 So without further ado, I'd like to invite the next three speakers They're just gonna sit here and have a conversation With one another and with all of us I would like to invite Adam Gettings from Leo Adam spoke with yesterday. He's a technologist Inventor entrepreneur likes to build things solve problems and think 50 years ahead I like to invite Brian Monahan Co-founder at Q Connect as well great friend great brother. I'm 20 days older than him. That's my famed yeah, and Evan Pagan as well Who's been a good friend and a mentor to many of us here? Please welcome to stage Excellent. So yeah, as you have mentioned really just kind of looking to have a conversation here and And keep it free free flowing and fluid. Yeah So, you know, I've known both you guys for a while and One of the things that I've always enjoyed about our conversations I think all three of us take a very sort of meta view of the world very sort of abstract thinking and That can really help, you know in sort of today's theme of investment the ability to kind of anticipate what's happening and abstract trends and themes Can really help in the allocation of capital can in time So I was hoping that each of you and I'll chime in as well could talk about maybe the The one-to-three trends that you see going on in the world today That are gonna have the most significant impact over the next let's say ten years as an investment window If you have some things to jump out there, okay Is it well, I'll talk about something totally unrelated robotics actually, let's start there There's a there's a trend in this is kind of specific to us, but we can relate it to NZ There's a trend in Americana and craftsmanship In products in the US and companies a lot of old companies are coming out of the woodwork and brands that meant a lot Say a hundred years ago or 150 years ago are being rediscovered and and revitalized and There's this export of of American craftsman culture that's going to Asia. That's a big trend that I see and That's something that is Interesting certainly interesting if you look at maybe if you go back the export of European culture to the US A hundred years before 150 years before we're seeing seeing something similar in Asia with the export of US culture and US historical companies are in the areas of the story of the work work actually is interesting and how are you seeing that affected from the We'll call it changing geopolitical scene, you know, there's obviously been a lot going on sort of globally of Changing relationships between governments is are you still, you know, I know through redwing and the like Has that affected sort of the populations interest in these themes or are those kind of separate issues you see? Well, I certainly think that China has come online in the last 50 years and they're they're trying to create a culture or build a culture have a sense of purpose and They're pulling that from the US's culture around capitalism consumption products and and I think that's that's something that they're looking they're looking at and absorbing and it's so It's almost like the 50s in China right now, which is in some ways really scary and in some ways kind of exciting so Yeah, if that answers your question I think you got any thoughts on trends Yeah, thanks for giving me the few minutes to think of them Thanks for going first So, let's see I'll do three first one is design So we're moving into a An envision it and create it reality more We don't most of us don't notice that the environments that we live most of our lives in are essentially entirely human created and designed We don't even even hear very close to nature This is a somewhat terraformed environment even You know, hopefully we're gonna evolve to I mean, you know, these guys obviously but hopefully all of us will evolve to be more gardeners than Terraformers and you know, we'll Get into harmony with the land but as we move more into this This entrepreneurial future Developing the ability to see things Imagine them differently and then go and create what you imagine in your mind. This artistic ability is becoming much more important And I I tend to think that we're moving into Essentially a second renaissance right now in terms of art and creativity and the ability to In design up here and then go create out there and then design up here and go create out there So studying design I think is very important I was gonna riff on that a little bit riff and I think this is the modern renaissance is it's tied to The cost of design the cost of the tools necessary to do design and the cost of sharing and collaborating with people Communication essentially and that those are all going down dramatically and that's contributing to that And just sort of specifically one one thing that jumps out of me is all these new tools like CNC routers and laser cutters And 3d printers and you know that is a very specific area for sort of investment opportunity You know, it's one thing that we're gonna be doing a lot of here on the farm We invested in like some big 3d printers and stuff to be able to create That design very cheaply whereas before you know that would cost millions to do what now can be done for thousands So when we started the robot business we were selling to police initially who needed a way to go into crack houses Where they knew somebody had a gun they needed to be able to go in there remotely and check it out before They did anything else because the current protocol was you know, it was send in a flashbang Bards down but bang down the door run inside and start shooting and so we had to come up with something to test with with a team of four and What we did first was we used 3d printing 3d printing technology I designed these things in CAD these products in CAD and literally printed them off and had an artist paint Them so they looked real and Then we went and showed them to customers And we said hey, what do you think about this and we tried so many if you come to our office ever You'll see that we had you know a dozen different variations of these designs that that the customers potential customers thought were real and And that gave us tremendous credibility and it helped us guide the path for how we built the solution event that we eventually got to but How you know that the parts for those were you know Purchased on the internet design CAD files with software that was practically free Send send the software files off to our partner and across the country Now they printed the parts off mailed it to us and then we had somebody paint it It was that just that couldn't have been done 20 years ago Yeah, I also I think all every one of us is creative We're all just Incredibly creative and so I think that getting in touch with whatever part of you Is artistically creative whether it's musical whether it's dance whether it's visual art and Even if it's been 10 or 20 or 30 years or something get back into it, you know keep keep developing that side we've Been become very interested in art over the last several years. We've started collecting art and yeah So I think it's gonna be a big deal. So design You want me to keep going? Okay, second one would be entrepreneurship and So my formula for entrepreneurship, I'm gonna just give you a piece of it And I I give this just as some threads to You know rundown or some areas to study so the integral game of entrepreneurship I think is about learning creativity productivity and leadership Creativity studying the process of creating new things by making new combinations and Systematically recombining all of the different elements that you have to create new possibilities Whether it be with food or with music or it's one of the reasons why art is so great is because you can learn three different dance Moves and then learn how to do them start putting them together and immediately be creative or with music you can sit down at a piano and you can learn three notes and You know, there's six ways that you can put those three notes together in sequence You can immediately start seeing the combinations. So creativity Productivity which I define as getting what you want Getting the result that you wanted So practice imagining an outcome that you want and then go out into the world and create it and regularly review and See whether or not you actually achieved it and also Develop the ability to create new habits. That's kind of the meta productivity skill of the future is learn the skill of Grooving new habits takes about 30 days You want to do the same ritual every day at the same time for 30 days best way to use your willpower and then leadership which is a simplified way of Defining leadership would be helping other people develop their creativity and their productivity because when someone shows up into a different social setting or different business setting and There's another person there that's helping them be more creative and them be more productive That's the that's the leader. That's who they want to hang out with Especially as we move into a more entrepreneurial kind of world. So that would be the inner game of Entrepreneurship which I'm very passionate about and there's a lot more you can talk to me about afterwards if I want to talk about the outer game What's the third trend third one I came up with is Futurism Which is kind of like a meta trend it's my it's my view after you know studying Futurism for a while that a few decades ago 30 40 years ago people like Alvin and Heidi Toffler came out with future shock and you've got John Nesbitt with mega trends and you've got some of these other You know futurists futurist is a new thing that's on the scene And they're really only a handful of them even now that are famous and well known for being futurists People like Ray Kurzweil and so forth I think that we're gonna quickly realize that being a futurist isn't optional anymore that we all need to be watching the main trends that are emerging in key areas like technology and education and the environment and sustainability and things and Watching what's happening and watching the news in each of these areas so that we can see where they're going Just one of the you know questions. I keep asking like where How's that going to impact reality in the next three to five years? Because we need to be looking out into the future and making decisions about career choices the skills that we're learning the relationships that we're setting up Based on where we're going to be in the future so that we're forward compatible So that when we wake up in the future the new skill that we learned is more valuable Because I think unfortunately most of the skills that most people are learning They're gonna wake up in five or ten years and they're gonna realize that it's That was a waste of time He's just sort of riffing on that of As we sort of look out and sort of forecast like what skills do we want? Anticipating exponential change You know and this is something that we've talked a lot about and sort of for everybody like you know Exponential change just being like you know the x squared on the graph non-linear you know going up than a compounding interest sort of fashion and You know rakers while and and many others have sort of extrapolated on the the nature of exponential technology change you know you the USB thumb discs You know you might be able to use to get you know five megabytes for $60 and now they're two terabytes and they're like free as you know product promos and Yeah, exactly and these things are you know, there's more and more of that happening all the time and Computing processing etc. And so what effect that has on our culture and what skills are required? So I just kind of wanted to throw that out of Anticipating Exponential change in our society as sort of this trend that we think about a lot because it's very non-intuitive To come back to your point yesterday What that actually looks like in in 50 years or even in 10 years? Yeah, just a couple thoughts. I think going back. I wish Scott was here But Scott Nolan yesterday was talking about the the investment patterns of VC and how they're looking for They're looking for those thousand X returns and I think that's an interesting thing to consider in an exponential Exponentially expanding world or alter changing world It'll be those those edge cases that have the tremendous return those those few that are doing some particular skill now That that they can't even predict is going to end up being a thousand times more valuable in the future Those are gonna be the people that do control the future and it's hard. It's really hard to predict who they're gonna be right now Yeah, we have to pay attention to these things You know it used to be a vacuum tube and then it became a little transistor And I was just reading that they now put two billion of them in the space the size of a period Right in a chip That's It's impossible to conceive, you know as and what that? You know what's going on in there even I was just reading the other day that the even the tools the technology tools and the algorithms that they use to design the next generation of processors the Scientists no longer even understand them because a lot of it is algorithms that the computer figured out and so the The tools that we're using to design the next generation of these things. We don't even fully comprehend anymore the What comes in our current model of iPad the processing power in there? was in 1985 the fastest computer in the world the Cray super computer and in 1995 was still one of the top 500 fastest computers in the world and now it comes in your iPad that you get for a few hundred bucks And that isn't stopping. That's continuing to go And I I there's a Has anyone noticed that like right now? Something important is happening like when you talk into your Mobile and it can hear what you're saying real time and it's typing it and then it goes back and it corrects a word real while you're talking and There's just there's something going on like we're just crossing a key Threshold right now, and I think we just have to pay attention to the hardware the software the capabilities and what these things will do because These exponential curves. We're also seeing opportunity is The like the most condensed that it's ever been The the hyper growth when you get involved in one of these good ideas or one of these great businesses They can grow faster than they've ever been able to grow and scale before so that's very exciting So the like the power structure of the world's gonna it's gonna be unpredictable because of that because people would be employing these technologies and a wide subset of A wide a wide range of ways and and a few of those will end up becoming really really important in the future And we don't know which ones Sort of you talk about the power structure and and you know, we've seen a lot of Shifts now happening in the global, you know world from like Egypt and the the overthrow or of Hosni Mubarak and You know these these ways in which you know, which was largely attributed to to things like Twitter Helping mobilize, you know mass social movements. I'm curious just Now as we sort of zoom back, okay, the technology's gotten so ahead of the game that we can't even understand it anymore What are things that we might do in our culture to be? Well adapted to these changing environments like, you know, I mean, I know that both of you have young children I'd be curious of are there any things that you're doing in thinking in parenthood of about how to raise your kids in this sort of exponentially changing world and Things that maybe other folks could learn in a broader lesson for our culture. I haven't thought about it yet to be honest It's only been three months, but You're making me nervous now I've had 23 months so I got 20 months on you know So a few things one of them is living in harmony with your environment whatever it is and so there's You know here what there are a lot of experiments and a lot of a lot of resources and a lot of Heart and mind being put into how do we live in harmony with the planet in the life around us? It's a very kind of physical Approach there's also how to live in harmony with other human beings in a in relationship, you know So it'd be like a more of an emotional side and then how to live in harmony with other people conceptually and mentally it's it's one of my favorite Rubik's cubes to just look at is It's so weird to me that those that are involved in causes can't seem to align with each other and No matter how hard they try it seems like it just they just can't get into Harmony in some way and so our Our natural it's seeing I'm calling it natural or maybe I'll call it our tendency To look at where we're different mentally or conceptually instead of starting out and saying Where what are the values you have that are the same as mine? And then let's build a relationship based on those rather than get caught up in you know Arguments and waste a bunch of energy in the areas where we're not aligned So living in alignment. I think is a really really important one another one is I Guess the basis for learning and creativity, which is pattern pattern recognition and pattern creation Essentially and so I think a lot about that with my child Helping her and I help her you know as often as I can Recognize patterns of similarity and patterns of difference and then combinations of of those things So alignment with place and people as well as the ability to synthesize and identify patterns as sort of core Skills in this new era it's cool You know you talk about alignment that sort of brings up This theme that we've we've talked around a lot around sort of this concept of incubation nation and the opportunity for New Zealand to really lead the world in prototyping and developing new solutions for global problems and You know within that one thing that that we see a lot is is that there is sort of culturally already More of a tendency to see the commonalities instead of the differences and sort of raised in America you know the individualism is really really strong and You know that that to me is one of the most exciting things about New Zealand is there is that sort of Identify identity that we're all in it together and that's obviously true locally as well as globally as we face These global challenges wondering if either of you could just kind of riff on What might be some of the opportunities and some of the advantages as well as maybe disadvantages that exist for New Zealand investment as These sort of big trends play out and play through you know, I sort of mentioned the alignment I also think that location is is really critical the I think that Through the internet and telecommunications The distance that traditionally was a huge barrier for New Zealand is no longer as relevant as it used to be Through things like Skype, you know now you can have a face-to-face High-resolution conversation with anyone in the world Whereas, you know 25 years ago that was you know impossible and you know 75 years ago It was like put a letter on the on the ship and it was like a very very, you know distant proposition So thinking about you know alignment proximity. Is there anything else that comes up for you guys as themes that might be relevant for New Zealand investment Oh Well, this is an island nation and so as an island nation you you do have to consider alignment with your neighbors And and the world is an island as well But people just can't they can't see their neighbors and understand those relationships yet so this the potential here is if it I'm not sure when the timing is but at some point it's going to be critical that we do align as a world and and so, you know New Zealand's ahead of the game in that game in that in that arena. Yeah, I'm Really impressed by the integration of the two cultures here and How much the government leaders I Mean basically unanimously really get it like you can just feel it and so that Whatever the learnings are around that That's something that you know for my daughter. I want her to be a multicultural like natively Person and so we plan to have her visit, you know several different world cultures as she's growing up I haven't seen that anywhere. It sure seems like whatever the code is that they've figured out for that I mean and when you model humans when you you know model their beliefs and their processes and their strategies and the sequences of how they do things What you basically find unanimously is that the real experts are not conscious of what they're doing So you have to go in and you have to get experts to model their Belief sets and their strategies and what they do but going in and figuring out how the leaders here do that what the code of that is and then packaging that up and Bringing it out to the world so that they could use that whenever they're moving in I mean, I'll bet you that that that knowledge that kind of IP would be super valuable whether it be You know a merger of two companies and dealing with the culture there all the way to Borders to you know where there's you know, huge influx immigration into a country and they're dealing with issues there They're probably all kinds of things that these guys know that yeah, I'm dumbfounded by it. I'm very impressed Yeah It's interesting that that both, you know kind of all these themes are actually coming back to soft skills You know alignment of sort of interpersonal dynamics and being able to fit in and work with other people intercultural understanding You know, I was just talking with with Ben and Alana the Lumio crew over the lunch and realizing that actually You know the application itself in terms of the code is not the real magic It's the philosophy underneath it. That's really impressive and I think that's a pretty interesting frame That I had never really thought of and my technical bent coming here was like more like oh well It's invest in technology, but it's actually investing in that culture as well and creating that culture through the technology And in looking at ways to apply that culture to problems throughout the world That's that's another interesting thing to do. I mean you could take a lead on that That's something that someone should look at Okay. Yeah, so we got about eight minutes left. I want to open it up to conversation Hi, I'm Trevor Futurists, I always thought science science fiction writers were fantastic futurists and to be honest you should look at them first Yeah, I'm still waiting for my My transporter I want to be beamed up. I do want my holodeck and I think virtual reality is really important going forward I think the trends in virtual reality And the potential for a holodeck type environments for training for entertainment for whatever you want Is is going to be phenomenal and also in terms of Changing your job or you know what you learn today. You won't know tomorrow. I trained as a geologist a long time ago I'm all right now. I got better Um, and I I've left geology behind an awful long time ago I think what I have picked up is connecting with people talking to people Um, learning how to deal with different people and in my work. I traveled all over the world to remote parts of the world jungles deserts of you name it Places where people don't normally go Iraq Iran um all over africa all of us china back in the 70s Um before it opened up So when I see china now, I'm just amazed by what they've done in the 30 or 40 years since I first went there So, um, I think that But in all my travels and you talked about we look for the differences in people The only way I could communicate because I don't speak any I'm typically English apologies I don't speak any other language. And so the only way I could communicate was with signs gestures And finding what was common And even in china, I can remember being china in 1978 in one of the provinces And I was with a group of chinese And there were some other foreigners there as well and they chose me to share their train cabin with them When I say train cabin, it was minus 10 and there's no heating So we're all out of all of our clothes on all of us and they chose me because they could get on with me Not because I I was any clever or anything else But I found a way to communicate with them and it's the connections and communications I think they're really important and so I actually it kind of reflects what we're doing here What you're trying to do here with this organization It's just a comment Thank you guys for sharing And one piece I wanted to share in terms of being a futurist is I feel like technology Is mimicking already our innate abilities And I wouldn't be surprised if awareness winds up being the strongest currency of the future So I would encourage everyone to Develop the skills and practices to cultivate your Awareness and I'm already seeing and people I'm interacting with people are becoming more psychic More lucid in their dreaming and so I don't so to me that is the the baseline and and That and the technology is mimicking that so I don't want to leave that out of the conversation And I so appreciated when you were mentioning the soft skills and then one other trend I'm seeing is You know we had IQ as the strongest Domain for a while now we all feel like we're really cutting edge with ecu and emotional intelligence But as far as I'm concerned what is really? Revolutionary is bq body intelligence and grounding everything through embodiment And I've and amber and I've been calling it evolutionary primal and so I'm being really strong healthy and aware Within our own bodies. I think is very important one last piece. I'll throw in is um Is as we define what being a futurist means for us a great way to practice it is I call it micro Futurism where you make actions today that create a more Thriving experience for yourself tomorrow and that's that's counterintuitive. So that might look like okay I'm making I'm taking the time to make myself green juice right now So that when I get home after a long day's work my future self values is benefited from that and That's a great way to practice the mic in the micro level for longer term planning Glad you brought up the awareness aspect Ariel because You know in terms of this world it keeps everything's moving faster and faster, especially in urban america You know it's kind of out here in whiteman's valley. It's you don't feel the chaos as much But but all of our worlds are accelerating as part of things and I think the need for mindfulness training Is more important than ever? I've had a practice of just you know eight to ten minutes of silence in the morning each morning And it's just done absolute wonders for my sanity And I recommend that if you're called to any sort of mindfulness training be it yoga long distance running meditation Whatever it is for you Taking that time for silence is really really important as the world gets noisier and noisier Yeah, the world health organization predicts that over the next few decades mental health is going to be the biggest health Challenge humanity is going to face Right, so it's fascinating listening to this discourse. I moved to new zealand in 1982 From the bay area And one of the things that really attracted to me to new zealand Was the lack of class that is a very classless society in 1982 And also the same things that attract you about biculturalism were very attractive to me But i've got some bad news to give you Biculturalism may be in the speeches of our leaders But if you look at the Um at all the demographic statistics for maori, their life expectancy is about you know 10 to 15 years shorter than for prakeha Income is far is far less prison population 50 percent maori despite being 15 percent of the population So yes, the the the veneer The story is is is a really good one and there is that commitment and there is a partnership between pakeha and maori But we have a really long way to go and just looking around the room here It's really interesting that we're mainly white and male And so we really need to include More of the people whose discourse we we want to integrate into our own into that conversation Which kind of leads on to the trend of increasing inequality Income inequality in particular and in the time frame that i've lived in new zealand between 1982 And 2015 We've gone from being one of the most equal societies in terms of income income distribution To one of the most unequal societies So the real question for me is how do we work as a group to address that issue? Because if we don't address the issue, uh, then the issue will address us It's all very easy for us to sit here and talk about it When we're flying all over the pacific And all over the world and spending money in a way that most other people could only dream of Thanks for bringing that up dave. I the inequality issue is something that Speaks to me very much and you know see that very clearly From where we come from in san francisco and it's more stark Than it is here. So I think somewhat we sort of like wow like new zealand's doing it better But obviously, you know, there's still a lot of problems and a lot of the challenges and During our kind of culture day a couple days ago We we sort of had a chance to to understand uh from different members of the community What are those challenges and what what occurs to me is that This is very much a systems level problem What I what I think ebbon sort of touches on and what speaks to me around the Biculturalism in new zealand is not that the systems are perfect. They seem far from it But that there's an intentionality amongst pretty much everyone that I meet that's very much desiring for Integrated healthy Mutually respectful bicultural relationships and really intercult you know multicultural It's not just pakeha. I'm a lot Maori, but also the the chinese population those crazy americans You know, there's a very open-minded cultural approach So, you know, I think These are problems that need to be solved everywhere The the rise of inequality I think threatens the very underpinnings of our civil society Worldwide and it's gotten to extremes in america and we see how this plays out in protest movements and You know disenfranchised populations and huge lost generations in europe You know 60 unemployment in greece These are very very real global challenges and you know, I think that For me I I get animated to to say okay This is yet another area where new zealand can lead and I think that the the raw underpinnings are there of mutual respect and intentionality out of the citizenry But the systems are not yet working to actually create that equitable Just culture You know, I think about that a lot and We're in this it's going to get worse before it gets better. I think and that's the inequality and it's it's fueled by Technology is part of it and then this unique position the u.s. Is in right now as the single global power and the ability to print money And so, you know that around 1970 they just started Printing and printing and it's caused this massive capital throughout the world which goes it so you have the sort of waves of capitalism expansion and Sort of commoditization of everything and it you can see what happens, you know It's it's causing the genie coefficient to go up and up and up and it's I don't know what's going to disrupt that that's the thing that i'm concerned about You know that's going to continue for a while So I just want to echo your point that that's one of the biggest threats to to the future that we have Yeah, that's that's a comment I wanted to make Dave and I appreciate you brought it in the conversation I mean if we live in a world where there's accelerating technology and a belief that many share that That that technology acceleration is adding leverage to the current systems that are causing massive inequality massive environmental degradation and so forth Um, and that the future is unknown. It's fairly unpredictable It's like adam you said like we don't know exactly how this is going to go because there's these thousand x types of Movements and translations that are happening I believe that the investment community is one of the key influencers and all of this because We get to help design those systems We get to help choose what are the solutions and so we can look at okay Is this business creating job training for impoverished communities? Is this is this business being run by leaders who have those development? Of soft skills who are thinking about diversity in the workplace who are trying to take a Structured business like approach to solving some of these fundamental challenges and problems Because what I see in silicon valley, and there's a lot of amazing investors But there's there's too much of a herd mentality in my opinion of how the venture capital community operates And just chases after what made money a few years ago And what I really I don't have the type of intimate familiarity with the new zealand investor ecosystem But what I really hope is that Because there's a little bit more silence here at the edge of the map That there can be more of a forward-looking approach and go okay if the world is changing so much over these next 10 years What is that system design that we want to do for this country and for the globe that addresses these fundamental issues because So many people seem like they're helpless in this design But those of us who have resources that we could deploy or at least influence Can make a really terrific impact on it I mean this is what you're gonna make the decision you're right well What if if you charitably give all your money away and allow a crowd of people To make the decision for you about where the money should be given So you actually Say okay look if this is for the betterment of these people why can't they decide how indeed it will better them rather than Seeing the people who have collected the capital is the people who are in the best position to allocate that capital Totally, I mean Strong plus one what I think we're gonna hear from annah later Crowd equity crowdfunding. I think is hugely important One of our missions is to increase the attention on philanthropy Because if people make a lot of money like do they really need to keep the money and just make more of it and invest It in for-profit structures or can we give it away and take advantage of this opportunity and human history to actually deploy capital to change things But that all being said I want to recognize in presence the fact a lot of people are managing funds And they're managing you know on behalf of LPs and and their stewards of capital and they need to earn a return But because we're dealing with you know criteria that often we only choose one two three out of a hundred investments We can be thoughtful and measured in our approach of what are the follow-on effects that this is happening in the globe At least that's my perspective If I uh just talking to the investment and you know one of the opportunities that I think that probably or maybe is Uniquely a New Zealand opportunity in terms of that investment space And it doesn't matter whether it's unique or not, but it is around it is around iwi and uh, and you know the The the the iwi are becoming significant investors in New Zealand and One of the things that's uh, you know that and it talks to your point about herd mentality and stuff That's not iwi. They're here for the long term. They're not going anywhere and And you know as an investor they're going to become increasingly important and in shaping the new New Zealand landscape and You know one of the opportunities. I think you guys you know you guys are looking at New Zealand and and and As a unique opportunity and I think relationships with iwi and an investment sense is one of those It's one of the places to be looking really because they have increasing Increasing wealth increasing capability They have a long term view in terms of being here and they're about New Zealand to state the obvious so You know, I think that's one of the places that you know one of the other conversations that's going on I know sort of in that investment framework sort of spaces is between um is between iwi and chinese and and uh with and with regard to land and um You know because there's an alignment in terms of time frames. There's an alignment in terms of Not requiring short term financial returns. Um And there's an alignment in terms of believing in the in the in the long term value of land and so You know, I mentioned that as sort of one of the other sort of pieces that I think will shape the landscape But I think you know you you guys I welcome it you look at the opportunity in New Zealand and stuff and I really think that's you know If you're talking about an investment landscape, that's one of them And then if I can use my time to ask a question, you know, which is you know, you you you talked, um I think it is just about you know News the culture providing an op a different way to look at problems and to look at opportunities offshore And I was just interested I guess as a new zealander to see to hear what you see is you know, what you what you're thinking about in terms of that What you see what what what's your what was behind that statement? so Yeah, I was thinking about this idea of that Any number of the experiments that we're doing today In our approach these problems Could pay a thousand extra term And in terms of the way that it the way that it's implemented in the in the future. We just don't know yet and so um Uh The way that the way that things are done here I think this goes back to what you had brought up the the way that the two cultures work together Is it it's a unique it's a unique Experiment almost in human history and it's it's happening right here. It's it's evolving right here And that mindset could be applied to problems throughout the world Um, and I as a scientist, I I want I'd live to see what what would happen You know Because one of those might you know if if if that's if it's true that we're at a moment in history Where thinking of the world as an island is like what we need to do today Not in a hundred years or not in a thousand years Then we'll find out really fast if it's if it's going to work Or maybe it's maybe it's actually a thousand years from now and it works. I don't know But I think that's interesting to think about one more comment here There's a lot of conversation going around about things like income inequality Inequality between men and women in the workplace these kinds of things and I think we When you start studying systems and big complex systems you start realizing that to fix something that You don't go to work on the thing you go to work upstream Several steps in the system to in order to do this and that systems tend to be very resilient and they push back And there are all of these side effects and we have to be careful, you know, we don't want to do what Deming called tampering and Mess it up But that said, um, I think we have to look at the like almost the other Perspective we have to invert it a little bit and ask start asking questions like How do we keep parents together? Raising their children and how do we get dads at home more? Raising their children and how do we raise humans that are more Integrated less fragmented human beings That don't go and do all these things in the first place you know and so you know here It seems like there's a lot more ecological thinking because somehow in this place even the folks that are you know more in the I don't know stereotypically disconnected worlds of investment and technology and so forth They're still more connected to the land here than they are in most places that I've seen Especially where I come from in America So that ecological thinking seems more intuitive here So I suspect that there are a lot of things culturally here that could be studied a little bit closer And looked at and then taken and brought to the rest of the world that are really great resources you know I wonder if there is a place where you've got very high levels of Parents staying together like other places in the world and taking like that taking knowledge from that part of the world taking knowledge around the ecological appreciation that's here And studying that somebody if somebody could round that up and look at those places throughout the world that would be interesting Yeah We're approaching lunch. Uh, there are a couple of people who have been raising their hands So love to give them an opportunity but before I do so we've talked a little bit about land and Uh, we're in a primarily farming nation Curious to hear What are you some of your thoughts on the future of food? And how we should think about farming and and our relation to that and any trends that you see I think it's a critically critically important question to be asking of of how do we think about our our food systems as they relate to our integration with the natural ecosphere There's You know, there's been a lot of stats and we talked about this on saturday, you know, the populations are rising There's no new arable land coming online In fact, topsoil is degrading at a very rapid rate making less and less land available to feed more and more people I think it's really complex and Very much a system food is all interrelated You can't really think about food unless you're also thinking about water And can't think about that unless you're thinking about energy Can't think about energy without thinking about the whole economy and our whole frame and paradigm for doing things So food goes all the way to the bottom It's it's like the root physicality that our entire civilization is built upon And nothing works without food And so I think that over the next 10 years in terms of themes. I think that agriculture Food as well as medicine. I think these are two things that aren't commonly linked But we need to be thinking about our food system and our health system as one and you know, I think the convergence of Of climate change and in these ecological pressures Create a problem But I also think that there are new systems coming online through technology Both ancient and modern so you know ancient technology like permaculture and biomimicry Modern technology like robotics and sensor technologies Present an opportunity a tremendous opportunity in New Zealand Both for the application of these systems just simply using the best practices could prevent Present a substantial improvement in the yield for New Zealand farm and agricultural exports and simultaneously The development of new technologies because this is not an area and I can sort of highlight this for from silicon valley perspective There is very little awareness of the agricultural sector in the traditional technology hot spots and One key advantage that I think New Zealand has is a highly educated World-class forward thinking population that is embedded in an agricultural economy And so they understand the problems that are faced the farmers aren't six hours drive away and you know So there's an ability to to really get things going here And I think that it's it's a huge global problem And and it's going to be something that's getting a lot a lot more attention in the next couple of years as food security becomes a much bigger issue health care crisis that we face in the u.s. Is really rising awareness of this food food Right we I like definitions If you look at most of the things that people put into their Mouths and swallow. They would be almost better described as semi edible food-like substances And that's most of what people eat where I come from anyway Um, and so I think it you know the question is why are people putting that in their mouths and in their bodies? And you could say well because it tastes good. Well, that's that's true But I think that there's there's something deeper there. Um, I think that people use food to Make themselves feel better And that the more meaninglessness That humans experience and the more kind of disenfranchisement and the more just disconnected they feel from You know having meaning and having purpose and having connection to the people the more they need to find a way to fill that Hole inside of them and some people use drugs and some people use pornography and some people use semi-edible food-like substances Um, but getting to the heart of what we mean by food and you know, I think I think technology is going to really help out Um in this one because I think that when we can make food that Tastes the way that we like things to taste but has the nutrients in there as well Um, I think that that I think that's going to be a big one for uh for humans And it can be made of nutrition rather than What's in that stuff? That's a slight topic change. Um, Adam mentioned that Central governments have a license to print money and that's causing equality issues And I think while we're talking about future trends technology and investment It seems remiss not to discuss digital currency such as bitcoin lock Litecoin dogecoin and the blockchain technology and what that might Opportunities that that might create and being borderless. I can see there's huge potential in New Zealand for that However, I feel like I'm the only person I often interact with that wants to talk about that So I'm really interested in your understanding of What the opportunities might be for New Zealand what you're seeing in the us around the investment community's appetite for either investing in digital currency businesses Or transacting with digital currencies Anything in that space would be really interesting Do you have anything I don't I don't know a lot about it. Um, I I think investing in those uh in the companies. I think I think people have been holding back from investing Heavily in it, but I think that it's kind of a bottom-up Bootstrapping type business and a lot of them have gotten have they've gone really far on their own But a lot of companies are now offering You know, you can get your expenses done in bitcoin now. I mean we'd expensive. I does that and And so anecdotally, I think that people are using that as a form of payment and that's becoming more common That's for sure, but I'm not an expert on this stuff at all Matthew knows a lot more about Bitcoin than I do so I want to I I would love to just comment. It's something I'm I'm growing more passionate about I I guess it's just a couple quick observations. One would be, you know, mark endreason who who started net scape You know, he's calling this the most important invention, you know, essentially since we started the internet And um, and there are a lot of really really really smart people in silicon valley who think this is revolutionary In so many ways that have yet to be fully grogged So I think takeaway one is like we need to all learn more about it It's it's so complex and it's so big that we need to give it the appropriate spaciousness and and I'm really glad to hear you bring it up Um, you know, I think there's an important distinction between bitcoin and blockchain technology And so, you know, as we tease apart these conversations, that will be something that becomes more important Um, but I also just want to make an observation that because a lot of this stuff is network effect based New Zealand has this really interesting opportunity to be first in a lot of things because the networks are so tight And so you can actually spread things through a network here much much faster than in silicon valley Being in the united states market So I think that the startups that figure things out here could actually Create the solutions and export that ip globally and build them from a global perspective from the beginning But get it right in new zealand first and it could be a huge one of those thousand x types of opportunities for new zealand investors and entrepreneurs to focus on so You know, it's a sensitive topic when you get to the currency side of things and I you know I think it just needs to be a lot of education and discussion about it I'm by no means an expert, but it's something that we're we're definitely paying attention to and trying to develop points of view around Yeah, when we first came here, uh, one of the things I was really impressed by was the sophistication of the financial infrastructure You know, there's still check writing and stuff in the states and like you come here and it's like what's a check, you know Like it seems arcane Um, you know and that speaks to that sort of smaller tighter community There's also, you know, and folks I've talked to jurisdictions and and sort of legal regulatory issues that are really unclear and I think that That's good in a way. Like I don't know enough about bitcoin to know whether To know how good it is or not good. It is But it's again, this thing that comes back to the ability for new zealand to Be forward leading through leveraging its superior civic society It's okay Can we have a very thoughtful conversation with government about bitcoin and come to some sort of smart regulation that gives businesses the confidence to build in a certain jurisdiction And because like you said, it's global like I've met when we were at south by southwest last year I met several bitcoin entrepreneurs who are like, oh, new zealand. Do you think they'd let me do my start up there? and I don't know if it's a good thing or not, but you know, it's just sort of a It definitely shows the opportunity and you know, when a lot of people we've talked to are trying to recruit entrepreneurs here And that is a fast-growing potentially extremely important industry. I'm really glad that you brought that up Yeah, I'm not an expert on this this one, but I'm watching it With a lot of curiosity and anticipation. Um, but just to Bring a little bit of history, you know money has gone through a few major evolutions, right? So several thousand years ago. It was what they called commodity money So it'd be things like salt or barley where if something went wrong and you couldn't spend it You could always eat it, you know, and then it went to representative money where it'd be things like gold and silver and that was maybe a couple of thousand years ago and then a couple a few hundred years ago The banks figured out that you could get people to bring their gold in and leave with a piece of paper They said, you know, the light bulb went on And I was talking to Matthew. I don't know last year or something and he said You know, we're gonna look back on right now and we're gonna say you remember when we you know, we were around when Bitcoin started and that was a Somehow that just hasn't left me. I think about that one regularly. Um, yeah, it's gonna be a big deal I don't know how but it's gonna be it's another it's like another one of those You know, it's like when reptiles turned into mammals or something like something something's going on here that is We should all be paying attention to it Yeah, just just an observation and uh bill and Dave Uh, I think we've got to take seriously in New Zealand this question of inequality It's real and for us to move away from this Gathering here over the last five days and say hey, New Zealand's a great country. We need to lead We have the opportunity to be our first But inequality actually exists in here and the latest census of 2013 has just come out And while there's been significant improvement in the statistics for Maori You start from a low base. There's always going to be improvement And and things need to change and we we make no no apology and and as bills put out There's new leadership Being exemplified there the treaty settlements process has been successful And we're reinvesting a lot of our own and put the emphasis on own money back into it We're a lot of responsibility actually still relies back on government to provide an education system That's inclusive for all Uh, I am our unemployment rate is double the rate of Of of German New Zealand population Yeah, I actually don't think that a solo mum with three or four kids Takes any pride in knowing that their children or the husband is not at work That love them to be at work But it doesn't happen because we have into intergenerational unemployment that actually occurs But our presentation from to a raw raw pucky emphasizes the positive We we we go out and pipe paint a positive picture of what is trying to to happen That that we are protective of our environment and those who are here on saturday saw the geothermal exercises What you take you put back down on the ground. So in five years later it comes back Our farming practice is all basically an integrated model. Is that what you take from From the land you give back to the land If you don't look after the funeral our people say the funeral will not look after you So we need to look after it to ensure that for the future it looks after us And I I think the issue that you brought up about About you about the We've got to move past the intentionality The intention is good Yeah, we we have a free and open government in New Zealand, which you know people like me are extremely proud of but I think we we actually still still need to need to do more Yeah activities like like next and calories institute and what they're doing conservation environment wonderful No issue of that, but I do have an issue is when You're talking about the land, but we have a saying in Maori came fair to be a new new here tangata here tangata here tangata What is the most important thing? It is people. It is people. It is people Now if it's people How come conservation and the environment is more and more important than people How come these other activities are more important than our people suffering from inequality and generational unemployment? You can find for the conservation side of it Environment which also a key part of our big We measure our mountains and our rivers as our spiritual gliders But then it is still about people how then Can that sort of funding go into our people and you made the point? There's got to be somewhere along all the Silicon Valley Investment same as investment back in New Zealand Where is that five or 10 percent? That is going to be focused on How do we actually address this inequality? That is with with us And just leave you with a quote It's American to George Bateman The source of our problem is the difference between the way humans think and the way nature works Yeah And what majority of people around here are all systems people while George Bateman was the father of systems Well, I think it's just a reflection as we've said and once again. Thank you very much for this conference I'm leading this afternoon But it's been great the diversity and and the discussion and the ability for everybody to get up and have a say Kioro Nultato Just I'd like to mention John. I don't know how many of you have met him He leads the future of food projects with the toro pocket trust, which is the most successful e-we run farm in New Zealand located in Taupo Ananya garrison had He's been wanting to ask a question making a comment. You get the last one. Thank you Um, my one really is a story about my own personal experience of the future I've been focused and dedicated on New Zealand innovation for the last decade and a half You know going out and we're walking up sandhill road, etc And one of the most profound things actually happened to me in the last year Back in my own country where through a course of events I've become co-director and co-producer of a documentary that we're doing about the Tuhoe settlement Which um, I'll be happy to talk to you about um later And the the documentary is based on a on a two and a half hour interview between me and tamadi kruger who's led the settlement negotiations And I've learned so much about the future because you know what? It's not going to be delivered to us in 10 years time We will all walk out that door after this session into the future And I think that part of the frame that we're missing is the fact actually the future is there Right now and it's actually up to us to build it now some of the opportunity that has um, you know emanated through the treaty settlement process that we've heard in New Zealand Has created one of a point of inflection which doesn't exist in any other Western country really in the world at the moment and In the Tuhoe case basically that whole culture was almost Driven into non-existence And shelled for 150 years and I'll just finish with an anecdote because one of the comments that tamadi said to me And I felt very privileged to be the recipient of this comment. He said Just imagine if we hadn't waited 150 years just imagine what Tuhoe could have done with technology to create the future so In this frame humanity our existence. It's actually we are part of the biodiversity Just like a bee just like a butterfly So it's actually about a reframe of sovereignty And it's actually about us Being sovereign and providing the leadership And my challenge to all of us here is when we work walk through that door after the session We're walking into the future. So I don't want to actually wait 10 years The solutions are there. We've got the leadership in the room there, you know right here right now It's more a question of actually starting to do it And doing it in a respectful sense where we are part of the biodiversity And that we acknowledge tanga to whenua. So my story and my experience has actually been one of discovering the future By going back to the past Within my own culture