Tim Ventura Interviews

Is today's smartwatch tomorrow's brain implant? Startup founder Amal Graafstra discusses the evolution of wearables & implants - and how they could change the nature of human thought & communication. Amal Graafstra is a book author, TEDx speaker, and CEO of biohacking companies Dangerous Things and VivoKey Technologies. Amal has various RFID and NFC implants in his body that open doors, start vehicles, unlocks his smartgun, and logs into computers. Prior to his current roles, Amal’s experience includes numerous exective & IT-related roles at firms including Walletmor, Everfind, the medical biotech company Morpheus, Atomic Mobile, Silicon Energy, and more. He joins us today to discuss the intersection of information technology & medicine with a focus on the future of identity and security management. LINKS & RESOURCES: Vivokey Technologies https://vivokey.com/ Dangerous Things Biohacking https://dangerousthings.com/ Neuralink https://neuralink.com/ Amal Graafstra at TEDxSFU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DxVWhFLI6E Amal Graafstra (Personal Website) https://amal.net/

Joe Frankie III discusses 21st century career management using LinkedIn for networking & career improvement, along with principles of time management, goal setting & milestones, inflation-adjusted salaries, and more. Joe Frankie III is a West Point graduate, combat veteran, award-winning author, and more. As CEO at JFIII Associates, he coaches professionals from all walks of life on maximizing their careers, as well as mentoring business executives & transitioning military personnel. Joe also works in a consulting capacity to help companies build better teams, and brings 40 years of experience and leadership on projects up to $8 billion in budget and with as many as 53,000 associate headcounts. LINKS & RESOURCES: Joe Frankie III (LinkedIn) https://www.linkedin.com/in/joefrankieiii/ LinkedIn: The 5-Minute Drill (Book) https://jfiiiassociates.com/5-minute-drill/ Joe Frankie III (Twitter) https://twitter.com/JoeFrankieiii JFIII Associates (Homepage) https://jfiiiassociates.com/

Ph.D. candidate Steven Firth discusses extraterrestrial first contact, the cultural & psychological differences that could lead to hostility, and provides key axioms to help avoid it. This presentation is based on his paper, “An Assay on Axioms of First Contact”. Firth also describes distal (SETI) and proximal (UAP) scenarios for first contact, and how differences in distance, technological advancement, and other key factors could potentially affect situational outcomes. He also describes the potential for a "Hobbesian Trap", and provides game-theory analysis on potential risks and benefits of a first strike by either side. In this presentation, a Hobbesian Trap can be compared to the US/USSR cold war in the 20th century, with the exception of different benefit/cost weightings in the game theory matrix describing first contact hostilities. Steven has a Bachelors and Master’s in Philosophy from the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada, and for the last 6 years has been a PhD candidate in Philosophy through the University of Helsinki. Steven’s work includes research into practical applications of the Picture Theory of Disability, experience teaching philosophy, logic, and research methodologies at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology as part of the CORE Education Program, and volunteer work as an awareness advocate for cancer screening and early detection. LINKS & RESOURCES An Assay on Axioms of First Contact https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4358759

Dr. Steven Benner discusses the possibility of microbial life on Mars and the role panspermia may have played in seeding it across the solar system. This discussion is based on Dr. Benner's Nov. 2022 presentation, "The Case for Extant Life on Mars", from the 25th Annual International Mars Society Convention. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMgIOVXQ_sI Dr. Steven Benner is known for his work in synthetic biology, including creating in the lab DNA that might be found in alien life forms, "Jurassic Park" experiments that resurrect proteins from ancient Earth life, and generating COVID test kits that were used in India, Europe, and the US, among many other contributions. Dr. Benner has been a professor at Harvard University, ETH Zurich, and the University of Florida where he was the V.T. & Louise Jackson Distinguished Professor of Chemistry. In 2005, he founded The Westheimer Institute of Science and Technology (TWIST) and the Foundation For Applied Molecular Evolution. Benner has also founded the companies EraGen Biosciences and Firebird BioMolecular Sciences LLC. Benner and his colleagues were the first to synthesize a gene, beginning the field of synthetic biology. He was instrumental in establishing the field of paleogenetics. He is interested in the origin of life and the chemical conditions and processes needed to produce RNA. Benner has worked with NASA to develop detectors for alien genetic materials, using the definition of life developed by the NASA Exobiology Discipline Working Group in 1992, “a self-sustaining chemical system capable of Darwinian evolution”. Dr. Benner has a BA & MS in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale, and a PhD in Chemistry from Harvard, and has been awarded over a dozen awards and honors related to his research. LINKS & RESOURCES: FFAME (Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution) http://www.ffame.org/ Dr. Steven Benner (Wikipedia) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_A._Benner Steven Benner - The Case for Extant Life on Mars https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMgIOVXQ_sI Life, The Universe & The Scientific Method http://www.ffame.org/downloads/LifeUniverseMethodlookInside.pdf How can crops be grown on Mars? These plants are the key - study https://www.jpost.com/science/article-715125 Farming on Mars: Treatment of basaltic regolith soil and briny water simulants sustains plant growth https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0272209 Martian soil (Perchlorates) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_soil Mars' atmosphere: Facts about composition and climate https://www.space.com/16903-mars-atmosphere-climate-weather.html

Prof. Nick Colosimo wants to write messages of "love, life & remembrance" on the lunar surface to last millions of years. We discuss his new MoonXcribe startup and the long-term effects of space radiation & micrometeorites on lunar artifacts. Professor Nick Colosimo is an accomplished strategist, engineer, technologist and futurist. He leads technology strategy within the aerospace, space, and defense industry and is a visiting Professor at Cranfield University, assigned to the Autonomous and Cyber-Physical Systems Centre. Nick has a Master’s of Science in Applied Artificial Intelligence from Cranfield University, a 1st Class honors degree in Applied Physics and several other graduate and post-graduate qualifications. He has nearly 100 published, granted, and classified patents across a wide array of disciplines in the aerospace, space, energy, and computing sectors. LINKS & RESOURCES: MoonXcribe Homepage https://www.moonxcribe.com/ WHAT HAPPENED TO THE FLAGS ON THE MOON? https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/what-happened-to-the-flags-on-the-moon Footprints and flags on moon won't last forever https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna44429642 Apollo 11 carried a message of peace to the Moon … but Neil and Buzz almost forgot to leave it behind https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/apollo-11-carried-a-message-of-peace-to-the-moon-but-neil-and-buzz-almost-forgot-to-leave-it-behind