Episode 12 / Ramez Naam

Seeing the Future

About our Guest /

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Not many people manage to write critically acclaimed science-fiction series and equally appreciated non-fiction books. Even smaller subset happens to also be energy analysts and investors. And there’s only one who, in addition, holds several patents, some co-authored with Bill Gates.

 

Ramez Naam is, by all measures, a rare type of person.

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Originally from Cairo, Egypt he moved to the US at the age of 3. He studied computer science and started his career with Microsoft, where he worked on the company’s flagship projects – including Outlook.

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After 13 years, he switched to the energy sector and was one of the first to spot the exponential cost trends in renewables. In his 2011 piece ‘Smaller, Cheaper, Faster’ he noted that solar had the steepest learning curve and would eventually become the cheapest source of power.

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Ramez has written five books – the first two about the frontiers of science and how they will impact, for the better, on the human condition: The Infinite Resource: the power of ideas on a finite planet (2013) and More than human (2005). These were followed by three science fiction titles, Nexus, Crux and Apex (2015).

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Ramez is also an angel investor, focused on energy and sustainability, a co-chair for energy and the environment at the Singularity University, an advisor to Shell New Energies, as well as a very in-demand public speaker. He covers not only energy, but also issues like transhumanism.

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Premiered / October 7, 2020   

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Guest Links / 

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• Ramez Online: Click here

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• Ramez's Amazon Authors Page: Click here

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• Smaller Cheaper Faster (2011): Click here

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• Ramez Naam: Capitalism is not the Enemy of Climate (2015): Click here

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• Solar's Future is Insanely Cheap: Click here

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• Scenarios for a solar singularity (Liebreich, December 2018): Click here

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Show Transcript / 

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