Jamie Metzl Technology and Healthcare Futurist, Global Affairs Specialist, Science Fiction Novelist, and Genetic Engineering Expert

Converging political, geopolitical, and technological revolutions are making now the greatest moment of global change since 1945. With nationalism rising around the world, the post-war international order in rapid decline, China significantly expanding its global influence, and the AI, genetics, blockchain, and other revolutions shaking the foundations of the world we’ve known, individuals, companies, and countries will either understand and quickly adapt to these converging super-trends or pay a massive competitive price. In this talk spanning the wide range of factors transforming our world at lightning speed, geopolitical expert and technology futurist Jamie Metzl paints a vivid picture of where we are heading and outlines key principles for how individuals, companies, and countries can best position themselves to ride the rising tidal wave of revolutionary change.

The COVID-19 pandemic will fundamentally transform every aspect our lives on the personal, professional, national, and global levels. The crisis has made processes that might otherwise have unfolded over decades arrive all at once. Our future has come crashing into our present. As much as many of us are hoping our previous world will snap back after this crisis abates, that will not be the case. But while it is appropriate to mourn what we have lost and the tragedy of this moment, the foundations for our new lives, companies, and world are today being laid. Those of us who don’t quickly come to terms with this massive shift will spend the rest of our lives waiting for the old world to snap back, mourning what’s been lost, and wandering around reminding people that coffee used to cost a nickel. Going into survival mode to get through this crisis, most people are focusing on their immediate needs, even if they recognize that something bigger is happening around us. In normal times, we can thrive racing forward on the various tracks we are on. But in revolutionary times like these, having a broad understanding of where we are, how we got here, and how we can get to a better place is the most important navigational tool any of us can have, the foundation of our ability to adapt, pivot, and ultimately thrive. Visionary futurist WHO expert adviser, and bestselling author Jamie Metzl places our current crisis in its most essential context and helps communities understand how the world we’ve known is dying faster than we’d thought and imagine our new world emerging faster than we’d imagined.

The transition from today’s system of generalized medicine based on population averages to the new model of precision healthcare based on each person’s individual biology is already well underway. But the use of the precision medicine tools of genome sequencing, big data analytics, and targeted gene therapies to treat cancer and other diseases are paving the way for a system of predictive healthcare where parents will know and begin responding to their children’s future risk of developing hereditary disorders like early onset Alzheimer’s and coronary heart disease starting before their children have even been born. In addition to predicting these types of health outcomes, genetic analysis will also enable us to predict and ultimately influence the genetic components of broader human traits like the IQ, athletic ability, and personality style of our future children. The genetics revolution will fundamentally transform our healthcare, the way we make babies, and the nature of the babies we make, but health professionals, the business community, and society at large are not at all ready. In this provocative and mind-expanding talk, Jamie Metzl elucidates how genetic and other technologies are transforming healthcare, explores where things are headed and what is at stake, and lays out key principles for how health industry professionals and the business community can prepare for a revolution that is coming far sooner than most people recognize.

Far sooner than most of us think, the genetics revolution will transform the world within and around us. But while we today think about genetic technologies primarily in the context of healthcare, the tools we are developing will soon being changing the way we make babies, the nature of the babies we make, and ultimately our evolutionary trajectory as a species. The genetics revolution will be the greatest opportunity, and also the greatest challenge, of our era yet we aren’t ready for what’s fast heading our way. Leading technology futurist and geopolitical expert Jamie Metzl explores what the genetics revolution means for you, your company, the country, and the world -- and what we must all do now to prepare. The genetics revolution will be the greatest opportunity of our era, and also the greatest challenge – and it will have massive business implications that will increasingly define organizational success and failure in the 21^st century.

In this exciting talk, Jamie Metzl explores the latest technological breakthroughs in the science of human life extension and their implications on the personal and societal levels. While the quest for immortality has been the stuff of fairy tales, the new science of life extension is very real and will soon be pushing the limits of aging and unlocking human potential. Jamie, a rare combination of science expert and science fiction writer, brings the science to life and explains what individuals, companies, and governments must do now to prepare for this revolutionary future that will fundamentally reorganize modern societies and global economics.

The overlapping genetics and AI revolutions are transforming our healthcare, the way we procreate, and how long we live. This revolution will be the greatest opportunity of our era, and also the greatest challenge – and it will have massive business implications that will increasingly define organizational success and failure in the 21^st century.

Corporations have struggled for decades to build open and inclusive workplaces comfortable to people of all races, nationalities, genders, ages, and sexual orientations. In the fast-arriving genetic age, companies will need to figure out such issues as how to deal with predictive health information, whether to cover egg freezing, embryo selection, and embryonic gene editing for employees,  and how to help employees prepare for longer than expected lives. While this may seem like science fiction, this future is already here. The genetics revolution will alter our perception of workforce capabilities and potentials and challenge even the most forward-thinking of corporations. It will upend traditional notions of equity, diversity, and inclusion. It will change much of everything.

But are you ready?

Using social media and Internet tools to target potential customers is yesterday’s news. The companies that thrive in the coming years will be those using big data analytics to predict and begin responding to customer needs that haven’t yet been fully expressed. Wayne Gretzky said the secret to excelling at hockey is skating to where the puck will be. To succeed, sales agents and corporate leaders will now need to start thinking like science-fiction writers to Imagine the future - and then race toward where the greatest opportunities will be. 

Shoes off, sitting on floor cushions arranged in a circle, participants listened to the history of cacao prior to enjoying specially-sourced chocolate. The cacao ceremony was a metaphor for the interconnectedness of humanity. Complete with mind-expanding instrumental music, and ending in full-on freestyle somatic movement (a.k.a. dancing), full participation in the cacao ceremony favored the mindful, curious, and bold. Cacao shaman is a rather unexpected title from someone who competes in extreme endurance athletic events such as Ironman triathlons, marathons, and ultramarathons, and holds multiple degrees from prestigious, buttoned-up institutions. Metzl earned his Ph.D. in Asian history from Oxford and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Brown University. Metzl is a true polymath — the technology futurist, geopolitical expert, prolific author, syndicated columnist, keynote speaker, entrepreneur, media commentator, and endurance athlete, is one of the most fascinating, and accomplished persons you will ever encounter.

Most everybody knows we should exercise, eat well, build meaningful communities, and reduce stress to live healthy longer. But the revolutionary new science of human life extension is creating enticing new possibilities for using technology to extend our lives far beyond what nature intended. While the quest for immortality has been the stuff of fairy tales, the new science of life extension will soon be pushing the limits of aging and unlocking human potential in ways our ancestors never could have imagined. Technology futurist Jamie Metzl explores the latest breakthroughs in the science of human life extension that promise to gain is more of life‘s most precious commodity: time. Jamie explains what individuals, companies, and governments must do now to prepare for this revolutionary future that will fundamentally reorganize our societies and global economics.

Fast-rising China is not just changing Asia, it is fundamentally transforming the global order. China’s economic growth, military expansion, behavior in the South and East China Seas, growing presence around the world, and increasingly emboldened foreign policy present a growing challenge to the US-led global system created in the aftermath of the Second World War. With America less able to serve as guarantor of the international system, and Europe incapable of realizing a coordinated foreign policy strategy and unwilling to invest sufficiently in military readiness, efforts to address major crises, promote a single set of rules governing the global economy, and support human rights around the world are faltering. But with China’s investment and manufacturing-based growth strategy losing steam, China itself will need to find a new model if it is to avoid stagnation. Living in a post-American world will have enormous consequences and touch every aspect of our lives. Jamie explores the key drivers of our fundamentally transforming world, what it will mean for global politics, economics, and culture, and how businesses and other organizations can best prepare.

The future is coming at us faster than ever before. As the pace of technological change in fields like artificial intelligence, genomics, and robotics increases exponentially, the sands of national and international politics are shifting under our feet more than at any time since the end of WWII. But while this moment of radical change creates great peril for organizations that stick too rigidly to traditional ways of thinking and operating, it provides unparalleled opportunities for those who challenge themselves to think differently, creatively imagine future scenarios, and set out on a journey to succeed in a radically new environment. Organizations must, in other words, begin thinking like science fiction writers. In this wide-ranging and highly focused talk, Jamie clearly explains the converging mega-trends reshaping our world, describes how science fiction writers draw on evidence from the present to build a world of tomorrow, and outlines a specific road map for how organizations can use the powerful tool of thinking more like science fiction writers to better prepare for the future and unlock hidden organizational potential.

Converging political, geopolitical, and technological revolutions are making now the greatest moment of global change at least since 1945 and possibly ever. With nationalism rising around the world, the post-war international order in rapid decline, China significantly expanding its global influence, and the AI, genetics, blockchain, and other revolutions shaking the foundations of the world we’ve known, the pressure is mounting for individuals, companies, and countries to either understand and quickly adapt to these converging super-trends or pay a massive competitive price. In this talk spanning the wide range of factors transforming our world at lightning speed, geopolitical expert and technology futurist Jamie paints a vivid picture of where we are heading and outlines key principles for how individuals, companies, and countries can best position themselves to ride the rising tidal wave of revolutionary change.