
Can non-human intelligence push us to a whole new level when it comes to medicine? That’s the question Google’s Product Manager will be answering this year, outlining how deep learning optimized for images has been able to diagnose medical conditions like cancer and cardiovascular risk at a comparable accuracy to a human expert.
Creative Strategy For Emergent Storytelling
Rachel Ginsberg, Frankenstein AI
One of the success stories at this year’s Sundance was Frankenstein AI: A Monster Made by Many, a reimagining of the classic Mary Shelley tale with a modern twist. Instead of Frankenstein’s monster being the green faced, bolt-headed figure we’ve been used to, it uses three immersive acts which according to Indiewire, appealed to the audience for their own memories and stories and which recasts the monster as a wholly different life form — an AI.
So who better to tackle why creative strategy is so essential to storytelling than one of the transmedia work’s creators? Ginsberg will use Frankenstein AI as a case study while explaining what emergent storytelling is and why it’s so vital.
Blockchain
When even the UK government is examining the possibilities of blockchain, you know it’s hit the mainstream. So embrace the exciting possibilities of the decentralized technology and stop by Studio 2 on June 20th for a whole day of talks on the subject.
Are Blockchains Alive? Emergent Organisms In A Decentralizing World
Amanda Gutterman (ConsenSys)
Gutterman isn’t just the Chief Marketing Officer of blockchain software technology company ConsenSys, she’s also the co-creator of the “SXSW of blockchain,” the festival Ethereal. So she’s definitely got the expertise to explore the way emergent blockchain systems mirror patterns in nature. But what does this mean for the future of the technology and the human organizations growing around it? Come by and find out.
Kevin Abosch (Studio Kevin Abosch)
After selling his photo ‘Potato #345’ for a million euros and making headlines round the globe, conceptual artist Kevin Abosch told The New York Times that he felt “the focus shifts from the artistic value to monetary value of the work, and for most artists the art is an extension of the artist, so you yourself start to feel commodified. In order to sort of control that, I began to think of myself as a coin.”In January this year, the Irish artist made good on the metaphor, using his own blood to tokenize himself on the Ethereum blockchain in the form of 10 million works of virtual art. He’ll discuss this process and what happened next at Tech Open Air.
Julian Zawistowski (Golem)
Bitcoin Magazine describes Zawistowski’s startup Golem as “Airbnb for computers” which is a neat parallel — just like you can rent out your flat, it allows users to “rent out their unused computing power”, though you’ll earn a profit in cryptocurrency, not euros. This makes Zawistowski a shoo-in for discussing how trust can no longer be the basis for the proper functioning of an institution, since it’s tricky to trust in internet strangers and a brave new form of currency. He argues that by decentralizing systems within and outside institutions, that we’ll move towards a brighter, more transparent and better functioning future.
Mathew Dryhurst
Crypto has a culture problem, which threatens to jeopardise the viability of the project at large. There are resilient and deep subcultural communities on the margins that may provide the best immediate test cases for blockchain technology and decentralised consensus systems, and are being overlooked in favour of flawed legacy industries. The Berlin-based artist and musician will discuss how if the crypto community wants to deliver on its transformative promise, it would do well to expand its vision, and put their tokens where their mouth is.
A New Technology Stack? Introducing the Internet Computer
Dominic Williams (Dfinity)
Williams is the founder of Dfinity, an Andreessen Horowitz-backed blockchain project which Fortune describes as aspiring “to challenge Amazon Web Services”. Given this, it’s hard to think of anyone better qualified to teach audiences about a decentralized alternative to traditional cloud hosting. This session will cover the Internet Computer and how to build decentralized apps on the next generation of cloud hosting using the WebAssembly virtual machine (developed alongside Apple, Google, Microsoft, Mozilla), enabling compatibility with all major programming languages.
Design
You don’t need to make clothes or care about interiors for design to be important — something design thinking proponent Google X’s Doug Wightman can testify to. Good thinking about design often translates to a way of thinking about problem solving. As such, anyone who cares about making their business or product more efficient should start here.
Designing for Natural Interfaces
Kaave Pour (SPACE10)
IKEA’s Copenhagen-based innovation lab works on everything from exploring how co-living could solve problems like the high cost of living in cities and loneliness to the unpacking the dizzying potential of vertical farming (growing crops within high rise urban buildings). As such, get very excited for SPACE10's creative director to address two vital design questions, namely what will happen when everyone and everything on the planet is digitally connected? And what will it mean when artificial intelligence can sense and learn from the world around us? He argues we can use natural design to create a better experience around data and improve our everyday life.
Understanding Understanding: Applying Empathy to Design Thinking
Michael Ventura (Sub Rosa)
Ventura works as an adjunct professor at Princeton University in design thinking and he’s also the founder of Sub Rosa, a multidisciplinary studio that Wired referred to as “a veritable Swiss Army knife of producers, designers, architects and more.” Here he’ll be talking about Applied Empathy — a design thinking approach to leadership and problem solving that uses a variety of perspective-broadening techniques. From helping General Electric reinvent their mammography business to leading the launch of Nike’s Hyperfeel product, Sub Rosa’s empathic approach has consistently delivered powerful results for brands. This talk will offer practical tools that improve your relationships with your teams, your customers, and ultimately, with yourself.
How Ego Gets in the Way of Good Design
Adam Perlis (Academy UX & Design Thinking Consultancy)
Creative director and Academy founder Adam Perlis knows, ooh, a little bit about design. He’s overseen the redesign of media giants like TIME, Fortune and Money.com and his award-winning work has been featured on Awwwards, The FWA, and TechCrunch. At TOA 2018, he’ll be delving into how hard it is to admit when you’re in the wrong and will examine the societal, cultural and mental influences that hamper your decision-making abilities. Get set to learn how Design Thinking can help you transcend your desire to be right by adopting a people-first perspective that can lead to better decisions, effective teams, and successful products.
Social Impact
The AFD won seats in the Bundestag. Trump’s sitting in the White House. The far right is calling the shots in Italy. In lots of ways, the world is going to hell in a handcart. Thankfully, these entrepreneurs are on hand to remind us that it’s still possible to make the communities around you happier places.
The Road to the Largest Cleanup in History
Boyan Slat (The Ocean Cleanup)
The 23-year-old student European Entrepreneur of the Year dropped out of university to pursue a dream bigger than aerospace engineering: clearing the world’s oceans of plastic pollution. He’ll be discussing his plans to remove all plastic from the oceans by 2050.
The Biggest Opportunity Silicon Valley Is Missing
Arlan Hamilton (Backstage Capital)
According to Fast Company, as of June 2018, Hamilton’s investment firm Backstage Capital has invested in “100 companies with at least one founder who is a woman, person of color, or LGBTQ.” They note this poses a contrast with the industry as a whole, in which “startups led by women accounted for just 2% of the $1.9 billion in venture dollars raised last year” (this figure becomes even lower for founders of colour or LGBTQ founders). During this fireside, we’ll cover Arlan’s unique investment hypothesis and why the fund she just announced is going to change the game forever.
All Companies Should Be Social Enterprises
Anisah Osman Britton (23 Code Street)
Osman Britton is the twenty-something founder of 23 Code Street, a coding school with one big difference — for every paying student, they teach digital skills “to a woman in the slums of India.” In her TOA talk, she’ll be posing some important questions: How will companies be structured to avoid creating inequalities in an increasingly decentralised society? Should we require private companies to have a social responsibility? What if all companies were social enterprises?
Investing in “Wakanda” Will Produce the Next Big Ideas
Aaron Walker (Camelback Ventures)
According to blackenterprise.com, Camelback Ventures is a “fellowship that aims to address the inequities of education and social innovation by providing coaching, capital, and connections to underrepresented entrepreneurs.” According to Camelback itself, the firm is structured as a non-profit “because we are patient investors; we develop the people and ideas who will create long-term financial and social impact. This process rarely sees an immediate return-on-investment. Therefore, we do not want investors beating down our door for short-term financial returns.”
In this talk, Walker will be arguing that genius is equally distributed, but access is not. He believes we miss out on big ideas that can advance human potential from women and people of color because we investors neglect, underfund and do not build a community around them. This is not only moral failure, it is bad business.
Create to evolve. Rethink to invent. Be aware to sustain.
Yasha Young (URBAN NATION)
Since 2013 URBAN NATION, under the direction of Yasha Young, has invited international luminaries and aspiring talents of Urban Contemporary Art (UCA) to Berlin to show their works within the urban fabric of Berlin: building façades, house walls and shop windows. What would it mean to create a space for an art movement that uses the city as its canvas? We’ll take a closer look at the journey of creating the first museum of its kind, and the global effort to generate the visibility, reach and opportunity required for Urban Contemporary Art to be acknowledged as an art form.
Be the change you want to see in the world. Upcycling the oceans.
Javier Goyeneche (ECOALF)
80% of the plastic that humans produce ends up in the bottom of the oceans. Upcycling the Oceans is a worldwide initiative that has collected more than 250 tons of ocean-dwelling trash and transformed it into stylish clothing and accessories — and one that Goyeneche’s company ECOALF takes part in. Created in 2009, ECOALF makes clothes, footwear and bags from recycled materials such as used plastic bottles, discarded fishing nets, old tires, and coffee grounds.
Written by Sophie Atkinson.
