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Dr. Peter H. Diamandis

Engineer and physician Dr. Peter H. Diamandis is a pioneer in the fields of innovation, incentive competitions, commercial space, and human longevity. A serial entrepreneur, he has founded or co-founded 12 organizations. His ventures aim to explore the universe, transform industries, and solve humanity’s greatest challenges. He believes that “the best way to predict the future is to create it yourself.”

Diamandis first gained national attention with his XPRIZE Foundation, which in 2004 awarded $10 million to past Forum speaker Burt Rutan for developing a successful private passenger-carrying spaceship. In the years since, XPRIZE has awarded five other prizes to incentivize the creation of world-changing technologies. Winning groups have designed super-efficient cars, health sensors, and precise small rocket systems; developed innovative oil cleanup solutions; and improved our understanding of ocean acidification. Diamandis governs the organization alongside such notable trustees as Elon Musk (Tesla), Larry Page (Google), and Ray Kurzweil (author and inventor). Fortune named him one of the “World’s 50 Greatest Leaders” in 2014 for his work with the organization.

With prominent geneticist J. Craig Venter, Diamandis founded Human Longevity, Inc. (HLI), a genomics and cell therapy-based diagnostic and wellness company focused on extending the healthy human lifespan. HLI is building the world’s most comprehensive database of human genotypes and phenotypes in order to research the genetic foundations of age-related human biological decline.

In the field of commercial space, Diamandis co-founded Planetary Resources, Space Adventures, and Zero-Gravity

Corporation to achieve his mission of opening the space frontier for humanity.

Diamandis’ graduate-level institution, Singularity University, studies exponentially growing technologies and their ability to transform industries. The university provides educational programs and a startup accelerator to teach individuals, organizations, investors, and governments how to utilize these technologies to positively impact billions of people.

Diamandis is the New York Times bestselling author of Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think and BOLD: How to Go Big, Create Wealth, and Impact the World. A frequent speaker for Fortune 100 companies, heads of state, and global conferences, he is a leading voice in technology and innovation.

Born in the Bronx, New York, to Greek immigrants, Diamandis showed an early interest in space exploration, winning a rocket-design competition at age 12. He earned an undergraduate degree in molecular genetics and a graduate degree in aerospace engineering from MIT. He received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School.

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Exponential Change: Moore’s Law and Abundance

According to Moore’s Law, first posited by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore in 1965, “the number of transistors per integrated circuit will double approximately every 18-24 months.”

The implication of this phenomenon is that our technology grows at an exponential rate. Computer processing that once required a room full of complex machinery in the 1960s can now be carried out by a device that fits in a pocket.

On top of the technological advancements, the rapid expansion of circuit capabilities leads to reduced production costs and thus more opportunities for growth, which further compounds the rate of change.

Pyramid of Abundance

In his book Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think, Peter Diamandis takes the concepts of Moore’s Law and

applies them to extrapolate his vision of the future:

“...A world of nine billion people [that] have clean water, nutritious food, personalized education, top-tier medical

care, and non-polluting, ubiquitous energy.”

With the current rate of growth, a future of abundance, once deemed impossible, can

become a reality. Modeled after Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Diamandis’

Pyramid of Abundance shows the building blocks for that future.

ABUNDANCEhealth and freedom

CATALYSTS FOR GROWTHabundant energy, ample educational opportunities, access to ubiquitous communications and information

FUNDAMENTALS OF LIFEfood, water, and shelter

Source: Singularity is Near/Ray Kurzweil

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Source: Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think/Peter Diamandis

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XPRIZE FoundationAn XPRIZE competition is “a highly leveraged, incentivized prize competition that pushes the limits of what’s possible—to change the world for the better.”

Self-described as an innovation engine and facilitator of exponential change, the XPRIZE Foundation believes that the best way to find solutions to humanity’s biggest challenges is to set audacious but achievable goals that will attract the greatest minds from around the world.

Peter Diamandis, Founder and Executive Chairman, leads the organization alongside such pioneers as Anousheh and Amir Ansari, James Cameron, Arianna Huffington, Ray Kurzweil, Elon Musk, and Larry Page. To date, XPRIZE has awarded six prizes for contests in suborbital spaceflight, automotive efficiency, oil cleanup, rocket system design, health care sensor design, and ocean health.

Ansari XPRIZE: To build a reliable, reusable, privately financed, manned spaceship capable of carrying three people to 100 kilometers above the Earth’s surface twice within two weeks.

The Ansari XPRIZE propelled the Foundation into the headlines when it awarded $10 million in 2004 to Burt Rutan and his winning team of Mojave Aerospace Ventures for developing SpaceShipOne (right). The prize catalyzed today’s $2 billion private space industry from a $2.5 million investment by the competing teams.

troutman.com Troutman Sanders LLP

Making a difference.Troutman Sanders is pleased to support The Richmond Forum and the 2017-18 season, which features speakers who exhibit courage, commitment and leadership.

From left: Rob McEwen, James Cameron, Peter Diamandis, Elon Musk, and Jim Gianopulos float in the Avatar Zero-G Experience to support XPRIZE. Photo: McEwen Mining.

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Human Longevity, Inc.Human Longevity, Inc. (HLI) was co-founded by Peter H. Diamandis, M.D., and J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., with the goal of giving universal access to the power of data-driven health intelligence and expanding the potential for longer, healthier human lifespans. HLI uses state-of-the-art DNA sequencing and a multidisciplinary team of research scientists, computing experts, and physicians to change medicine and healthcare to a more efficient, data-driven science.

Its database of genomic and phenotypic information is the largest such collection in the world. This enables HLI to compile and analyze the genetic data to reach meaningful insights to accelerate the pace of healthcare, aiming to transform medicine from a reactive practice to one that is proactive, preventative, and personalized.

HLIQ Whole Genome

HLIQ Whole Genome analysis is a physician-ordered comprehensive report that compares every letter of a patient’s DNA with the world’s largest database of sequenced genomes and phenotypic information. The report gives more complete insights into the patient’s health, potential genetic health risks, and an opportunity to proactively address health issues.

Health NucleusHLI’s clinical research center uses the latest advancements in genomics, including DNA sequencing and proprietary magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technologies to analyze and evaluate health assessments. The approach provides a fuller picture of an individual’s health to determine a proactive plan forward.

Open SearchHLI’s Open Search provides researchers with access to data from over 10,000 genomes. It enables physicians and researchers from around the world to more broadly understand human genetic diversity and quickly search through HLI’s invaluable genetic database.

Source: Human Longevity, Inc.

Peter Diamandis with J. Craig Venter (right). Photo: Howard Lipin/U-T San Diego.

HLI: Expanding the Human Lifespan

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owens-minor.com

Owens & Minor is proud to support The Richmond Forum and their 2017-2018 speaker series.

CONNECT WITH US

Together, we make healing happen.SM

170901-RichmondForum2017-18_HalfPg.indd 1 8/10/17 9:32 AM

Singularity UniversityDiamandis co-founded Singularity University (SU) in 2008 with Dr. Ray Kurzweil. The university provides educational programs and a startup accelerator to teach individuals, organizations, investors,

and governments how to utilize exponentially growing technologies to transform industries and positively impact billions of people.

The university’s programs are 3-day to 10-week intensives that take place either on its campus in Mountain View, California, or online.

Global Solutions Program: SU’s flagship 10-week intensive is a residential experience that brings together “dreamers and inspired solvers” to engage with exponential technologies and create industry-changing solutions.

Graduates of the program have helped launch companies that have, among other accomplishments, done 3D printing in space, used drones to deliver goods in low-income countries, and leveraged machine learning to predict dengue outbreaks in Rio de Janeiro.

Creating abundance is not about creating a life of luxury for everybody on this planet; it’s about creating a life of possibility.

–Peter Diamandis

HLI: Expanding the Human Lifespan

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Where Sci-Fi Got It Right

Source: futurism.com | tested.com

Moon Travel: Jules Verne, From The Earth to The Moon (1865)

Verne describes the launch of a rocket to the moon from Florida

in an aluminum capsule, including accurate calculations for

the energy needed to leave the Earth’s atmosphere.

Credit Cards: Edward Belamy, Looking Backward (1888)

In Looking Backward, “universal credit” allows people to spend

money from a central bank using a card payment system.

Video Chat: Hugo Gernsback, Ralph 124c 41+ (1911)

The “telephot” in Ralph 124c 41+ allows people to see one

another while speaking across distances, akin to today’s

Skype or FaceTime.

Nuclear Warfare: Robert Heinlein,

“Solution Unsatisfactory” (1940)

The United States ends World War II with an atomic

weapon and the world follows into a nuclear arms

race in “Solution Unsatisfactory.”

Surveillance State:

George Orwell, 1984 (1949)

“Orwellian” is now synonymous with a

1984-style dystopia filled with constant

surveillance by a web of CCTV cameras.

Earbuds: Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 (1953)

The characters who inhabit the world of Fahrenheit 451 wear “little

seashells” in their ears that produce an “electronic ocean of sound.”

Electric Cars: John Brunner, Stand on Zanzibar (1969)

Brunner depicts an America in the year 2010

filled with rechargeable electric cars.