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On the Brink with Andi Simon

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  2. 156: Sam Radocchia—Let’s Become Familiar With The Unfamiliar

156: Sam Radocchia—Let’s Become Familiar With The Unfamiliar

Oct 14, 2019

Learn about the emerging technologies that are coming at us, fast!

Samantha Radocchia, or "Sam Rad" for short, is an entrepreneur, speaker, author, futurist and emerging tech advocate who combines the mindsets of an anthropologist and a technologist—which is why I was so excited to have her join me on our podcast. Did you know that On The Brink With Andi Simon is ranked in the top 9 futurist podcasts for 2019? (You can read about it on LinkedIn.) This led us to ask, What is a futurist?, which led us to Sam Rad, a perfect guest for our program. Sam did a podcast with me back in 2018 on blockchain which was shared widely. In this podcast, we focus on her new book, "Bitcoin Pizza: A No-Bullshit Guide to Blockchain,"  as well as what has been happening with blockchain in the year since we last spoke. Don't miss it!

Sam Radocchia-1Why Bitcoin Pizza?

You have to listen to Sam tell the story about the "10,000-bitcoin pizza" which was the start of using bitcoin for “general” purchases. What has now become an origin myth of great proportions goes like this: On May 22, 2010, now known as Bitcoin Pizza Day, Laszlo Hanyecz offered to pay 10,000 bitcoins for two delivered Papa John's pizzas. A British man took up Hanyecz's offer and bought the two pizzas for him in exchange for the 10,000 Bitcoins. This set in motion something that few saw coming: a world-wide movement to change much of what we thought was “the way we do things.” By the way, those original Papa John's pizzas are now worth over $80 million.

What's so exciting is hear Sam talk about her vision for blockchain

Blockchain is more than a bitcoin currency. To Sam, it's something much broader and transformational. As she says in her new book: “The way I see it, blockchain isn’t just a technology. It’s a technological manifestation of a social paradigm shift from centralized to decentralized, from siloed to open, from controlled to self-enforcing.”bitcoin pizza

Today, blockchain is tackling a huge array of everyday tasks and challenges. If you're not familiar with blockchain, it's a safe, secure system that allows us to more easily manage our business and personal lives. Whether it's overseeing your banking, paying your taxes, booking vacations, eliminating property title insurance, producing safer medications, tagging and tracking diamonds, or making sure Wal-Mart’s food is safe for its customers, blockchain is not just another way to do things. According to Sam, it is going to become the best way. And, very soon.

In previous On The Brink podcasts, we've heard similar prophecies from Marton Ven when he spoke about blockchain and the food system, and Jared Tate when he shared his thoughts on the growth of Digibyte in two podcasts, the first in June 2018 and the second in March 2019.

As you've probably guessed by now, the future is coming at us fast. Are you ready?

Samantha Radocchia: entrepreneur, author, speaker, futurist

A reformed gamer, "Sam Rad" started studying virtual currencies in 2009 while writing her anthropology thesis on currency exchanges in the virtual world. Since then, she has founded three companies, holds several patents, and was an early outspoken voice in blockchain as the co-founder of Chronicled, an enterprise blockchain company focused on supply chain. She now consults executives, trade associations, governments and investors on emerging technology trends. 

In addition to emerging technology, Sam is deeply passionate about Future of Work, Future of Production, Future of Community and the sustainability of business. She speaks worldwide on organizational culture and theory, particularly as we shift to globally distributed and remote workforces. Her lectures on risk, emotional intelligence and intuition have been featured by such globally recognized universities as MIT, Columbia and UCL.  

Two years ago, Sam was named to the 2017 Forbes 30 Under 30 List for Enterprise Technology. She's also a competitive skydiver, having accumulated over 700 jumps. Her blog, “Radical Next Ideas," is well worth checking out.

You can reach Sam here:

To get up to speed on blockchain, dig into these blogs and podcasts:

Additional resources