Software is eating the world, right? We've all heard this phrase by now, but inventor and investor Pablos Holman has something important to add: “The world can't eat software.”

That’s why Pablos focuses on “deep tech”, i.e. how to invent new solutions to real world problems like energy, water, waste, construction, and sanitation. Pablos says we’re still mostly using version 1.0 technology for these fundamental systems, but recent advances, including AI and the ability to prototype and test in software, are enabling incredible innovation in hardware.

Pablos has worked with Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and more. He's kind of a mad scientist and in this episode we’ll discuss things that sound like science fiction, but that Pablos says are coming soon, such as solar panels in outer space that can beam clean energy down to earth, autonomous cargo ships blown by the wind across the ocean, and tiny nuclear reactors buried a mile underground that power the world above.

At Deep Future, Pablos is on a mission to solve the world's biggest problems, and he's hoping more people will make the jump that he did from software to hardware and into deep tech, because, as he says, “ all the people who've been building software their entire career, those are the ones who are going to save the world.”

—
Chapters

02:25 Deep tech and why it’s so important

05:56 How Pablos became an inventor

07:44 Getting Blue Origin off the ground

11:35 Running an invention lab at Intellectual Ventures

13:40 Why solar panels in space will soon power Earth

16:46 Why all problems are energy problems

21:33 Better nuclear reactors are coming

28:25 How rapid iteration in software enables better hardware

31:35 An appeal to software people to get into deep tech — and save the world

—

Links:

Deep Future book, podcast, and firm: deepfuture.tech
PopTech conference: poptech.org (if you're new to PopTech and would like a discount, email me or DM me on LinkedIn)
Sign up for the CRAFTED. newsletter: crafted.fm
Learn more about how Modern Product Minds can help you build the future: modernproductminds.com
Email me: dan@modernproductminds.com