For a technology to be “exponential,” the power and/or speed doubles each year, and/or the cost drops by half.
As humans, we tend to overestimate what can be achieved in the short term, but vastly underestimate what can be achieved in the long term. Humans are not equipped to process exponential growth. Our intuition is to use our assessment of how much change we’ve seen in the past to predict how much change we’ll see going forward. We tend to assume a constant rate of change (thinking linearly rather than exponentially). Thinking exponentially, though, is key to discovering potential new opportunities and building innovative solutions.
Peter Wicher
Director of Strategic Relations of Singularity University
Peter enables engagement with SU for multi-national corporations, governments, education institutions and investors. He works to ensure that clients and partners realize the maximum possible benefits from Singularity’s rich ecosystem for innovation and impact.
Peter has held senior executive positions in Silicon Valley in the semiconductor, consumer electronics, education, and embedded systems industries. Working with both start-up and public companies he has managed international organizations and built relationships with numerous multi-national clients and partners. He holds bachelors and master’s degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from UC Berkeley, an MBA from Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, and an MS in Special Education from St. Joseph’s University.