Description

In This Episode

In this episode of Redefining Tomorrow, Michael Potter joins David Goldsmith for a wide-ranging conversation about the ideas, experiences, technologies, and systems that shape how societies develop—and how we might think differently about architecting what comes next.

Michael traces a path from growing up in Southern California during the Cold War and studying international relations and strategic studies at the London School of Economics, to building telecommunications businesses across Europe, exploring commercial space, expanding digital access, and examining how ideas move from possibility to infrastructure.

Along the way, the discussion explores the Cold War, entrepreneurship, telecommunications, commercial space, the “garbage heap of bad ideas,” architecting abundance, ideas as infrastructure, Orphans of Apollo, the Lunar Museum of Art, and what it means to deliberately create the conditions from which a different future can emerge.

• Growing up in Southern California during the Cold War and aerospace era
• How international relations and strategic studies shaped Michael’s thinking
• The “garbage heap of bad ideas” and how societies move beyond them
• Building telecommunications infrastructure across Europe
• Entrepreneurship, innovation, and creating environments where ideas can grow
• Orphans of Apollo and the emergence of commercial space
• Architecting abundance and expanding what becomes possible
• Why ideas themselves can become infrastructure
• The Lunar Museum of Art and putting culture on the Moon
• What it means to architect society’s future

Michael is the Co-Founder of the N50 Project - a Digital Equity Initiative of GWF. Michael was Co-Chair of Entrepreneurship faculty of the inaugural class of the Singularity University. Potter is also a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Space Commerce, and a co-Founder of the Lunar Museum of Art "LUMA", and a member of the Advisory Board of the Lifeboat Foundation. Formerly Michael was an international telecommunications analyst at the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. Potter. His articles on high technology business and policy have been widely published.

Michael received a Doctorate in Space Achievement from the International Space University, an MS degree from the London School of Economics and his BA from California State University at Sacramento, an alumni of the Sacramento Semester Program.

Prior to Paradigm Ventures, Potter was Vice Chairman, co-founder and President of Esprit Telecom plc., a pan-European competitive telecommunications services provider. During his 8 years at Esprit, his team grew to 1,000 employees in over 9 European countries and a market capitalization of a billion US dollars.

Michael is the founder of the the Kalpana Chawla Scholarship for Innovation, Entrepreneurism & Space and, The Ilan Ramon Project for Innovation, Entrepreneurism & Space. He is a multi-award winning documentary filmmaker whose films focus on humanity's greatest challenges.