Dear Futurists,

In this newsletter, look out for a number of free (or discounted) offers, alongside other items of news.

1.) Special registration rate for two-day course Masters of the Exponential Age

This Saturday, Warrick Harniess and Patrick Romano are presenting a two-hour sampler of their course “Masters of the Exponential Age” to London Futurists, at our usual venue of Birkbeck College. See here for a reminder and to RSVP.

This session acts as an introduction to a version of the same material that extends over two days – at Cass Business School on the 9th and the 16th of November.

As a special arrangement, Warrick and Patrick have agreed to enable members of London Futurists to register for that two day course at the reduced price of £100 (compared to the standard fee of £200). Click on the “Tickets” button on their Eventbrite page and select the “London Futurists” ticket option.

Note that names of registrants who select that option will be cross-checked against the list of members of the London Futurists meetup as of 3rd November.

If you’re still unsure whether to attend the sampler session this Saturday, here’s what Warrick and Patrick have to say about it:

We will focus, as a starting point, on eight technologies that are key driving forces of change and debate in the exponential age:

• Artificial Intelligence
• Robotics
• Unmanned autonomous vehicles
• Internet of Things
• Blockchain
• 3D Printing
• Virtual Reality
• Augmented Reality

At the London Futurists event, we will share examples of the briefing packs that delegates at the full two-day event will receive, that focus on these eight technologies. We will also give participants the opportunity to debate and explore:

• Which of these technologies are most important for specific industries
• How technological progress is expected to influence the zeitgeist, policy and regulation – and vice versa.

It should be a lively two hours!

2.) LIMITED number of free tickets for GIANT Health Event, 16-18 November

I am speaking at the GIANT (Global Innovation and New Technology) Health Event coming to London’s South Bank on 16-18 November.

GIANT is bringing together diverse stakeholders from the global health community to London – the city which is, arguably, emerging as the digital health capital of the world. Participants will include healthcare pioneers from the USA, India, and Europe, from large global corporates through to SMEs and start-ups, covering pharma, biotech, NHS, IT, telcos, private health, investors and the general consumer.

Click here for latest programme news and speaker announcements.

As my guest you can attend for free by clicking here for tickets and using the code DAVIDWGUEST. But hurry, as there are only 20 tickets available with this code!  This code won’t work once they have all gone. In that case, you can still get 50% off a ticket using the code DAVIDW50.

Anyone who claims one of these free tickets but who then fails to attend any of the days will surely be noticed, as such, by the AGIs of the future who review human history 🙂

I’ll be speaking on the afternoon of the first day of the event, as follows:

The Abolition of Aging: Exploring four scenarios for the future of life extension

DAVID WOOD (UK) explores four scenarios for the future of healthy life extension over the next 25 years – scenarios that can be termed “Optimistic”, “Realistic”, “Pessimistic”, and “Abolitionist”.

Each of these scenarios is a credible development from the status quo. The speaker will look at critical factors which will vary the likelihoods of the different outcomes:

• Limitations of ongoing “business as usual” medical improvements
• Various possible engineering disruptions of the medical field
• Various possible social and political disruptions relevant to life extension.

Drawing from material from his recent book, “The Abolition of Aging”, the speaker will also:

• Defend his view that there’s around a 50% probability that, by 2040, comprehensive rejuvenation therapies will be widely available
• Refute arguments that these therapies are impossible or that, if possible, they should be opposed on moral or philosophical grounds
• Explain the importance of the concept of the “Longevity Dividend”
• Suggest actions that can be taken to increase the probability of the success of the “rejuveneering project”.

3.) Transpolitica 2016: Happening one month from today

The largest London Futurists gathering of the year will be taking place one month from today, that is on Saturday 3rd December. It’s the Transpolitica 2016 event, “Real world policy changes for a radically better future”. See here for the agenda and to register to attend.

Until the registration count reaches 90, the price of an “early bird” ticket is just £15. After that, tickets will be £20 each. From my experience, the registrations often follow a kind of exponential shape, with a slow initial period being followed by a more rapid surge.

The total attendance for this event is being capped at 180  (plus presenters, organisers, and press). Don’t miss out the opportunity to attend!

4.) Complimentary entrance to a couple of forthcoming DSMLF events

The Digital and Social Media Leadership Foundation (DSMLF) are kindly providing a number of complimentary tickets to London Futurists members to attend a couple of their forthcoming events – one on the impact of VR and 3D printing on consumer healthcare, and one on the impact of AI on white collar jobs.

Watch out for meeting announcements coming soon!

5.) Bitcoin, Blockchain Technology and the Future of Banking – Nov 22nd

This event by the “Future Thinking in Digital Marketing” meetup, on the evening of Tuesday 22nd November, has caught my eye. I plan to attend:

Rapidly advancing digital technologies, evolving customer expectations and a changing regulatory landscape are transforming the banking sector and opening the door new disruptive innovations like Blockchain, Bitcoin and Fintech.

In this post-Brexit environment, the nature and extent of these innovations and their impact on the UK financial services industry remains unclear.  In this evening event, we will explore the potential for these digital innovations to transform the financial ecosystem as well as the risks and opportunities that could emerge from changes in the way financial services will be structured, delivered and consumed in the future.

For our first speaker we welcome Peter Bidewell, CMO at Applied Blockchain who has a background is high growth technology startups in Consulting and FinTech who will be giving us a real life overview of the potential of Blockchain Technology and its unique ability to transform the future of banking. We will then be joined by Neil Bellamy who is Head of Technology, Media, Telecoms & Services at Royal Bank of Scotland.

We will finish the evening with a panel debate, questions, drinks and then networking. Please join us for what promises to be a fascinating debate.

Click here for more details and to RSVP to attend.

// David W. Wood
Chair, London Futurists