Technology is a strange beast. Everyone is trying to build smaller, faster and quicker, but technology also has the power to transform huge swathes of the human experience. Many companies develop for a niche market, but the world is a big place with big problems. Tiny applets and world-changing technology revolutions come from the same tech community. Who is asking the big questions?

To gain an understanding of big technology trends, Dave Vellante (@dvellante) and Stu Miniman (@stu), cohosts of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, went to the IBM Edge 2016 conference in Las Vegas. There, they spoke to Jason Pontin, CEO, editor in chief and publisher at MIT Technology Review.

Reading the tech future

The discussion started with a view toward predicting the future. Pontin explained that in tech, short-term trends are hard to anticipate, but the long-term trends are more reliable and extremely disruptive. He mentioned how much the world has changed in the last 10 years alone and compared it to the future.

Pontin considered the big questions. How will the world feed the many billions of people of the future? How will they get water and energy? He pointed out how the tech community has been focused on small and specific solutions, but also he felt there was a sort of emotional shift in tech circles. More people want to take on bigger problems.

On the coming of AI

Thinking about what has surprised him in today’s tech landscape, Pontin spoke about Artificial Intelligence (AI). He explained how modern AI comes from an older technology, deep learning, that has been known since the 1960s. Researchers hit a wall then because they didn’t have the computing power of volume of data to make it work. Now, with modern gigantic data files, all sorts of intelligent activity becomes possible.

“The history of AI has always hit moments of frustration, but at the moment it’s probably the most exciting era in computer science in decades,” he said.

The conversation also touched on security. Pontin recalled that no one would take Internet security seriously until they had a Pearl Harbor moment. The Stuxnet virus was that moment. At the same time, there have been a number of really embarrassing leaks. Pontin thought that in the end, Internet security depends on everyone using the tools available.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of IBM Edge 2016.

Photo by SiliconANGLE