The Deep Tech Innovations That Could Save the World | Pablos Holman (Inventor & Investor)

02/20/25 • 35 min

Software is eating the world, right? We've all heard this phrase by now, but inventor and investor Pablos Holman has something important to add: “The world can't eat software.”

That’s why Pablos focuses on “deep tech”, i.e. how to invent new solutions to real world problems like energy, water, waste, construction, and sanitation. Pablos says we’re still mostly using version 1.0 technology for these fundamental systems, but recent advances, including AI and the ability to prototype and test in software, are enabling incredible innovation in hardware.

Pablos has worked with Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and more. He's kind of a mad scientist and in this episode we’ll discuss things that sound like science fiction, but that Pablos says are coming soon, such as solar panels in outer space that can beam clean energy down to earth, autonomous cargo ships blown by the wind across the ocean, and tiny nuclear reactors buried a mile underground that power the world above.

At Deep Future, Pablos is on a mission to solve the world's biggest problems, and he's hoping more people will make the jump that he did from software to hardware and into deep tech, because, as he says, “ all the people who've been building software their entire career, those are the ones who are going to save the world.”

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Previous Episode

AI, Deepfakes, and How Technologists Can Help Us Trust What We See and Hear | Sam Gregory (Exec. Dir. of WITNESS)

Deepfakes are getting easier and easier to make. So, how will we be able to believe that what we see and what we hear is real? And what can software makers do to help?

Sam Gregory is an expert on deepfakes, AI, and trust. He advises governments and tech companies on how they can protect human rights and how we can preserve our shared reality.

Sam is the executive director of WITNESS, an organization that helps citizens use video to foster social change. WITNESS has trained and supported citizen-journalists since the days of the camcorder through the smartphone era and now into the world of AI.

We discuss:

How deepfakes are being used to spread disinformation and erode trust in media.
How to detect that a piece of media was manipulated and to what degree
Why audio deepfakes are so pernicious
How deepfakes mostly did not affect the 2024 US Presidential Election, while cheapfakes were very common
The surprising ways AI is both helping and harming human rights defenders and journalists
Why “Prepare, Don’t Panic” is WITNESS’s mantra for addressing AI threats.
Practical steps software makers can take to design tools that prioritize transparency and ethical use, such as including transparency features in AI-generated content, red teaming to simulate misuse scenarios, thinking beyond Western contexts, and more...

Chapters:

(00:55) - Deepfakes and the threat they pose human rights and journalism
(03:16) - The 2024 US election and how deepfakes, cheapfakes, and audio clones were used
(07:35) - Why WITNESS. says “Prepare, Don’t Panic” about AI
(11:16) - Recommendation for software builders to prevent — and detect — misuse
(13:45) - How to identify that a piece of media was manipulated by AI
(17:31) - Red Teaming: The scary questions builders should ask as they deploy new products
(22:20) - WITNESS.’s work beyond AI
(26:00) - Good news: we’ve preparing for AI and deepfakes for a long time and governments and technologists are working together

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Links:

Learn more about WITNESS: witness.org
Visit WITNESS’s resources on generative AI: gen-ai.witness.org
Learn more about deepfakes and AI detection: C2PA Coalition

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Next Episode

AI, Psychedelics, the Gut-Brain Axis, and New Frontiers in BioTech | From SXSW's Next Stage (Re-release)

CRAFTED. host Dan Blumberg will be at SXSW this year. Will you? If so, please reach out! DM me on LinkedIn or go to crafted.fm where you can email me. Let's get a taco!

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Software, hardware, and biotechnology are playing an increasingly transformative role in our mental health and wellness. On this episode of CRAFTED., recorded live on the “Next” stage at SXSW 2024, we discuss what investors look for in these new companies and how they separate what’s real — and what’s near-term — from what’s hype.

On stage with host Dan Blumberg are:

Amy Kruse, General Partner & Chief Investment Officer at Satori Neuro, and a trained neuroscientist
Matias Serebrinsky, Co-founder and General Partner at PsyMed Ventures, and the host of Business Trip, which is a great podcast if you want to go even deeper on these topics. Listen at businesstrip.fm
Christie Nicholson, Founder of Studio Lumina, and the co-host for this panel

We’ll explore AI-powered tools for mental health, the new area of “enerceuticals” (energy replacing the “pharma”), psychedelics, and why what’s in your gut is so important to your mental state. Hear from investment experts who have a wide view of this growing startup landscape and better understand which new ventures are likely to succeed.

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Key Moments:

01:38] Recent advances in biotech and why advances in data and AI are helping biology become a more “mature” science
[04:00] Why AI is overhyped, but also where it’s not
[07:37] Why psychedelics are overhyped, but also where they’re not
[10:04] What’s real and amazing: brain-computer interfaces, e.g. humans controlling robotic arms with the minds
[11:25] What’s real and amazing: precision psychiatry and neuroscience
[14:12] The emerging field of “enerceuticals” -- using energy instead of drugs, e.g. low intensity focused ultrasound
[16:17] Neuroplasticity: our brains can change!
[21:31] Mental health, the gut-brain axis, and food as medicine
[32:38] The business models of bio tech startups and how to know when a company is making progress on a years-long effort

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CRAFTED. is produced by Modern Product Minds, where my team and I can help you take a new product from zero to one... and beyond. We specialize in early stage product discovery, growth, and experimentation. Learn more at modernproductminds.com

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Check out Tech Now, the free "podcast mixtape" that host Dan Blumberg curates on Hark. Each week, Dan selects and introduces great moments from other podcasts that speak to the latest on artificial intelligence and its implications, new product innovations, the relationship between the Trump administration and Big Tech, and much more.