"Valley Future" Posts on ValleyZen

“It’s not brain surgery—It’s economics,” Meg Whitman recalled the take of her brain surgeon husband, Dr. Griffith Harsh, on California’s budget crisis. With a wry sense of humor, and authentic personal stories, Meg shared her impressive vision for a new California at the MEGa Women Bay Area Launch. Pumping up the audience was Statewide Chairwoman Jillian Manus: “there’s so much estrogen in this room, it could blow off the roof.” A diverse audience of female Silicon Valley influencers cheered when Jillian challenged them to go out and make MEGa Women a million strong…

Who are the most influential women in technology for 2009? You had to be with ValleyZen in the Fairmont San Jose last Thursday to be able not only to see but to experience the answer.

Women have gone a long way in tech, and the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology’s Women of Vision’s Award celebration and dinner presented ample evidence of the distances women have traveled. The event was beautifully emceed by CBS News Anchor, Sydnie Kohara with inspirational opening remarks by Telle Whitney, President & CEO of the Institute. The 2009 Women of Vision Awards honored three women who have made significant contributions to technology through outstanding innovation, leadership, and social Impact.

ValleyZen got full access to these inspirational women and the ambitious event. We interviewed the keynote speaker and the award recipients and spoke to numerous other accomplished women in technology, from…

You already know it all about the fabled “Über Entrepreneur” (as he was billed by the Churchill Club yesterday) Elon Musk. How he dropped out of the graduate program in Physics at Stanford after only two days, how he co-founded PayPal and was the largest shareholder when it sold to EBAY in 2002 for 1.5 billion, and all about his latest accomplishments and adventures with Tesla and SpaceX.

At ValleyZen we like to report on what we don’t know about yet, what’s new, what is in the imaginative space. In a Sumi-e painting that’s like the negative space, the space between brush strokes where all possibilities lie. People in Silicon Valley are comfortable with things that haven’t been defined yet and with what is uncertain. That’s exciting.

Yesterday we met with Elon and…

After his presentation today, Tom Siebel fielded audience questions.
A voice began speaking…

“What are you?” Siebel asked.
“A freshman,” the voice said.
“What are you studying?”
“Still figuring that out.”
“Me too,” said Siebel.

Silicon Valley gets Zen.

In the 80s and 90s, Siebel’s expertise in relational database theory helped him make Siebel Systems a global leader in software. Now he is becoming a Zen beginner—moving away from his domain, IT (Information Technology) into a totally new arena (Energy Technology). Even though Siebel has spent the last three years doing research on energy issues, this is uncharted territory for him. He’s taking a radical departure from his “comfort zones” in order to tackle pressing ecological problems. Siebel gave us a sneak preview of…

Go all access with us at Tim O’Reilly’s home, as he graciously opens his doors to ValleyZen.

Join us in an exclusive video experience where twisting country backroads lead to the home of the Founder & CEO of O’Reilly Media. ValleyZen was invited to O’Reilly’s Sebastopol dwelling which is nestled on 6 acres of farmland–far from Silicon Valley hustle and bustle, and tucked between California earth and sky.

O’Reilly is candid, open and relaxed, taking us on a tour of his home, his kitchen, and even his treehouse. This video is filled with action, movement, and satori!

The trailer below shows a few minutes of highlights taken from footage shot over the course of an entire morning…

The first time I met Apple Co-Founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak was in 1976 when they came to my office to talk about a company they were starting. Back then, Wozniak and Jobs were leaders in the two strongest directions of Collective Intelligence– building tools to achieve extensions of the human being, and facilitating the collection of human thoughts in a shared repository. Indirectly, the two Steves were followers of Doug Engelbart, the leader in the field of Collective Intelligence. Doug Engelbart’s concept of the use of a mouse was implemented by Apple to revolutionize a new human machine interface…

Watch an exclusive video interview with Jim Barnett, Founder & CEO of Turn, Inc. Barnett opens up to ValleyZen poolside under California redwoods. Jim Barnett’s Zen insights are invaluable for entrepreneurs , business people, or anyone implementing a big vision.

Don’t Miss Jim Barnett on:

• 19 years of morning meditation
• Riding up King’s Mountain to clear his mind
• Simplicity in advertising
• On naming his company “TURN”
• Performance and simplicity behind Turn
• On building a culture of honesty and Zen authenticity
• Why he doesn’t care about reference checks in hiring…
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Run, don’t walk, or better yet take your flying machine to see LEONARDO: 500 Years into the Future. This 30,000 square foot exhibit is at the Tech Museum for a limited time and ends on January 4th. ValleyZen was so impressed with our first visit that we returned and took some friends with us again yesterday. Why you should make it a must on your todo list of mind-expanding activities for 2008:

# 10 Rack up Renaissance Frequent Flyer Miles…

The Tech Awards show that “Big changes come from simple solutions” said Tech President Peter Friess —opening an elegant black tie gala for the premier annual humanitarian awards programs in the world. Over 1500 Tech Museum friends & donors gathered to honor 25 global innovators (Laureates) who were carefully selected from hundreds of applications received from 68 countries. $250,000 in cash awards were distributed on one evening.

“We are gathering all the intellectual capital of all these prestigious laureates…

ValleyZen was invited to the third Singularity Summit 2008 – a conference discussing “The Singularity” a point at which machines will be able to surpass human intelligence. Ray Kurzweil, CEO of Kurzweil Technologies and author of The Singularity is Near headlined the conference along with technological and academic heavyweights like Intel CTO Justin Rattner, X PRIZE Foundation Founder, Chair & CEO Peter Diamandis, Investor/Entrepreneur Esther Dyson, MIT Center for Bits and Atoms Director Neil Gershenfeld, CEO of Novamente, director of research at SIAI, Ben Goertzel, and over a dozen others.

At a private reception hosted the night before the conference at the Tech Museum, we spoke with Ben Goertzel. Drue asked Ben if a machine could reach enlightenment. Please check out his response. It’s sure to provoke you…