2008 Woodie Awards
Men of Vision
Alex Godden (OJ), Viewpoints Editor
Issue date: 11/19/07 Section: Viewpoints & Humor
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At Cyberposium last weekend I had the pleasure of speaking with two very different men who both have very distinctive visions of the future. Ray Kurzweil is a futurist, inventor, entrepreneur and author who successfully predicted many of the trends of the last thirty years and has calculated that there is a good chance man will achieve immortality within our lifetime. Philip Rosedale is the founder and CEO of Second Life, an online world which he believes has the potential to be just like real life, but 'warmer and kinder'.
Intense and carefully spoken, slowing down and even dictating punctuation to me as I typed during the interview, I got the impression that everything Ray Kurzweil does is extremely well thought through. His talk is meticulously researched and thoroughly documented, and he sat in on many of the other events and lunch with the same quiet, focused concentration, usually flanked by his family. He signed a stack of Cyberposium booklets with tidy efficiency, and I could well believe that the tiny suitcase he wheeled out after him held everything he could possibly need for a month, such is the impression of organization and detailed preparation that he exudes.
Philip Rosedale, on the other hand, is tall, boyish-looking and ceaselessly energetic. I followed him around for three hours as he made a keynote speech, took part in a panel, was photographed, hugged, shaken hands with and handed out piles and piles of business cards. I ended up interviewing him as he walked from building to building, ate a sandwich, and said hi to absolutely everyone who smiled at him. Despite this social ADD, he has the rare ability to make whoever he is speaking to feel as though they are receiving 100% of his attention: there is an approachability to this guy that belies his success, and his enthusiasm is infectious.
Hoping to start with the easiest question I asked both men which two or three websites that they visited every day without fail, expecting answers along the lines of Google, Facebook and the BBC news headlines (my personal top 3). Perhaps unsurprisingly Ray Kurzweil cited kurzweilai.net, where his team aggregate interesting news, articles and other content. When asking Philip Rosedale I took the precaution of warning him that Second Life was not an acceptable answer, and found out that he used to be a regular visitor to news.com and Slashdot.org, but these days finds himself too busy. He does at least have a Facebook page (as Philip Linden) unlike Ray Kurzweil who looked faintly amused at the suggestion. Clearly once you are important enough to speak at Cyberposium you don't have time for idle websurfing.
Intense and carefully spoken, slowing down and even dictating punctuation to me as I typed during the interview, I got the impression that everything Ray Kurzweil does is extremely well thought through. His talk is meticulously researched and thoroughly documented, and he sat in on many of the other events and lunch with the same quiet, focused concentration, usually flanked by his family. He signed a stack of Cyberposium booklets with tidy efficiency, and I could well believe that the tiny suitcase he wheeled out after him held everything he could possibly need for a month, such is the impression of organization and detailed preparation that he exudes.
Philip Rosedale, on the other hand, is tall, boyish-looking and ceaselessly energetic. I followed him around for three hours as he made a keynote speech, took part in a panel, was photographed, hugged, shaken hands with and handed out piles and piles of business cards. I ended up interviewing him as he walked from building to building, ate a sandwich, and said hi to absolutely everyone who smiled at him. Despite this social ADD, he has the rare ability to make whoever he is speaking to feel as though they are receiving 100% of his attention: there is an approachability to this guy that belies his success, and his enthusiasm is infectious.
Hoping to start with the easiest question I asked both men which two or three websites that they visited every day without fail, expecting answers along the lines of Google, Facebook and the BBC news headlines (my personal top 3). Perhaps unsurprisingly Ray Kurzweil cited kurzweilai.net, where his team aggregate interesting news, articles and other content. When asking Philip Rosedale I took the precaution of warning him that Second Life was not an acceptable answer, and found out that he used to be a regular visitor to news.com and Slashdot.org, but these days finds himself too busy. He does at least have a Facebook page (as Philip Linden) unlike Ray Kurzweil who looked faintly amused at the suggestion. Clearly once you are important enough to speak at Cyberposium you don't have time for idle websurfing.
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