How can new technology change the way you do what you do? Expert coming to Tulsa to answer that question in free, public lecture - Tulsa World

A hacker and technology expert who has worked on everything from a cure for cancer, tools for brain surgery and suppressing hurricanes, to a self-sterilizing elevator button, mosquito laser gun and 3D food printers is set to speak in Tulsa on Tuesday.

Pablos Holman is the University of Tulsa’s 2019 Presidential Lecture Series speaker. The event is set for 7:30 p.m. at TU’s Reynolds Center, 3208 E. Eighth St.

“I want to be able to help people see that we are living in a renaissance. We have all of this extraordinary, new technology that is giving us superpowers to really change the way that we do everything in the world,” Holman said. “I want people to ask themselves: ‘Does this new technology change the way we do the things we’ve always done?’ A lot of times, the answer is yes.”

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Holman also will appear on a panel earlier Tuesday at the Tulsa Cyber Summit, hosted by the TU College of Engineering and Natural Sciences. While registration has closed for the summit, Holman’s evening lecture is free and open to the public.

Holman is an inventor, entrepreneur and technology futurist who looks at the world differently in his quest to solve problems through the innovation of technology. Previously, Holman helped build spaceships, the world’s smallest personal computer, an artificial intelligence agent system and the Hackerbot, a robot that can steal passwords on a Wi-Fi network. He is also a world-renowned expert in 3D printing.

Holman said he thinks a major barrier to innovation is a lack of understanding about cutting-edge technology and the latest advancements in the public.

“A lot of times, technology seems super complicated, technical and scary, and I think we have to fix that. We have to address that,” he said. “We have to explain how things work so people can get their heads around imagining what might be possible for them.”

One example? Uber, Holman said.

“How many taxi companies could have made an iPhone app but didn’t? Uber didn’t even invent any new technology,” he said. “It wasn’t an industry looking at new technologies and trying to improve things for them and their customers. The warning is if you don’t innovate, the other option is to die.”

At Intellectual Ventures Lab, based near Seattle, where he works, Holman has contributed to visions for the future of urban transportation, entertainment, education, health care, food delivery, sensor networks, payment systems and cloud computing.

Holman speaks proudly of the successes his lab has had with inventions to improve life in the developing world. One recent example is the Arktek super-insulated container, which can safely store vaccines for 35 days using only ice packs and no external power.

“There’s about a quarter of a million kids who die from something they were vaccinated against in sub-Saharan Africa,” Holman said. “The problem is the vaccines went bad before they were injected because they didn’t stay cold. The power is out four to 16 hours a day in parts of Africa.”

At Tuesday’s lecture, Holman will discuss some of the invention projects underway at the Intellectual Ventures Lab and show off some of the capabilities of the most advanced hackers.

“The bottom line is this is really important. There are big problems in the world — 7 billion humans with no additional planets and we’ve never tried to do that before,” he said. “By definition, what’s worked in the past isn’t going to work going forward. How are we going to make the future as awesome as it possibly can be for everyone?”

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