Singularity University Lectures: Astro Teller on Innovation

by Socrates on July 6, 2011

Many of you have asked me to post my lectures and, on those rare occasions that I can, I do so with pleasure.

Last week we had Astro Teller‘s lecture on Innovation and so far it is one of my top five most favorite lectures here at Singularity University.

Special thanks to both Astro and Singularity University who agreed to let me publish the class in full for it is indeed simply the best lecture on innovation that I have ever heard.

Enjoy!

Who is Astro Teller?

Dr. Astro Teller is currently Director of New Projects for Google, working to help the company explore new potential business areas. Astro is also co-founder and a current Director of Cerebellum Capital, Inc, a hedge fund management firm whose investments are continuously designed, executed, and improved by a software system based on techniques from statistical machine learning. Astro is also co-founder and a current Director of BodyMedia, Inc, a leading wearable body monitoring company.

From 2007 to 2010, Astro was the founding CEO of Cerebellum Capital. From 1999 to 2007, Dr. Teller was the founding CEO of BodyMedia, Inc. From 2003 to 2010, Astro was a co-founder and Chairman of Zivio Technologies, an intellectual property holding company. Prior to starting BodyMedia, Dr. Teller was co-founder, Chairman, and CEO of Sandbox Advanced Development, an advanced development technology company. Before his tenure as a business executive, Dr. Teller taught at Stanford University and was an engineer and researcher for Phoenix Laser Technologies, Stanford’s Center for Integrated Systems, and The Carnegie Group Incorporated. Dr. Teller holds a Bachelor of Science in computer science from Stanford University, Masters of Science in symbolic and heuristic computation, also from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. in artificial intelligence from Carnegie Mellon University, where he was a recipient of the prestigious Hertz fellowship.

As a respected scientist and seasoned entrepreneur, Teller has successfully created and grown five companies and holds numerous U.S. patents related to his work in hardware and software technology. Dr. Teller’s work in science, literature, art, and business has appeared in international media from the New York Times to CNN to NPR’s “All Things Considered.” Teller regularly gives invited talks for national and international technology, government, and business forums on the subject of the future of intelligent technology.

Astro Teller had a single kung fu and judo slide all throughout his 90 min presentation

Video Update:

Here is the full video of Astro’s presentation:

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  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Julie-Danaylov/679575645 Julie Danaylov

    A very interesting perspective on the topic of innovation. I like Astro’s energy and passion about the topic. Some of my favourite lines “You can become constipated with good ideas…make way for the great ideas by killing the mediocre ones” & “The best way to predict the future is to invent it…”

    It was great also to be able to hear the majority of the questions from the students present in the lecture. Why wasn’t Socrates on the mic?

    Thanks for posting! Hopefully we’ll get to hear some more SU lectures in future posts.

  • dandan

    I really appreciate the view into SU that you are providing. Thanks!

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  • Paul Carr

    Just finished listening to this, and it is a very good talk, with lots of counterintuitive points to ponder.

  • http://singularityblog.singularitysymposium.com/ Socrates

    Very happy you liked it Paul!
    Astro’s presentation is one of my favorites too. But I do have other good ones coming up soon ;-)

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