Vint Cerf of Google covers IoT security, galactic Internet, fossil fuels, DNA splicing, more during 2016 Energy Thought Summit
AUSTIN, Texas – The 2016 Energy Thought Summit kicked off Tuesday with a keynote Q&A with Google Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf, who touched on everything from gene editing and the galactic Internet to the importance of renewable energy.
Cerf took questions during the session, moderated by TechCrunch Senior Editor Jonathan Shieber, over a Google Hangout link and engaged with audience members via Twitter. Credited as one of the fathers of the Internet, Cerf and Bob Kahn created the TCP/IP protocol suite as part of a Defense Advanced Research Project Agency-funded initiative.
Cerf gave his take on the near-term outlook for the Internet.
“The avenue for expansion is going to be the use of mobiles … particularly smartphones,” Cerf said. “They largely give you access to almost all the Internet capabilities. That’s the avenue by which the next several billion people are likely to get online. I’m hoping, of course, that what will follow after that is fiber, for example, and much higher speeds and other devices like laptops and tablets and so on.”
“We are also moving into a territory that some people call the ‘Internet of Things,’ which are appliances that are programmable, that have communications capability and are also part of the Internet,” Cerf added. “Anyone who thinks a little bit about this will very quickly realize that safety, security and privacy are three big issues related to not only the ‘Internet of Things,’ but other devices we use on the network. That’s going to be a big challenge for everyone. In the long run, it’s my hope … that everyone on the planet that wants to be online will have the opportunity to get online at an affordable price and also with all the accessibility that they may need.”
Shieber asked Cerf to call out five technologies that have substantial promise to shape the world. His responses:
- The CRISPR/Cas9 DNA editing technique, which he called a “massive invention.”
- Interfacing neural systems with electrical systems.
- The ability to analyze “what’s going on in living systems.”
- How technology is creating changes in how science is done. “We are discovering new ways of doing science. Think of astronomy. I am incredibly excited about the fact that we are going to be doing science on a scale we’ve never done before thanks to technology.”
- And artificial intelligence. “It does show extraordinary capacity. What’s weird about it, of course, is we don’t fully understand why it works.”
As for the galactic Internet, which is exactly what it sounds like, Cerf said the current focus is on standardizing the protocols used to connect Earth, the International Space Station and unmanned crafts deployed to Mars.
“I feel like we’re well on our way to building an interplanetary backbone. I’m not holding my breath on a manned Mars mission,” Cerf continued, but said he is excited about a DARPA experiment, the 100 Year Starship Study, which is designed to seed the future of interstellar travel with the specific goal of taking humans to Alpha Centauri – currently about a 65,000 year trip – in the next century.
Wrapping up the conversation, Shieber asked: “As the father of the Internet, what of your child’s behavior has made you want to send it to a timeout room?”
“The Internet itself doesn’t really misbehave,” Cerf said. “What misbehaves is its users. There are some people who don’t have other peoples’ best interests at heart and they are a part of the Internet environment just as they are a part of our social environment in general. Here we are, we’re human, we need to do as we have in the past: try to manage our societies so they produce positive outcomes for as many people as possible and try to limit the harm that other people can do. We have a responsibility as technologists to do what we can technically speaking. Frankly, its the sociologists and the politicians and the judicial system and our own personal behavior that will make a difference.”
