Future Design Podcast

The COVID19 pandemic is throwing us into the abyss and without a vaccine we are not sure about when we can get back out in society. Yes, you can social distance, hand sanitize, cough into your elbow but what we are seeing here is a complete new normal. New viruses need time to be examined and it's not like you can Google it, snap your fingers and BOOM you have a vaccine. We are gonna be in this situation for a long while. While not killing your anticipation to go back into previous social life, we are  going to be confined until we find measures on how to get back out there.

Dr. Derrick Tin says in the meantime, telehealth is one way to cope with this situation.

You can find about Derrick's business at Alpha Zodiacs https://www.alphazodiac.com/

As long as we're online today, there is a high probability we would have encountered ads that cater to our needs and behaviours - and more often than not, with degrees of accuracy that would make us scratch our heads and wonder;
 
 "How on earth does my computer/smartphone know me so damn well?!"
 
 Welcome to the world of programmatic advertising. With great leaps in AI, advertisers have been able to send out highly targeted ads for products and services you are likely to be interested in without even you asking for them!
 
 On one hand it sounds almost magical and looks like real progress. On the other, it does seem like our privacy and autonomy to choose are no longer in our hands.
 
 On to discuss this much talked about topic is Niraj Nagpal, a specialist in this field and more tellingly, ExchangeWire Ad tech personality of the year for 2019. 

With his dry humour and astute insights, he unravels the business, technology and purpose behind this exciting but somewhat controversial industry.

Guest: Niraj Nagpal (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nirajnagpal/)
                                (https://www.iponweb.com/)

Host: Takatoshi Shibayama (https://www.blockshinesg.com/future-d...)

Creative Producer: Kash Singh (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kash-sing...)

Sound: Dylan Tan (https://www.willdylan.com)

Music: ShowNing (https://www.showningdj.com)

Media and journalism by the introduction of the internet, especially in the recent decade, was brought down its barrier to allow many amateur content creators to flood the market with information of all sorts and styles. During this quarantine lockdown, we are constantly seeing / reading news about the pandemic, whether they are real, fake or somewhere in between.

Teymoor Nabili, a former reporter of BBC, CNBC, Al Jazeera, Channel News Asia, etc, dives into his thoughts on where the future of media production is going.
Now an Executive Producer at Tech for Impact (https://www.techforimpact.asia/)

The next generation will need to "invest into user friendly technology and quality production such that its relate-able to everybody." - (paraphrasing Teymoor)

We have entered the age of artificial intelligence and big data. Businesses, governments and individuals are harnessing the power of data to get a leg up in strategizing and decision making.

As our technology has advanced, so has our accessibility to devices that can deliver information to us at great speed. This ability to be fed information at our beck and call is dramatically changing the ways by which we interact and conduct ourselves in our day to day lives. 

There is however a darker side to it all, that with governments or corporations now having the power to invade our privacy and use our data for commercial or political purposes.

Actionable Intelligence, as Dr Carter explains, is;
"The right information, in the right persons hands, at the right time".

Dr Keith Carter, an associate professor at the NUS School Of Computing  unpacks the various dimensions of the technology itself and its broader ramifications.  

Guest: Keith Carter (https://www.keithbcarter.com/)
Host: Takatoshi Shibayama (https://www.blockshinesg.com/future-d...)
Creative Producer: Kash Singh (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kash-sing...)
Sound/Camera: Dylan Tan (https://www.willdylan.com)
Music: ShowNing (https://www.showningdj.com)

Digital assets, namely Bitcoin, has morphed from an electronic cash system to a store of value like gold. In moments like this, safe haven asset classes are meant to be investor's top choice. Will Bitcoin perform as they are expected to in these turmoil times? 

Matt Dibb, COO of Stack Funds (a long only Bitcoin fund) explains how this digitally shiny new gold is put to test in this volatile markets.

COVID19 has pushed businesses to halt non-essential spending and marketing expenditure has been hit quite hard. Neal Moore shares how businesses can continue marketing but with a different emphasis.

Neal has a 20 year career spanning across TV, publishing, advertising and film in the UK, USA and Asia where he is currently based. In January 2019, he launched Moore's Lore Media (https://www.mooreslore.com/) - Content Strategy & Storytelling Solutions with the goal of helping people and organisations tell better stories for business impact.

Cutting and pasting business models globally obviously doesn't work. Business leaders need to understand that cultural consideration is necessary when landing their business on foreign shores. In respect to Asia, the region is not just one block of the sameness, each country has its own culture, generational preferences and business etiquette. 

Prethika explains in her framework called "TRUST" - Trust, Relationships, Up-close, Shake-up and Talent.

Prethika is a writer with a background in international relations. Her interests lie in political and socioeconomic developments in the Southeast Asian region. She has written articles for some of Asia's top brands including Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Grab among many others.

Guest: Prethika Nair (https://www.linkedin.com/in/prethikanair/)
Host: Takatoshi Shibayama (https://www.blockshinesg.com/future-design-podcast/)
Creative Producer: Kash Singh (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kash-singh-87909625/)
Sound/Camera: Dylan Tan (https://www.willdylan.com)
Music: ShowNing (https://www.showningdj.com)

Guest: Kamil Haque http://www.kamilhaque.com/, https://methodactingasia.com/
Host: Takatoshi Shibayama https://www.blockshinesg.com/future-design-podcast/
Creative Producer: Kash Singh  https://www.linkedin.com/in/kash-singh-87909625/
Sound Capture & Recording: Dylan Tan https://www.willdylan.com
Music: ShowNing https://www.showningdj.com

"The artist is meant to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable."

Those words have held true for generations and as we enter a new era where artists are facing never before seen challenges ranging from socio-political upheavals to technological disruption, the need to disturb the status quo has never been more pressing.

Why was Harvey Weinstein so influential in the movie business and how has the MeToo movement affected behaviour within the industry? Will AI and DeepFake technology spur more creativity in filmmaking? How can actors/artists make themselves more relevant to society? Will the disruptive influence of streaming platforms eventually usurp the big movie theatres and the box office revenue model?

Kamil Haque, a multi-ethnic actor, director, producer and acting coach, discusses some of these hot button topics and unravels what it means to be an actor in this modern age.

Having starred in award-winning productions around the world, he is also the founder of Haque Centre of Acting & Creativity (HCAC), Singapore’s first professional acting studio. His journey began in Los Angeles where he enrolled in the American Music & Drama Academy (AMDA) where he graduated top of his class with a BA (Hons) in Acting.

Following that, he attained the distinction of being the first Singaporean and the only Asian at that time to train and teach at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute (LSTFI). He is currently the only coach in Asia experienced in teaching the Strasberg Method of Acting.

Kamil was also the Head Acting Instructor at East West Players, the USA’s oldest Asian American Theatre group, as well as the role of Global Internship Director at the Company of Angels (CoA), Los Angeles’ oldest repertory theatre company. He is a working observer at The Actor's Studio - the first Singaporean to be given this title. 

To date, Kamil has coached well over 1000 students, many of whom have gone on to star in major Hollywood blockbusters as well as Emmy award winning productions. Like the founding members of the Group Theatre, Kamil hopes to inspire the 'Fervent Years' in the lives of people he meets and works with. 

Guest: Pieter Fourie https://fcl.ethz.ch/people/CoreTeam/PieterFourie.html
                                 https://www.linkedin.com/in/pieter-j-fourie-392b4092/
Host: Takatoshi Shibayama https://www.blockshinesg.com/future-design-podcast/
Creative Producer: Kash Singh  https://www.linkedin.com/in/kash-singh-87909625/
Sound: Dylan Tan https://www.willdylan.com
Music: ShowNing https://www.showningdj.com

“Run for fun? What the hell kind of fun is that?” You may recall when Marty McFly and Doc Emmet Brown went back to 1885, and Doc in a saloon was rambling with the gents about how horse carriages became motorized carriages called automobile, and people just run for fun. Will zero marginal cost and autonomous vehicle usher in a reality where we will just walk for fun?

Dr Pieter Fourie is the project leader of the Engaging Mobility group at FCL. Pieter has more than 10 years experience in agent-based transport simulation and has been an active developer of the open source MATSim project since 2008.
https://fcl.ethz.ch/research/responsive-cities/engaging-mobility.html

He wants to bring these tools into practice, and see simulations used in neighborhood sketch-planning. Pieter obtained his PhD from ETH Zurich while at FCL and received the ETH Medal for his PhD thesis 'Data-driven Transit Simulation'.   

Much of his research deals with the generation of models depicting more realistic populations of households and individuals that are derived from limited and incomplete information. Along with this team he has developed an integrated approach to modelling coordinated activity such as ride-sharing behavior and speeding up agent based transport simulations through meta-modelling techniques.

Guest: Bidushi Bhattacharya (https://www.astropreneurs-hub.com/)
Host: Takatoshi Shibayama (https://www.blockshinesg.com/future-design-podcast/)
Creative Producer: Kash Singh (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kash-singh-87909625/)
Sound/Camera: Dylan Tan (https://www.willdylan.com)
Music: ShowNing (https://www.showningdj.com)

Bidushi says that the new space race is going to be in India and China. However, if we want to explore space, it shouldn’t be a race but something that the human race should be doing united as one, by sharing knowledge, information and resources. Humans have an everlasting hunger for knowledge and we will be pushing the boundaries way beyond Mars and there are so many developments from space pharma to agriculture that are happening to make this possible. 

An ex-NASA scientist-turned-astropreneur, she has three decades experience in spacecraft development and operations, NewSpace startup growth, academic administration, scientific research, and technical writing.She is Founder of Astropreneurs HUB, a Singapore- and US-based startup dedicated to space workforce development through software solutions and sector-related training.

Her previous experience includes over two decades with NASA as a scientist and engineer. She has analyzed and synthesized technical information and played a key role in fostering communication between academic and industrial teams with varying priorities and work cultures, both within the US and overseas. NASA projects have included the Hubble Space Telescope, the Mars Rover Program, the Galileo Mission to Jupiter, the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory, and others.

Dr. Bhattacharya also has experience in higher education research development and established the Office of Sponsored Research for science programs at Claremont McKenna, Pitzer and Scripps Colleges, in Claremont, California, where she increased federal award rates by 67%, and managed $4 million in active grants.Dr. Bhattacharya holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in space physics from the UCLA as well as dual degrees from Rutgers University, a B.S. in mechanical engineering and a B.A. in physics.