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!
Why 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.”
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