Jamie Metzl

Converging political, geopolitical, and technological revolutions are making now the greatest moment of global change at least since 1945 and possibly ever. With nationalism rising around the world, the post-war international order in rapid decline, China significantly expanding its global influence, and the AI, genetics, blockchain, and other revolutions shaking the foundations of the world we’ve known, the pressure is mounting for individuals, companies, and countries to either understand and quickly adapt to these converging super-trends or pay a massive competitive price. In this talk spanning the wide range of factors transforming our world at lightning speed, geopolitical expert and technology futurist Jamie Metzl paints a vivid picture of where we are heading and outlines key principles for how individuals, companies, and countries can best position themselves to ride the rising tidal wave of revolutionary change.

Corporations have struggled for decades to build open and inclusive workplaces comfortable to people of all races, nationalities, genders, ages, and sexual orientations. In the fast-arriving genetic age, companies will need to figure out such issues as whether to cover embryo selection and embryonic genetic engineering for employees and how to deal with genetic IQ estimates derived before birth from the sequenced genomes of potential employees. While this may seem like science fiction, the beginnings of this future are already here. Today’s debate about whether or not companies should cover egg freezing expenses for female employees is only a first step in a genome-based transformation that will alter our perception of workforce capabilities and potentials and challenge even the most forward-thinking of corporations.

After four billion years of evolution through the Darwinian principles of random mutation and natural selection, our species is about to take control of our evolution. The genetic revolution will allow us to eliminate genetic diseases which have plagued our ancestors for millennia, live longer healthier lives, and transform how we make babies and ultimately the nature of the babies we make. The genetics revolution will be the greatest opportunity of our era, and also the greatest challenge – and it will have massive business implications that will increasingly define organizational success and failure in the 21st century.

In this exciting talk, Jamie Metzl explores the latest technological breakthroughs in the science of human life extension and their implications on the personal and societal levels. While the quest for immortality has been the stuff of fairy tales, the new science of life extension is very real and will soon be pushing the limits of aging and unlocking human potential. Jamie, a rare combination of science expert and science fiction writer, brings the science to life and explains what people can and should be doing now to prepare for this revolutionary future that will fundamentally reorganize modern societies and have monumental implications for businesses and other organizations.

After four billion years of evolution through the Darwinian principles of random mutation and natural selection, our species is about to take control of our evolution. The genetic revolution will allow us to eliminate genetic diseases which have plagued our ancestors for millennia, live longer healthier lives, and transform how we make babies and ultimately the nature of the babies we make. The genetics revolution will be the greatest opportunity of our era, and also the greatest challenge – and it will have massive business implications that will increasingly define organizational success and failure in the 21st century.

Fast-rising China is not just changing Asia, it is fundamentally transforming the global order. China’s economic growth, military expansion, behavior in the South and East China Seas, growing presence around the world, and increasingly emboldened foreign policy present a growing challenge to the US-led global system created in the aftermath of the Second World War. With America less able to serve as guarantor of the international system, and Europe incapable of realizing a coordinated foreign policy strategy and unwilling to invest sufficiently in military readiness, efforts to address major crises, promote a single set of rules governing the global economy, and support human rights around the world are faltering. But with China's investment and manufacturing-based growth strategy losing steam, China itself will need to find a new model if it is to avoid stagnation. Living in a post-American world will have enormous consequences and touch every aspect of our lives. In this exciting talk, Metzl gives explores the key drivers of our fundamentally transforming world, what it will mean for global politics, economics, and culture, and how businesses and other organizations can best prepare.