I had the privilege of recently meeting Noland Arbaugh, the first person in the world to receive Neuralink’s experimental brain-chip implant.

When I first read about him taking this massive step, bravely volunteering for a technology that no one had tried yet, I was convinced that I wanted to go beyond the media hype and hear his side of the story.

If we could cure aging in the next decade, wouldn’t you want to keep your body in tip-top shape until then?

According to biomedical gerontologist Dr Aubrey de Grey, “there is a 50% chance that we will reach longevity escape velocity (LEV) by 2036,” the point where a person’s lifespan is extended at a higher rate than at which they’re aging.

Last week, I had a microchip implanted into my hand alongside the world-famous robot Sophia.

In the year or so since I first announced that I would be doing this, people have shared all sorts of opinions with me. Some praised my initiative to try a piece of technology that’s still quite novel, while others criticized and outright attacked me. Others didn’t see the point of it.

Today, I will have the privilege of meeting 30-year-old Noland Arbaugh, talking to him personally, listening to his story, and sharing it with the world.

Before I continue, here’s a genuine question: How many of us know the person, Noland Arbaugh, and his story?

I am getting an RFID microchip implanted into my hand on Sunday and here are some common questions I’ve been getting asked from my community.

The United States has given TikTok an ultimatum: either sell the app’s operations in the country to a government-approved American owner within 9-12 months, or face a ban.

These are the conditions set in a bill that US President Joe Biden signed and that has passed in front of the US Senate and House of Representatives this week, a piece of legislation aiming to curb what is perceived as the app's Chinese influence.

“AI will probably be smarter than any human next year,” Elon Musk recently stated.

Prominent futurist Ray Kurzweil’s latest book is titled “The Singularity is Nearer”, and he now predicts AI will achieve human-level intelligence by 2029. Jensen Huang, the founder and CEO of NVIDIA, which has been instrumental in the massive development of AI, agrees on this date too.

Robots used to be a cute novelty for companies, to briefly parade on stage or to greet presidents for public relations purposes. Now, functional, humanoid robots are getting to work.

We’ve certainly seen some circuitry reboots to the robotics space in recent years – Tesla’s Optimus bot, Boston Dynamics’ backflipping parkour sensation Atlas, and the world’s most expressive humanoid robot in Ameca, are ones that quickly come to mind.

My team and I are on a mission to dive deep into the innovations and trends that will play a role in shaping our future - not to merely observe them, but to curiously investigate: Will we live in a world of human augmentation, AI, the metaverse, nanotechnology, life extension, and digital twins? What about the ethics of these technologies, and their potential transformative impact on our society and economy? To learn about how we can elevate the human condition, I myself endeavor to become bigger, better, faster, stronger and smarter, and do what I can to become a superhuman…

When you ask people to imagine what they want the future to look like, everybody has different answers. When you take into consideration the various concerns of people of different genders, health conditions, financial and social standings, and cultural backgrounds, you are left with a wonderful, infinitely colorful tapestry of possibilities. So we can ensure our future is created for us all, and without bias, we need to turn to the business world. Let’s investigate…

Some of you may know that I’m producing a documentary about the future.

The future always changes - technology always evolves. And I believe it’s important to be curious and play an active role so our future is built with us in mind

.To ask the hard questions and to really get to understand humanity’s potential, my team and I are pulling out all the stops.

“Rise and shine, Judy! You’ve successfully recorded 7 hours and 13 minutes of sleep. Your heart rate marked a minor fluctuation between a stable 40 to 50 bpm. Your overall vitals indicate a good night’s sleep. Now, it’s time to wake up— there’s an exciting day ahead. You’re low on Vitamin C, so I’ve organized you a freshly squeezed OJ in the kitchen.”Whose voice is this exactly? Is it your spouse? Nope. It’s your personal AI assistant.

Our lives, in essence, are the sum of the decisions we make, the friends we choose to keep, the food we eat, and the small habits that we hold for ourselves on a daily basis. Yet, in our fast-paced, technological world, where we are both as connected yet as divided as ever, it often feels as if society’s course has taken an unusual turn. In the pursuit of ease and pleasure, we seek fast meals, on-demand entertainment, and the cheap dopamine thrills from our smartphones. It’s become a hedonistic society where convenience is king. So what is it about the 21st century that is weighing down our health so much? Well, plenty.

Neuralink is undoubtedly one of the most ambitious innovations of our time, and one that will have MASSIVE implications on our future. Maybe what it means to be human, in the traditional sense, will give way to new definitions?

Whichever way you look at it, the world faces an ambiguous future. It’s exciting, but the thought of change can also be frightening. Considering Gen Z's experience of the world so far, it's not surprising that they are increasingly turning to a more nihilistic mindset to navigate modern life, a belief that life holds no inherent meaning. I can see the allure in it—after all, in this current socioeconomic landscape, nihilism can be euphorically freeing and disgustingly depressing.

We often fear what we don’t understand. Humanity has a long history of misunderstanding and stigmatizing ideas that were ahead of their time.

I envision a future where humanity has transcended its limits, able to inhabit the uninhabitable, see the unseeable and learn the previously unknowable.

We live in a hedonistic society, where convenience is king.

Sure, it’s human to seek the easy way out, but this has come to govern our lives in the heavily capitalist 21st century. In the pursuit of convenience and pleasure, we seek fast meals, on-demand entertainment and the cheap dopamine thrills of doom scrolling.

There is no denying that the metaverse poses new security challenges for both the real and virtual worlds.

In a world obsessed with quick fixes and superficial enhancements, it’s easy to lose sight of what truly matters

Researchers at UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley are developing new AI-supported brain-computer interface (BCI) technology that could one day allow people like Ann to communicate more naturally through a digital avatar that resembles a person.

As the year winds down, on behalf of our team at Prestidge Group, I would like to say a warm thank you to all of our clients, agency partners, media friends, and colleagues for their continued support throughout the year.

In an era where reality is easily distorted online, scammers are achieving disturbing fame and fortune. Where Americans once revered rags-to-riches tales, today's influencer culture breeds exaggerated personas. Armed only with wits and delusion, fraudsters like Anna Delvey infiltrate elite circles, generating wealth and notoriety. This looks to be an era where distorting reality on social media leads to fame and fortune.

My incredible great-grandmother Gertrude lived a colorful life, growing to the age of 105. I love thinking back to her story. She migrated to New Zealand from Ireland in the early 1900s on a steamboat, and rode in a carriage. Her family churned their own butter and grew their own crops. In her lifetime, she saw plenty of new inventions, from planes and cars to televisions and phones.

Recent allegations suggest that Musk may have misled the public about the fate of monkeys involved in Neuralink trials, raising questions about the readiness of the technology for human experimentation, especially since the company has begun recruiting for its first human trials this week. 

Supermarkets are designed like Vegas slot machines, enticing us with colorful, pretty packaging holding a nasty surprise of processed sugars and additives within. Where a jar of peanut butter made from one simple ingredient (peanuts) costs more than double of its oiled-up, seven-ingredient fake alternative.

Perpetual fatigue and short attention spans are now the norm, courtesy of a constant barrage of information and stimulation being fed to us through the iPhones we carry

In older, more simpler times, humans omitted literature they did not agree with by burning it. The destruction of the House of Wisdom, the Bonfire of the Vanities, the WW2 book burnings — history is rife with extreme measures of censorship.

Many believe we lost over 1,000 years of history when the Library of Alexandria burned down.
In censorship, nobody wins.In today’s digital world - both as connected and divided as ever, with a proliferation of ideas and perspectives - it’s important that we neither ban nor censor books in an attempt to erase, destroy, or rewrite history.

A few months ago, I quit a “guilty pleasure” — reality TV. Like many of my friends — entrepreneurs, CEOs, and executives — I was using it as a mind-numbing distraction to help me unwind and relax after a long day at work.

It’s no secret that I’m on a journey to improve myself and live longer. When I revealed a couple of weeks ago that I want to be put into cryostasis if I’m 60 and technology hasn’t advanced enough to prolong my life, the feedback was mixed (you can find the post here: https://tinyurl.com/3xsdyx53)