Future Design Podcast

In this episode, I speak with Eugene Wang, CEO of Sophie’s BioNutrients, a Singapore based food biotech company that’s developing large scale facilities to grow alternative protein using micro-algae. 

We have lost nearly three-quarters of our land environment's biodiversity due to industrialized agriculture to raise livestock. Like cell-based protein, this can be produced in a lab but unlike lab-grown food, this can be scaled bigger and faster.

Here are the highlights from this episode;

• How is micro-algae so much more nutrient than most protein sources
• How is micro-algae such an efficient way to grow protein
• How does this compare with plant/cell-based protein
• Why he thinks bio-processing is the way we will grow food in the future
• Why we won’t be compromising our culinary culture with this protein source

Eugene started this business when his daughter, Sophie, suffered an allergic reaction to seafood. Since then he has been finding a way for people to get nutrients from the ocean without using animals. 

Sophie’s Bionutrients is on a mission to unleash the limitless possibilities of nature, restore our planet, and eliminate food allergies by creating plant-based, protein-rich alternatives to meat and seafood using microalgae, the mother of all food and plant life. 

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Guest: Eugene Wang (LinkedIn) Sophie's Bionutrients (Website)
Host: Takatoshi Shibayama (Twitter | LinkedIn)
Music: ShowNing (Website)

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In this episode, I speak with Dr. Betty Kovacs, author of Merchants of Light, about how the ancient civilizations had higher interconnectivity with cosmic consciousness through their shaman-mystic traditions.

Today this consciousness is surfacing once again all around the world.  It is rising out of the dreaming, symbolic, visionary mind that is sensitive to deeper orders of reality and in tune with the creative principles of both the human psyche and the universe. This mode of consciousness can heal the wounds of our current worldview by igniting these creative principles within modern, rational consciousness.

Here’s what you can expect from the episode;

- What is Merchants of Light?
- What are the misunderstandings of our view of ancient civilizations?
- How the ancient people were using sacred plants and other techniques to reach altered state of consciousness
- How the Duerteronomists reversed the course of our spiritual and religious construct
- What she thinks the ancient civilizations will say about our modern society

She received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Irvine, in Comparative Literature and Theory of Symbolic/Mythic Language. She taught Literature, Writing, and Symbolic/Mythic Language for twenty-five years. She served many years as Chair and Program Chair on the Board of Directors of the Jung Society of Claremont in California and sits on the Academic Advisory Board of Forever Family Foundation. She speaks to national and global audiences through webinars, keynote presentations, and media interviews. Dr. Kovacs is the author of Merchants of Light: The Consciousness That Is Changing the World, winner of the Nautilus Silver Book Award and The Scientific & Medical Network 2019 Book Prize. She has also written The Miracle of Death: There Is Nothing But Life.   

See her detailed explanation of the Merchants of Light here.
Her book is on Amazon.

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Guest: Betty J. Kovacs PhD (Website)
Host: Takatoshi Shibayama (Twitter | LinkedIn)
Music: ShowNing (Website)

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In this episode, I have Tim Panagos, CTO of Microshare. He is developing smart sensors in buildings for contract tracing and preventative cleaning.

In the first half of the episode, we focused on how we can prevent ourselves from a data-driven surveillance state. There is a dire need for us to flip the script from handing over our data with no accountability from the data collector to reclaiming our data rights.

Here’s what to expect from the episode;

- Why radical transparency is needed for both data collectors and producers
- Why we shouldn’t wait for governmental regulations for data privacy and take action ourselves
- What we can learn from our digital twins that exist online
- How data transparency can prevent us from a Big Brother scenario
- How Microshare’s smart sensors work to prevent diseases to spread in buildings
- Why Microshare’s solution can improve employee/employer relationship

Tim is a technology executive with 20 years of experience in Enterprise Software. Tim was most recently Chief Architect of Accenture’s global Business Process Management (BPM) practice leading architecture innovation. Prior to that, Tim was CTO at Knowledge Rules, a global consulting start-up, and held multiple engineering leadership roles at Pegasystems (PEGA).

Tim holds a Masters in the Management of Technology from MIT and studied Computer Science at UNH.

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Guest: Tim Panagos (LinkedIn | Twitter) Microshare (Website) 

Host: Takatoshi Shibayama (Twitter | LinkedIn) 

Music: ShowNing (Website)

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In this episode, I have Eugene Capon, CEO of Studio Capon. They are known for creating the first TV-style VR talk show called “Glitched”, you can find it on YouTube here.

AR/VR is known for its application in gaming, but it’s not just about that. Immersive experiences can be created in social media, a leap from the existing relationships we have online.

Here’s what to expect from the episode;

- How did Eugene construct his career from an intern at a digital signage company to running a VR content creation company?
- How do you create your brand image and continue recreating your image even when that previous image no longer suits you anymore?
- How do you differentiate yourself from the pack when everyone is using social media for self-branding?
- What VR offers that the current social media experience can’t offer
- Why VR can increase empathy towards others
- The technologies that can take VR to another level

Eugene is a prolific public speaker on the subject matter of XR and social media. His speaking credits include VRLA, Seattle Creators Day, Vloggerfair, Twitch Stage Live at Emerald City Comicon, Eastside VR, Augmented Reality Los Angeles and Seattle After Effects Meetup (The country’s largest AE meetup). Eugene has also made numerous media appearances in various forms including DOPE Magazine, Pixvana blog, Nextshark online magazine, GoMedia, Pro Video Podcast, Rev VR Podcast, Studio 110 with DJ Dirty Harry, and Becoming Human Podcast. 

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Guest: Eugene Capon (LinkedIn | Twitter) Studio Capon (Website) Capon Design (Website)

Host: Takatoshi Shibayama (Twitter | LinkedIn) 

Music: ShowNing (Website)

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In this episode, I have Ole Kristian Sivertsen, CEO of Desert Control. I found about him and his company from reading a CNN article and I immediately reached out to him.

They have invented “Liquid Nano Clay”, a liquified form of clay to be sprayed onto the desert so that farming can be done. It attaches to sand particles and retains water/nutrients and it has turned a small part of the Dubai desert green.

Here’s what to expect from the episode;
- What is Liquid Nano Clay?
- How does Liquid Nano Clay work?
- How is Desert Control changing the deserts of Dubai?
- How can countries with limited water resources become more self-sustainable?
- How does their Liquid Nano Clay compare with other farming technologies?

In 2018 Ole joined as CEO of Desert Control, fueled by his passion for creating hope for a better future for "people and planet." In this role, he is promoting global stewardship for our planet's vital soil ecosystem.

His leadership philosophy is to inspire action and growing hope by making people successful; Empowering employees to achieve success creates a great workplace. Inspiring people to make customers successful creates a great company. Creating a great company to make the world a better place makes it magnificent! 

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Guest: Ole Kristian Sivertsen (LinkedIn)  Desert Control (Website)
Host: Takatoshi Shibayama (Twitter | LinkedIn)
Music: ShowNing (Website)

In this episode, I have Adam Andros Aronovich, a researcher for the Medical Anthropology Research Center (MARC). He also conducts workshops at the Temple of the Way of Light in the Peruvian Amazon.

Psychedelics, after being criminalized in the 1970s, for 4 decades of being in the shadows, have now started to be researched for its profound impact in curing mental diseases. But it also allows us to see a different perspective of reality, one that is not molded in the rationalistic, and materialistic world view that we are accustomed to.

Here’s what to expect from the episode;

- What exactly defines a psychedelic drug?
- How does Ayahuasca work in the body?
- What are the medicinal benefits being discovered?
- What actually is a psychedelic experience?
- How psychedelics awakes us from what we perceived as reality
- What is the altered consciousness that made Adam realize?

Adam Andros Aronovich is a doctoral candidate focusing on Medical Anthropology and Cultural Psychiatry. He is an active member of the Medical Anthropology Research Center (MARC) and part of the Ayahuasca Community Committee at the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines. In the last four years, he has conducted extensive fieldwork in the Peruvian Amazon, where he has been doing qualitative research in collaboration with ICEERS, the Beckley Foundation, and, more recently, the Centre for Psychedelic Studies at Imperial College. Beyond his work conducting and coordinating research, Adam regularly facilitates workshops at the Temple of the Way of Light, a prestigious healing center in the Iquitos area.

*The Future Design Podcast does not endorse the recreational use of psychedelics. While these substances often carry a negative stigma and taboo, we ask that you learn for yourself and make an informed decision.

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Guest: Adam Andros Aronovich (Facebook)  Temple of the Way of Light (Website)
Host: Takatoshi Shibayama (Twitter | IG | LinkedIn)
Music: ShowNing (Website)

In this episode, I chat with Peter Voss, CEO of AIGO.ai (Ahy-go) and the gentleman who coined the term “Artificial General Intelligence". 

AGI has been long talked about for decades but it wasn’t because of computational power that is helping it become a reality but a diversion from how AI has been developed. Data scientists and cognitive psychologists both are needed to make this AI come to life.

Here’s what to expect from the episode;

• The 3 waves of AI - the history of AI
• The difference between Programmers / Data Scientist v.s. AGI 
• Are Quantum computers important for General AGI?
• What are the elements necessary for AGI?
• What is the mechanism of “Understanding”?
• Can AGI connect with humans?
• The human limitation that AGI can make a breakthrough
• How AGI will deal with the Trolley Problem 

Peter Voss started in electronics engineering, then fell in love with software. The first major success was developing a comprehensive ERP package and taking that company from Zero to 400-person IPO in seven years. 

Currently, he’s focused on commercializing the second generation of our AGI-based ‘Conversational AI’ technology called 'Aigo' (say: I-go). Aigo.ai is the most advanced natural language interaction platform available. It is implemented using a brain-like cognitive architecture – also known as ‘The Third Wave of AI’.

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Guest: Peter Voss (Twitter | LinkedIn)  AIGO.ai (Website)
Host: Takatoshi Shibayama (Twitter | IG | LinkedIn)
Music: ShowNing (Website)

This week on the Future Design Podcast we chat with Leslie Maliepaard, CEO of The Planet Calls, on the pressing issue of Climate Change and more essentially, the Plastic Crisis. With new economical models of thinking such as the Circular Economy, can foundational pillars of these systems help us to re-think how we handle Climate Change? 

Here are a few episode highlights:

• The Linear vs Circular Economy.
• The false advertising of Recycling: Why it doesn’t really work.
• Is money involved in the Circular Economy system?
• How can we make a difference as consumers and encourage our governments to do the same? 

Leslie has a background in building and leading tech, financial, and SaaS startups in Europe and Africa for the past 20 years. Her current passion projects include Circular Economy, Clean Water, and Sustainability. She has sat on a number of different advisory boards in the past, in Quantum Encryption, SaaS sectors as well as the World Business Angel Forum Global Women Leaders Committee.

She has also co-founded Fortrino, a consulting company that advises and invests in late-stage / growth companies in Cyber Security, Data Privacy, Social and Impact sectors (post-seed in Europe), and The Planet Calls Foundation. The latter aims to progress the ‘sustainable future’ movement and boost the resilience of companies. They work with companies and many other dimensions of sustainability, building a more sustainable future TOGETHER.

Check out their YouTube documentary called "The Planet Calls" here.

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Guest: Leslie Maliepaard (LinkedIn) 
Host: Takatoshi Shibayama (Twitter | IG | LinkedIn)
Music: ShowNing (Website)

We talk to Brian Reddy about the impact of carbon on our environment and his plans to encourage carbon circulating practices. Are there better ways to mitigate the impact of carbon in our environment which is causing ripples of problems — security of food and water for our future generations due to our chronic use of land? Is this a catalyst for change to the way we “feed the future”? 

Here are a few episode highlights:

• Mitigating the social costs of carbon, who are the key stakeholders and what role can they play?
• Addressing the importance of the growing need for food, feed protein, and sustainable alternatives.
• Global warming/Climate Change and it’s a relationship with the Sustainability of Food Supply Chains
• The business model for circulating carbon. What is methane's value? 

Brian Reddy is the Founding Executive Director of Kinnva A, Synthetic Biological Startup with a domain-focus across Biotech, Feed Tech, Food Tech, Agritech, and Cleantech. Kinnva utilizes innovative fermentation technologies (with both wild and engineered strains) and intensified processing methods. They produce high-value biochemicals and biomaterials for Food, Feed, Nutraceuticals, Cosmetics/Skincare, and TCM markets.

Kinnva’s vision is about “feeding our future” and its mission is to “build a sustainable platform to produce high-value biochemicals and biomaterials from an abundant resource that does not compete with the human food chain”. 

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Guest: Brian Reddy (LinkedIn) Kinnva (Website)
Host: Takatoshi Shibayama (Twitter | IG | LinkedIn)
Music: ShowNing (Website)

We discuss a lesser-known philosophy, Sentientism. Sentience is defined as the animal's capacity to experience. It is a framework that focuses mainly on logic, evidence, and morals to improve our thinking as well as decision-making regarding the development of a social construct. Does this mode of thinking reprogram our society towards functioning more effectively as a sentient whole rather than being human-centric? 

Here are a few episode highlights:

•  Understanding Sentientism: What defines a Sentientist?
• How can sentient-harming industries move away from it?
• Sentientism and its benefits in the modern world. 
• Can Sentientism work in developing nations?
• Debunking issues around de-growth. 
• The importance of our decisions.

Jamies is an advocate of Sentientism which commits to the use of evidence, reason and granting moral consideration to all sentient beings. This philosophy could give us a better chance to solve the world’s problems.

He also has been working on a wide range of NGOs / charity / open data /learning / private investment/community building projects. (e.g. https://www.facebook.com/groups/sentientism/) He is also working as a ski instructor and ski race coach (trainee).

Writer, (e.g. https://areomagazine.com/2018/10/07/humanism-needs-an-upgrade-the-philosophy-that-could-save-the-world/) campaigner, non-exec director, coaching and advisor.

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Guest: Jamie Woodhouse (Twitter | Facebook) Sentientism site (Website)
Host: Takatoshi Shibayama (Twitter | IG | LinkedIn)
Music: ShowNing (Website)