Ramez Naam (@ramez) is a computer scientist, futurist, angel investor and award-winning author best known for his Nexus Trilogy: Nexus, Crux and Apex

His other (non-fiction) books include: The Infinite Resource: The Power of Ideas on a Finite Planet and More than Human: Embracing the Promises of Biological Enhancement.

He's currently co-chair of energy and the environment at Singularity University and earlier in his career led teams at Microsoft working on Outlook, Internet Explorer and Bing where he co-patented 20 inventions, many alongside Bill Gates.

Ramez has appeared on Sunday morning MSNBC, Yahoo! Finance, The New York Times, WSJ, PopSci, Wired, and many more. Ramez holds more than 20 patents, and many of those are as a co-inventor with Bill Gates.

In today's episode we discuss:
- Why we're at a tipping point for carbon-emitting cars sold
- What it was like working directly with Bill Gates
- What is Ramez predicted about renewable energy and why it's better than even he thought
- How technologists are solving global problems by fixing incentives and driving down costs
- What it's like to be both a bestselling fiction and non-fiction author
- Why Ramez is no longer a big believer in radical life extension
- The brain2.0 movement and why we're becoming cyborgs
- What Ramez thinks about CRISPR and genetically engineering people
- The importance of sci-fi to shift societal attitudes
- How to think about technological trends when tackling big problems
- Why innovation often leaves behind a lot bodies
- The reason Ramez is fundamentally optimist despite all the challenges we face
- Why the secret to a better future is to create it