GNR Investor

My Inspiration

geoffrey — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 04:17:06 +0000

I remember watching a Larry King interview back sometime in 2006, and I realized two things that struck me as particulary bizarre – well three things if you cound the fact that I was intrigued and could not seem to change the channel as I normally would be quick to do if I flicked to a Larry King interview. The first was that I did not recognize the man that was being interviewed. He did not appear to be a celebrity of any kind which is standard Larry King fare, and I assumed at first that he might have been some under-my-radar US politician. The second thing that was bizarre was that he was talking about a multitude of futuristic technologies, in particular artificial intelligence. It was his contention that it was only a matter of ‘when’ (and not a matter of ‘if’), that computers would be smarter than humans. When I heard this at first I thought this must be some kind of joke, or that this guy was another 21st century doomsday philoshopher who still slept in his Terminator PJs and had Matrix posters in his bedroom.
But when I listened to him speak a little longer, I realized that he was different than any person I had ever hear speak about such topics. Beyond that first interview I had to find out more about this person, and since then I have come to personally regard him as the smartest person on the planet. His name is Ray Kurzweil.

The goal of this post is not to be a Kurzweil biography (there are countless other sources that do that in detail), although if you have never heard about him, you will learn something about him in this post. Rather, I would like to share how coming to know about this man, his work, and his theories and most relevant to this site, his predictions have impacted my life and my dreams.

I had been less skeptical of Kurzweil’s words that first time I saw him because he seemed to posess this quiet confidence and matter of factness in the way he spoke that could only come from someone who had a domain of expertise – his being artificial intelligence.
As someone who has a bit of a background in computer science and what software can accomplish, I was amazed to learn that Kurzweil had been the brains behind some of the most important software breakthroughs including the first scanner, test to speech synthesizer, and digital keyboards that reproduced sound indistinguishable from live grand pianos. Let me give you a bit of background. Throughout the age of computing, if we have been able to define certain behavior with rigid rules (like math), we can be reasonably sure that it can be virtualized in a computer (like a calculator).
We have been able to get computers to perform tasks that we are not very good at; remembering things, calculating things and logical reasoning (we reason better than any animal, but frequently our emotions interfere with sound rational thought). Things that we do really well and take for granted are exceptionally difficult to replicate in a machine; socializing, navigating our physical environment and pattern recognition.

Inception

geoffrey — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 02:17:36 +0000

Welcome to GNR Investor.

The Genetics-Nanotechnology-Robotics (GNR) Revolution is upon us and is already transforming our lives, albeit not in front of our very eyes. On one level, narrow applications of these technologies have already crept into consumer level products without mainstream awareness. On a deeper level, these technologies have incredible potential and will be integral in solving humanity’s biggest challenges in the coming years (Climate change, Sustainable Energy, Starvation, Infectious Disease). One of GNR Investor’s objectives is to help readers imagine a future full of GNR applications, and we want to provide inspiration to young thinkers and entrepeneurs to expand the possibilities.

Creating breakthroughs in GNR technologies are research and capital intensive endeavors, often taking place in university research environments or organizations with large R&D departments. Enterprises hoping to deliver the next paradigm can expect a significant period of unprofitability before a viable product can be brought to market or indeed feasibility can be reasonably determined.

While the potential returns are great, capital markets to support these enterprises are currently very limited and restricted to mostly private interests (Venture Capital, Private Equity). The problem with this is twofold. First, the relative power wielded by these private investors is large enough to place a significant burden on the entrepreneurs so as to divert their attention from the important technical aspects of their work in order to satisfy the private investors’ covenants. Second, the extraordinary potential of these technologies and their need for capital investment is too large to be satisfied only by private investors. What the VC model does understand well is that only a small number of startups will be successful and generate returns, and that a greater number will not. It is important for the success of these technologies that the public be able participate in the risks and rewards earlier in their developments. An increased number of market participants in turn increases the amount of capital for investment and the number of startups that can be financed and given autonomy in their operations, and therefore the likelihood that technologies will be developed quicker rather than later. After all it is all of humanity that stands to benefit from these technologies.

The main goals of this blog are to discuss the current state of financing for GNR related projects and enterprises including methods, participants, stakeholders, governance and shortcomings, as well as to start a dialogue as to how current methods of financing can be improved and expanded so as to include the public earlier and reduce the proportion of private investment. Also, this blog will serve as a source of information as to what investment opportunities may exist for individuals or institutions who wish to participate in the risks and rewards of the GNR revolution.

Thanks for stopping by! I assure you this will be an exciting ride.