Bill Murphy's RedZone 10X Podcast - S8 E6: Man is Much More than a Tool Builder, He is An Inventor of Universes

S8 E6: Man is Much More than a Tool Builder, He is An Inventor of Universes

07/05/19 • 60 min

Today my conversation is with David Smith. He’s the CEO and Founder of Croquet Studios

David Smith is a computer scientist and entrepreneur who has focused on interactive 3D and using 3D as a basis for new user environments and entertainment for over thirty years. His specialty is system design and advanced user interfaces. He is a pioneer in 3D graphics, robotics, telepresence, artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR). He creates world-class teams and ships impossible products.

In 1987, Smith created The Colony, the very first real-time 3D adventure game/shooter and the precursor to today's first-person shooters. The game was developed for the Apple Macintosh and won the "Best Adventure Game of the Year" award from MacWorld Magazine.

In 1990, Smith founded Virtus Corporation and developed Virtus Walkthrough, the first real-time 3D design application for personal computers. Virtus Walkthrough won the very first MacWorld/MacUser Breakthrough Product of the Year.

David was Chief Innovation Officer at Lockheed Martin and a Senior Fellow at Lockheed Martin MST, focused on next-generation, human centric computing and collaboration platforms. Here he developed a number of key technologies and won the Lockheed Martin TLS Inventor of the Year for the last four years (every year he has been eligible).

What’s really, really interesting is that he worked closely with authors Tom Clancy (Rainbow Six, Hunt for Red October) and Michael Crichton (Andromeda Strain, Jurassic Park) to develop games.

But that’s only the beginning. . . .

David believes that the year 1968 was the most critical year in computer science. In this one year, three key individuals launched what he considers, and what he’s continuing to build upon, is this goal of enhancing humans’ ability to solve hard problems using computers to think in a different way. Again, enhancing humans’ ability to solve hard problems using computers to think in a different way.

He’s building upon the work of, really the pioneers in the internet: Doug Engelbart, Alan Kay, and Ivan Sutherland’s work - all focused on working with the Xerox Alto Project from a long time ago – close to 50-years ago. Some of these breakthroughs - that even amazed Steve Jobs, as you can see on some of his YouTube videos from years’ ago when he was stunned as he looked at the Xerox Alto project. At that time, what really stuck out for Steve Jobs was the gooey interface. This was really that first interface between a computer and a human.

David’s passion is to continue to use his skills and his competencies and capabilities in 3D and 3D engineering and design. His goal is to develop these applications and systems and platforms that are really going to transform how we use computers and solve big problems in the coming years. He’s exploring the use of 3D and graphical situations that we can’t even imagine right now, and problem solving and using computers to solve interesting challenges and complex problems moving forward.

So, with that, I wanted to introduce you to my conversation and wonderful interview with David Smith.

Read the full transcript here

Major Take-Aways from This Episode:

What is an Augmented Conversation?
The future of turning a computer into a vehicle to exchange ideas in real-time and sophisticated areas.
How a fusion of ideas reinvents and redefines the vision of what computing is.

How to get in touch with David A. Smith:

Resources Referenced

Platform for the Future of AR & VR |David Smith|TEDxBeacon Street
ARIA ARIA - AR in Action, David Smith
Croquet Demo, Part 1, David A. Smith
Croquet Demo, Part 2, David A. Smith

This episode is sponsored by the CIO Innovation Forum, dedicated to Business Digital Leaders who want to be a part of 20% of the planet and help their businesses win with innovation and transformation.

Credits

OUTRO music provided by Ben’s Sound: http://www.bensound.com/

Other Ways to Listen to the Podcast

Today my conversation is with David Smith. He’s the CEO and Founder of Croquet Studios

What’s really, really interesting is that he worked closely with authors Tom Clancy (Rainbow Six, Hunt for Red October) and Michael Crichton (Andromeda Strain, Jurassic Park) to develop games.

But that’s only the beginning. . . .

So, with that, I wanted to introduce you to my conversation and wonderful interview with David Smith.

Read the full transcript here

Major Take-Aways from This Episode:

What is an Augmented Conversation?
The future of turning a computer into a vehicle to exchange ideas in real-time and sophisticated areas.
How a fusion of ideas reinvents and redefines the vision of what computing is.

How to get in touch with David A. Smith:

Resources Referenced

Platform for the Future of AR & VR |David Smith|TEDxBeacon Street
ARIA ARIA - AR in Action, David Smith
Croquet Demo, Part 1, David A. Smith
Croquet Demo, Part 2, David A. Smith

Credits

OUTRO music provided by Ben’s Sound: http://www.bensound.com/

Other Ways to Listen to the Podcast

Previous Episode

S8 E5: How Do We Nurture Loonshots? with Safi Bahcall

I am super excited to bring to you my conversation with Safi Bahcall. I haven't been this excited in a long time because Safi has just written this book called Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas that Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries. His use of language and his use of innovation principals is second to none in this book especially because I think he comes at this from being an innovator for years and being an entrepreneur, and he comes at this from a very powerful perspective. It really impacted me and the people I've been sharing this book with. He received his BA summa cum laude from Harvard and his PhD from Stanford. After working for three years as a consultant for McKinsey, he co-founded a biotechnology company developing new drugs for cancer (which led him to be profiled by Malcolm Gladwell in The New Yorker). He led its IPO and served as its CEO for 13 years. In 2008, he was named E&Y New England Biotechnology Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2011, he worked with the president's council of science advisors (PCAST) on the future of national research. So, in this book, Safi explains how the past and what we learn from the past, has equal implications in the future. So we get into, what are the most common conversations he gets into with CEOs these days. CEOs and senior leaders that have read his book, they are calling him daily and they are asking: "How do we nurture loonshots?"

What You Will Learn From This Interview

Why we won, and how we won WWII?”
The role Vannevar Bush played as he was the first CIO in the United States.
How China, India and Islam lost their world domination and supremacy – which had lasted 1,000 years. – How did they lose it?
Why good ideas die in organizations.
The difference between artists, soldiers and champions within organizations.
Inside a business – why you must separate artists and soldiers
Why do franchise business models (protecting your core business) often fail, and what you can do about it.
Why culture fixing is hard, but fixing structure is easier.
Why the word ‘Culture’ is such a limp amorphous word these days.
Why structure eats culture for lunch.
Understand what phase transitions and dynamic equilibrium are.
What is a Loonshot vs. a Moonshot?
How do you nurture Loonshots?
How do you lead an organization through Loonshot development as a manager and a gardener using balance and touch between groups.

As I mentioned, I’m very excited about this interview and I hope you’ll enjoy my conversation with Safi Bahcall.

Read the Full Transcript Here

About Safi Bahcall

Safi Bahcall is a second-generation physicist (the son of two astrophysicists), a biotech entrepreneur, and the author of recently published, Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas that Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries.

He received his BA summa cum laude from Harvard and his PhD from Stanford. After working for three years as a consultant for McKinsey, he co-founded a biotechnology company developing new drugs for cancer (which led him to be profiled by Malcolm Gladwell in The New Yorker). He led its IPO and served as its CEO for 13 years.

In 2008, he was named E&Y New England Biotechnology Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2011, he worked with the president's council of science advisors (PCAST) on the future of national research.

He lives with his wife and two children in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Loonshots is his first book.

Ways to connect with Safi Bahcall

Key Resources + Links

Books:

Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries, by Safi Bahcall, 3/19/2019

Articles on Blog:

Fish, Brains...

Next Episode

S8 E7: The Spartan Regime: Leadership, Character and Strategy

First, an interesting coincidence I want to share. It’s middle-evening on Friday here in the Poconos, Pennsylvania where I’m getting ready to participate in a race tomorrow morning at 7:30 am. From the starting line, I’m going to race down the mountain in a Spartan race. It’s an obstacle course Spartan race that I’ve done several times. It’s my big challenge of the year.

The irony is that I have on my Podcast today, an expert in ancient Greece. His name is Paul Rahe. Paul has written a trilogy of books on Sparta and the Spartans. The third volume being released in a few weeks. You’ll find a link to it on the podcast notes page along with the other two books in this trilogy. I’ve read these books, which are fantastic, and I’m endlessly fascinated with Spartans for a couple of reasons. I’ve always been fascinated with the Samurai, the Comanche, the Mongols, the Knights, etc. I just love these classic cultures and I think it’s because there’s a heroic myth. There’s a heroic part in all of us that’s symbolized by these cultures. The Spartans stand out for this and I really wanted to get into:

What is the history and what does a true historian say about Sparta and the Spartans?
What is the research that’s been going on? Why have the legends of the Spartans persisted for 1,500 years?
What can we learn from them – as people, as a culture?

We are 250 years into this great American experiment, and the Spartans lasted about 400 years. What made them so dominant, and then, why did they fail?

Paul and I talk about the strengths of the Spartans, their innovation on the battlefield and how they actually fought using certain formations and such. The discomfort of how they raised their boys and forced them to become these fearsome warriors and leaders of the world and why they failed. How did the innovation that the Spartans were known for on the battlefield decline as they were innovated around and out maneuvered?

Now, we’re in the nuclear age, but how did Spartan’s battle differ from the Civil War, WWI and WWII and differ from other warriors in the classic age as well. Paul and I discuss that.

I find it interesting talking to scholars about their deep interests because I think there are lessons that we can all learn as leaders. If you take a step back and peer into the past, there are lessons there that we can learn.

I’m very excited about this episode, it’s very appropriate for me, and I know you’re going to find this very, very interesting.

With that, I want to introduce you to my great conversation with historian, Paul Rahe.

If you are a leader today you will like this Podcast for the following reasons:

It will dispel myths surrounding the Spartans
You will learn about the role discomfort played in raising Spartan boys
How the Spartans were disrupted by battlefield innovation
Why no one develops movies or books about Athens, but instead focus on Spartans
How warriors were killed in classic-period warfare
Four Main Strengths that made Spartans so fearsome: Endurance, Strength, Mobility, and Prestige (or I would say, reputation)

Paul A. Rahe holds The Charles O. Lee and Louise K. Lee Chair in the Western Heritage at Hillsdale College, where he is Professor of History. He majored in History, the Arts and Letters at Yale University, read Litterae Humaniores at Oxford University’s Wadham College on a Rhodes Scholarship, and then returned to Yale to do his PhD in ancient Greek history under the direction of Donald Kagan.

He has been awarded fellowships by the Center for Hellenic Studies, The National Humanities Center, the Institute of Current World Affairs, the John M. Olin Foundation, the Center for the History of Freedom at Washington University, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Clair Hall at Cambridge University, All Souls College at Oxford University, The American Academy in Berlin, the Social Philosophy and Policy Center at Bowling Green University, and the Hoover Institution. In 2006, the French Historical Society awarded him the Koren Prize for the Best Article Published in French History in 2005.

He is very excited about his newest book, Sparta’s First Attic War: The Grand Strategy of Classical Sparta, 478-446 B.C., a companion volume to The Spartan Regime: It’s Character, Origins, and Grand Strategy; and