Favourite innovation that isn’t yours?

The Tesla Semi

Favourite innovation that is yours?

Peanut butter with Sriracha and avocado on toast. Honestly, try it.

Most interesting launch/trend/idea/building/product of the year?

Bitcoin going bonkers.

Lamest launch/trend/idea/brand/building/product of the year?

Fidget spinners. I got one midyear and it cost me a lot of time.

Most promising New Zealand company/companies?

Sunfed Meats.

Heroes?

Tim Brown, Allbirds founder: an incredibly nice guy. Elon Musk because he’s saving the planet. Jacinda Ardern because she understands how important climate change action is. 

Villains?

Trump. The man has declared war on the planet. 

Best stoush?

Ardern vs English.

Your own biggest success?

Trump Forest.

What’s the biggest mistake innovators/businesses will make in 2018?

Biggest mistake would be to do anything in the meat or dairy space without taking into account how disruptive plant-based proteins will be.

What do you expect to see in the next five years?

Lots of plant-based meat and dairy alternatives, 

What will be dead in the next five years?

Fidget spinners. So help me God. 

What should be invented and/or un-invented?

Invented: automatically rocking hammocks. 

Un-invented: Snapchat.

What’s the one piece of tech would you have on a desert island?

An orgasmatron.

Favourite book/TV show/podcast/album/website/magazine/story/performance enhancing drug of the year?

Homo Deus / Narcos / Radio Lab / London Grammar – Truth is a Beautiful Thing / Idealog =) / Hosking enjoying Sunfed  / acid microdosing

?

Will the robots become sentient and kill us all? (asking for a friend)

No. But they will probably absorb us. 

How long before we have:  

Driverless cars?

Mainstream on the roads? 5 years.

Flying cars?

10-15 years before they’re common.

Immortality?

35 years — immortality from disease, old age and illness for those who can afford it. Not immortal from accident or trauma. 

Cities that all look like Venice?

Hah. 30 years for parts of Christchurch and Auckland. 

No planet to live on?

Never if Musk makes it to Mars.

No animals farmed or eaten?

20 years til the last animal is eaten, much sooner (8 years) in developed countries.

Chatbot lovers?

Next year… surely.

Fusion energy?

Today, it travels above us across the sky every day. 

Universal basic income?

5-10 years before it’s mainstream.

Chips implanted in our brains?

5 years.

Colonies on Mars?

2085.

*****

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