Aaron Frank

Researcher and Writer

Location
United States
Area of Expertise
Distributed Ledger Technology, Mixed Reality, Fintech, Foundational Concepts, Exponential Thinking
Type
Expert

Aaron Frank is a researcher, writer, and consultant who has spent over a decade working in Silicon Valley, where he most recently served as Principal Faculty at Singularity University. In his work there, his research explores the business, governance, and cultural impacts of a broad set of emerging technologies.

Over the past ten years, he has built, deployed, researched, and written about technologies related to augmented and virtual reality and virtual environment technologies; his core area of focus. In this domain, he routinely advises large companies, startups, and government organizations with clients including Ernst & Young, Sony, FC Barcelona, and many others.

Currently, Aaron also serves as a co-facilitator and host of Singularity’s flagship Executive Program focused on the impact of exponential technologies. He is also a guest lecturer for courses at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School, EY Tech University, and many others.

As a writer, his articles have appeared in Vice, Wired UK, Forbes, and Venturebeat.

Aaron also volunteers with and serves on the board of Saint Francis Living Room, a community kitchen for homeless and low-income seniors in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood.

Aaron has a degree in Communications and Philosophy from the University of Maryland and an MBA from the University of Oxford. He is currently based in San Francisco.

Sessions

The Metaverse, Web3, and the Virtual Economies of Life Online

Web3, Metaverse, Virtual Reality, Cryptocurrency, Decentralized Finance (DeFi), Economics

In this session, participants will learn the foundational concepts underpinning the development of virtual online economies; one of the biggest societal developments in a generation. The session weaves together concepts ranging from virtual currencies, new business models of the internet, and the role of virtual economies in our life online. As society has become more native to the internet, economic activity and the exchange of virtual goods and services is growing into a sizable portion of the global economy. In this session, Aaron Frank will draw on his decade of work researching the development of online virtual environments to explain the ways these virtual economies are shaping the modern internet. He will describe in simple language, concepts including ‘web3’ (a vision of a decentralized internet), NFTs, and the role that the financial value of tokens and cryptocurrencies may play in mediating this new kind of internet. This session is relevant for executives hoping to understand the intersection between the ‘metaverse’ and the future of the internet, with the world of money and finance.

Exploring the 3D Revolution: A Guided Journey into Virtual Worlds

Metaverse, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Computer Vision, Creativity

In this session, participants will navigate a ‘choose your own adventure’ guided tour of the latest developments in the ‘metaverse’. This workshop consists of a large set of visual demonstrations which provide audience members a richer conceptual understanding of related topics including AR/VR hardware, game engines and graphics rendering, digital twins, virtual worlds, and virtual economies. A focus is given to industry (and business function) specific application areas.

Rather than a traditional lecture, this session empowers the audience to drive the discussion by selecting topics that are most relevant and of interest to them. This session is perfect for executives hoping to cut through the hype surrounding the ‘metaverse’, who want a clear understanding of what’s possible today, and who wish to get a sense for the state of the art not covered in popular press.

The demonstrations provide a clear sense for why these technologies may be practically useful and transform vague buzzwords and theory into tangible real-world solutions. The session is led by industry expert Aaron Frank, who as a practitioner has designed, built, and used virtual world technologies, advised large corporate clients, and written extensively on the topic for publications including Vice, Forbes, Venturebeat and others.

Intro to Exponentials

Introduction to Exponentials, Accelerating Change, Convergence, Philosophy of Technology, Disruption

In this session participants will cut to the core of the mechanisms driving much of the radical change felt across civilization. Thinking exponentially is core to everything we teach at Singularity, and getting into this mindset is a fundamental first step for gaining insight into the future. During this session, participants will come to understand the basic concepts of exponential growth, but will more importantly explore its implications in order to shift away from a linear way of thinking.

Traditional linear thinking often leads us to overestimate growth in the short term and underestimate it in the long term. This is the deceptive aspect of exponential growth. This matters because many technologies (including artificial intelligence, biotechnologies, advanced manufacturing, and more) are driven by exponential improvements in computation and progress in ways that can leave us astonished and unprepared. Exponential growth is democratizing access to these tools, once limited to wealthy labs, enabling small teams and individuals to achieve what was once exclusive to governments and corporations.

This session prepares participants to understand exponential growth patterns, understand their implications, and how to apply them within their industry.

Life in The 3D Revolution: Exploring Mixed Realities, Digital Twins and a Shift Toward Spatial Computing

Mixed Realities, Digital Twins, Spatial Computing

In recent years, the world of computing has undergone a remarkable set of changes transitioning from conventional 2D interfaces toward 3D, immersive, and spatial environments. This is one of the most significant developments in all of digital technology and companies like Apple, Meta, NVIDIA and many others are now reorienting their entire business toward this world of ’spatial computing’. Technologies like augmented and virtual reality, digital twins, game engines, and simulation tools are reshaping everything from training and development, design and manufacturing, and immersive consumer experiences. The impact of these technologies are already impacting industries like healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, retail, energy, and many others.

Underneath a term like ‘the metaverse’, certainly an overused buzzword in recent years, is a deeper principle that our life online will also be transformed by these spatial environments. We’ll see a dramatic shift in the way we work, play, shop, and connect with friends. In this session we’ll explore the broader context and impact of spatial computing and explore its real world applications. This session offers an understanding of both the consumer and enterprise opportunities of these developments and the related business, social, and ethical implications.

Futures Wheel Workshop

Disruptive threats or significant opportunities for your business often come from unexpected places. In this session participants will take a collaborative and systematic approach to mapping possible futures by working from the known and venturing into the unknown. Identify 1st- and 2nd-order implications cascading from transformative developments and trends.

This workshop prepares participants to identify the often-hidden implications of new technology developments by exploring unintended consequences, points of convergence, and the dynamics of disruption from unusual places.

Participants will come away with a practical and easy-to-deploy tool for future exploration. This system can be easily implemented within meetings, brainstorming, or working strategy sessions.

Living in Digital Worlds: The Planet-Spanning Impact of Social VR and the AR Cloud

Spatial computing technologies like virtual and augmented reality (AR/VR) have seen an impressive pace of development in recent years.

Today, developers are building on virtual world concepts like Second Life by launching a new generation of fully immersive virtual worlds. These are major steps toward the future depicted in stories like Ready Player One.

We’re also witnessing the early stages in the building of one of the most important assets in all of computing: the AR Cloud. Some analysts predict that in the next decade, the AR Cloud will be the most important and valuable piece of computing infrastructure in the world—more valuable than Google’s PageRank index or Facebook’s social graph. Development of the AR Cloud will empower developers, businesses, (and you) -- to layer digital AR content on top of the “real” world.

In this session, you will learn what the AR Cloud is, identify opportunities within social VR, and explore the ways that digital realities, both layered on our real world and captured inside fully immersive ones, will transform our relationship to the use of physical space and reshape how we live, shop, work, and play.

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Aaron Frank

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