Jun 14, 2018
What’s the Future? The “Oracle of Silicon Valley” shares his contrarian thoughts about technology, capitalism, and preparing for the big shifts on the horizon.
This week we’re talking with futurist and author of the book “WTF: What’s the Future?” Tim O’Reilly. Although he’s not a manufacturer himself, his insightful perspectives are useful for anyone who wants to be prepared for a future driven by technology trends. You might not have heard Tim’s name before, but you probably know his work. He popularized terms like open source and Web 2.0. As an early evangelist for the maker movement, he and his firm O’Reilly Media started Make Magazine and Maker Faire. And he’s been an early champion of the Internet of Things. Going way back, he wrote about the world wide web before most of us ever heard about it, back in 1994.
I was curious, given Tim’s superpowers in identifying trends, where he thinks technology is going today and how it will impact the future of work and business. We talk about his thoughts on the role of capitalism and Silicon Valley. He also shares ideas from his book and many others (links below). I ask Tim how to predict the future, and he tells me that’s the wrong question. But, he gives us excellent tips for identifying trends and some really provocative ideas about our role as entrepreneurs in developing a just and abundant world for everyone. He’s a deep thinker, and it’s no surprise he’s been called The Oracle of Silicon Valley.
This conversation was recorded live at Cross Campus in Downtown LA, as part of the LiveTalks: Business series.
Books mentioned:
WTF: What’s the Future – Tim O’Reilly
Tao Te Ching – Lao Tzu
Who Gets What and Why – Alvin Ross
Why Nations Fail – Daron Acemoglu & James Robinson
Murder in the Cathedral – TS Eliot
Quotes:
“The future is here, just not evenly distributed” – William Gibson
“Social Responsibility of a business is to Increase its Profits” – Milton Friedman
Learn more:
@timoreilly
Tim O’Reilly has a history of convening conversations that reshape the computer industry. If you’ve heard the term “open source software” or “web 2.0” or “the Maker movement” or “government as a platform” or “the WTF economy,” he’s had a hand in framing each of those big ideas. He is the founder, CEO, and Chairman of O’Reilly Media, and a partner at early stage venture firm O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures (OATV). He is also on the boards of Maker Media (which was spun out from O’Reilly Media in 2012), Code for America, PeerJ, Civis Analytics, and PopVox. His book, WTF: What’s the Future and Why It’s Up to Us, was released by Harper Collins in October 2017.
For more information, check out the show notes at http://makeitinla.org/timoreilly.