The IEEE helped sponsor this high-profile event and was well represented among the 200 or so tech movers and shakers in attendance.
Members participating included Rodney Brooks, MIT professor and CTO of iRobot; Vint Cerf, Google VP and Chief Internet Evangelist: John Chen, CEO and President of Sybase; Martin Fowler, Chief Scientist of ThoughtWorks; Seth Goldstein, CEO of SocialMedia Networks; Leah Jamieson, Dean of Engineering at Purdue University and Past President of the IEEE; Vyomesh Joshi, Executive VP, Imaging and Printing Group, HP; Pradeep Khosla, Dean of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University; Jeff Kowalski, CTO, Autodesk; Victor Lawrence, Professor, Stevens Institute of Technology; Dave Morgan, Former Executive VP of Global Advertising Strategy, AOL; Vineet Nayar, CEO, HCL Technologies; Frank X. Shaw, President, Microsoft Accounts Worldwide, Waggener, Edstrom Worldwide; David Sze, Partner, Greylock Partners; Ted Vucurevich, CTO, Cadence Design Systems; and Jody Westby, CEO, Global Cyber Risk and Carnegie Mellon University Distinguished Fellow.
Over the next few days I’ll tell you about some of the ideas and discussions that emerged from the brainstorming event.
But first, a little segue over to the personal submarine brought along to the meeting by our fellow sponsor, U.S. Submarines .
The Triton Model 1000 is a two- or three-person acrylic bubble-topped submersible that can travel to depths of 1000 feet for up to 6 battery-powered hours. Retailing at US $1.8 million dollars, they’ve sold one so far, and have a contract for a three-seater version in hand. You’ll need a yacht to launch it from, or perhaps a serious piece of waterfront property with a good-sized dock. U.S. Submarines will train you how to handle the Triton 1000, and as long as you’re not bringing paying guests on board, you don’t need a formal license to run it.
U.S. Submarines, however, is building these, not only for wealthy individuals, but ultimately to transport guests to their underwater resort, called Poseidon , which is supposed to be built somewhere off an island near Fiji.
Poseidon is currently in the final design stages, they say; you can sign up on their website to be contacted when they start taking guest reservations.
I’m not sure this is exactly what the organizers had in mind when they wanted us to think and talk about technology’s impact on society, but this is a very cool transport device, and it’s sure to rock the world of a select group of people.
