Flying automotive vehicles, AI assistants, and manufacturing off the planet are the future of tomorrow, according to lead technology companies such as Singularity University, T-Rex, Janus Choice, and other partners who came together on June 14 at T-Rex headquarters in St. Louis to kick off Singularity University’s St. Louis Chapter. The event, Conquering the Digital Divide, was intended to inspire equity as our world digitally advances in order to reach underserved communities as well as widen our perception of the future.
The keynote speaker was Rob Nail, CEO and associate founder for Singularity University. He took the audience into a “rabbit hole of the future,” highlighting the major changes that will occur in less than 10 years between AI, block chain, connectivity, digital biology, energy, and the final frontier.
“If I would have told you that the phone was going to be a teacher and a doctor, and that there are tens and millions of applications free to everyone around the world, you would have thought that I was crazy, and here we are,” Nail said.
Nail’s examples of businesses and technology that can transform the future included the technology behind solar power, Project Loon that got Puerto Rico online in two days after the hurricane, a startup company called Made in Space that does its manufacturing off the planet, and the sequencing of the human genome to help cure genetic disorders in human embryos.
“We see all this coming, we can actually forecast these curves, we can actually plan ahead, but we need to do so in an inclusive and productive way, which is what Singularity University is trying to do,” Nail said, “which is why we are investing so much into trying to support chapters and entrepreneurs in local environments like St. Louis. Because we know that you are going to come up with amazing ideas that are going to be important in five years, 10 years, and 50 years.”
One of Singularity’s portfolio companies, Key2Enable, presented next. Key2Enable has developed Key-X, a keyboard that enables a person with motor disabilities to access a computer or tablet to write, play games and browse the internet.
The panelist discussion at the event was moderated by Felicia Pulliam, CEO of Create Community, and included Robert Clemons, CTO for the City of St. Louis; Dr. J. Gavin Helton, president of clinical integration at Mercy Virtual ; Dr. Odeon Serrano, founder of Open Source Environmental Security; and Carter Williams, CEO of iSelect Fund.
The main topic of discussion was how to include the underserved community that lacks access to modern technology in the expansion of the digital age hence conquering the digital divide.
“Can we depend on government?” Pulliam said. “No. We’ve tried that before; it is not working. How do we expect to have the best brains around the table? We’re leaving something under a rock that we should kick over and pull up by the roots so that they can help us in all of the areas, because they too are suffering from all the problems.”
The City of St. Louis shared what efforts it is taking to help conquer the digital divide.
“We actually have within the last two months prototyped new ways to visualize what’s going on in the world out there leveraging 3D technology, everything from creating a three-dimensional base map of the city, starting to map vacancy in three dimensions, starting to map crime in three dimensions, and trying to understand what’s actually going on out there,” Clemons said.
“It’s not a bunch of squares and dots on a map; you’re actually able to engage the environment as if you’re standing on street level and understand the demographics of that area.”
For more information on Singularity University, visit https://su.org/, email info@su.org, or call 1-650-200-3434.
Ashley Jones is an Emma Bowen Foundation editorial intern at The St. Louis American, supported by a grant from the Democracy Fund.
