Capitolweek #535
((Jack))
Just ahead, a special edition of California
Capitolweek on location in the Bay Area, where we take a look at the Silicon
Valley…
How is the Valley doing these days?
Begin Soundbite
((George Shirk,
Editor-In-Chief, Wired))
I think the next five to ten years are going to be very exciting on the
technological front, and I can hardly wait to get there with a staff of reporters
to cover it.
End Soundbite
((Melissa))
California is known for many innovations, including in the medical field.
We’ll bring you up to date on one innovation that’s changing the way
we fight the war against cancer.
Begin Soundbite
((Judi Semple,
Cancer Patient))
And once I felt it, I was, “Oh, that’s it.” I never would have found it on my own I don’t think.
End Soundbite
((Melissa))
Hello, I’m Melissa Crowley.
((Jack))
And I’m Jack Kavanagh. Join us for
a glimpse into the future, next.
((Melissa))
Hi everyone. I’m Melissa Crowley,
and we’re on location for a special edition of California Capitolweek. Jack
Kavanagh will join us in just a minute.
Today, we’re in San Francisco, which was voted one of the top ten most “wired”
cities, for internet service that is, in the United States, so it’s fitting
today that we’re here at Wired Digital
in the city.
We’re joined now by Brad King. One
of the multimedia reporters. Thanks
for being with us. Brad, what goes
on here?
((Brad King,
Wired))
Well, everyday we come in, and we’re a daily news site, just like any newspaper
out there, and we write about technology and how technology is affecting the
lives of our readers. Not just the
internet, but biomedical advances, and anything that has to do with new, emerging
technologies.
((Melissa))
As you look around, it’s a little different from what you’d expect of a
typical newsroom. There’s a little
different style of corporate culture.
((Brad King,
Wired))
Yeah, it’s definitely a younger crowd.
I think that’s one of the sort of real factors about why it’s different
from other organizations, and that means that there’s an energy and a culture
that sort of goes with that. You have
people riding their bikes to work, and every once in a while, you’ll see a
dog running around in the office. I
mean, it’s sort of what you hear about other internet start-ups, although
we’re still around and a lot of them are gone.
[Cut to Melissa
& Brad at Coffee Machine]
((Melissa))
(receiving coffee) Thank you, Brad. Such
service here! I guess this is one
of the benefits of working at Wired?
((Brad King,
Wired))
Yeah, we have coffee bars actually on both levels here, and everyday around
two or three o’clock, we have a snack that they put out. We never know what it is. It could be Pop Tarts or, you know, something
to break up the day. You’re sitting
at your computer for eight or ten hours, and you need some reason to get out
of your seat.
((Melissa))
I was going to say that most people spend about two hours returning email;
that’s basically your nine-to-five job.
((Brad King,
Wired))
Yeah, well actually it’s more like a seven-to-five job. You get up in the morning, and I’ll get between
eight hundred and a thousand emails a day from press people and readers and
anybody who comes across the site. They
just feel the need to send us an email, and then we respond to it because
our job is to track what’s going on with technology and on the internet, and
who better to know than the people who are out there using it.
((Melissa))
You’ve worked at a company like this. You
have your coffee bars; you have your snack time; you can bring your pets;
you can ride your bike. Could you
do this anywhere else?
((Brad King,
Wired))
No, no you can’t. I’ve actually
worked at some newspapers and magazines.
This is the most laid-back place that I’ve worked at as far as working
ten or twelve hours a day. Even the
people who are here who have had experience and have been in the business
for a long time really sort of understand that this is a new medium and an
emerging market, and the old rules don’t necessarily exactly apply to the
way that this is going to work, so it just makes for a lot of fun.
((Melissa))
So laid-back but definitely not slacker?
((Brad King,
Wired))
Yeah, yeah. That whole thing I don’t
understand at all because I have an office set up at my house. When I get home, I’m checking to see what’s
going to happen the next day. I mean,
it’s at the speed of the internet. You’re
always checking to see what’s going on.
((Melissa))
All right, so at most offices you may see a fish tank, but these are actually
at people’s desks. This whole creative
“express yourself” vibe, how does it tie into your workday?
((Brad King,
Wired))
Part of it is because you’re here for so long. You come in, and you want it to sort of feel like your house.
At my desk I have all these stuffed animals, a big, stuffed monkey,
and all these WWF wrestlers there, and I think having all that stuff there
sort of keeps you grounded as to why you’re sort of doing everything.
You know, I’m working like this so that I can go out with my friends,
and I can go out with my family, and this is who I am, and I think it’s very
important to keep your head together.
((Melissa))
And what a difference that makes when that happens. Brad King, thanks for being with us.
((Brad King,
Wired))
Thanks a lot.
((Melissa))
When you have creativity and great minds all working together under one
roof, it’s amazing the advances that can be made. We’re about to show you one medical advance that could change the
war against cancer.
PET SCAN PACKAGE((Judi Semple, Cancer Patient))
If I were not in the field directly, I probably would not be aware of the usefulness of the PET. It’s not good for everything, but what it does it does pretty well.And what it did for Judi Semple is save her life. That’s because this device, nicknamed PET, found a tumor and cancer in her lungs, something her doctors couldn’t diagnose…((Judi Semple, Cancer Patient))I had a mammogram in January of 2000. There was something a little suspicious, so we did an ultrasound in February. In May I did a follow-up, and one of the lumps had actually doubled in size.Judi was then sent to have a biopsy, but as a nuclear medicine technologist, she was also aware of a procedure called a PET scan and decided to have both…((Judi Semple, Cancer Patient))
So, the breast biopsies that I had the following week after the PET scan were all negative. What wasn’t addressed was the axillary node. I rescheduled to have an aspiration and a biopsy of the axillary node, which then did come back positive.So what exactly is PET? Well, it stands for Positron Emission Tomography, and it’s a camera that takes a picture of the body’s biological functions…Now, this test is different from an MRI or a CAT scan…((Dr. Peter Valk, PET Medical Director))
A CAT scan is what we call an anatomic imaging device. It shows you a picture of structures of the anatomy of the body. PET doesn’t do that. You inject a radioactive molecule into the patient, and in our case it’s a glucose molecule, so what you’re really looking at isn’t structure, but you’re looking at the metabolism of glucose.California’s scientists and physicians like Peter Valk led the nation in the development of clinical PET scanners in the early 1990’s.((Dr. Peter Valk, PET Medical Director))
We had the development of the whole body PET scanner, which allows you to put the patient in there, and in a reasonable amount of time, get an image of virtually their entire body, which is what you need for oncology.First, the procedure starts off with a shot…The patient, in this case Judi, then relaxes for about thirty minutes while the radioactive glucose is distributed around her bloodstream…The technician then wraps Judi in a blanket and starts the imaging process…The scanner then takes full body images of Judi. Abnormal cells have a much higher concentration of glucose, and they become clear when the patient’s scan is reconstructed by the scanner’s computer system…PET is most valuable in seeing the extent of the disease. On Judi’s computer image, you can see the dark, black spot on her upper arm. That’s the tumor.((Dr. Peter Valk, PET Medical Director))Eighty-five percent of the patients that we study here have tumors or are thought to have tumors.Dr. Valk says this test can also help doctors prevent from performing the wrong kind of surgery…((Dr. Peter Valk, PET Medical Director))At UCLA they found that once they started doing PET scans on the patients waiting for heart transplants, about a third of them had enough viable heart to be treated by coronary bypass surgery instead of a transplant.If it wasn’t for PET, Judi says her tumor would have gone unnoticed. Judi has one more PET scan to go to make sure that the chemo has done its job and she’s given a clean bill of health…((Judi Semple, Cancer Patient))
I’ve tried to be grateful for everything my body has done for me, especially in the last nine months and everything I’ve put it through, and I will take better care of it in the future.END PET SCAN PACKAGE
((Jack))
Melissa has shown us the ins and outs of Wired.com, and I am joined now
by George Shirk from Wired/Lycos. He’s Eidtor-in-Chief. George, look at what we call the Silcon Valley,
that technologically innovative part of the California culture and psyche.
It’s been kind of rough lately in terms of some of the dot coms in
the valley. What does that mean, and why do I care?
((George Shirk,
Wired Editor-in-Chief))
Well, I think what we’re seeing generally is a climate change in Silicon
Valley, and I think before we go much further in the conversation, I’d like
to talk a little bit about what Silicon Valley means to me and to the staff
at Wired News certainly. Silicon Valley isn’t so much a geographic area
as it is a state of mind. It’s an
area where people innovate. It’s where
forward thinking people gather to create new technologies or new businesses
or new art or new ways of expressing themselves using the internet network,
and so Silicon Valley can express itself either on route 128 in Boston or
in Austin, Texas or in San Diego or in Northern California or in Zurich or
in San Paulo, Brazil or in Buenos Aires or in Mexico City.
So, in that sense, we’ve always been very concerned with the internet
experience and to us that is what silicon Valley means. We are seeing a real chill obviously in the
business area over the last year as people start to sort out what works and
what doesn’t work in an internet interface.
((Jack))
If Silicon Valley is a perspective, if it’s a way of looking at life and
trying to find some new ideas and new avenues and directions, nothing is going
to stop that, is it? That’s going
to just keep going?
((George Shirk,
Wired Editor-in-Chief))
Right. That’s what I believe, and
I think that’s certainly what the smart money believes is that the foam keeps
advancing. Thousands and thousands
of bubbles and bubbles and bubbles keep advancing in a lot of different areas
throughout the world. I think now
though that the attention may be redirected towards other forms of technology
and new forms of technology, the way we’ve advanced in medical computing,
for instance. I think the next five
to ten years are going to be terribly exciting on the technological front,
and I can hardly wait to get there with a staff of reporters to cover it.
((Jack))
You know, when we look at Silicon Valley’s impact on the California economy,
it’s been fabulous; it’s been a wonderful ride. As Silcon Valley’s dot-coms did well over the
past ten years, the state of California did extremely well. In fact, that’s probably how we can afford
to pay for the power to run the lights to do this interview right now.
((George Shirk,
Wired Editor-in-Chief))
Yeah, for this week.
((Jack))
For this week. That’s changed, though.
It used to be that if you had a great idea, you could go down to Sand
Hill Road in San Jose, and you’d get an audience.
People would listen.
((George Shirk,
Wired Editor-in-Chief))
Yeah.
((Jack))
If you’ve got a great idea, what do you do now?
((George Shirk,
Wired Editor-in-Chief))
I think with the death of the small entrepreneur. I don’t mean the literal death of the small
entrepreneur, but I think very clearly now the venture capital has gone out
from under the small entrepreneur. Any
innovation now moves to the responsibility of the large companies whether
it’s the Intels or the Sun Microsystems or even whether it’s General Motors
or Ford or Campbell’s Soup or whatever established, big, huge companies that
have the money and the patience to fund innovation.
I’d be looking for those companies to begin.
((Jack))
All right, so the innovation doesn’t go away. It just goes in another direction?
((George Shirk,
Wired Editor-in-Chief))
That’s where I think it’s going, yeah.
It’ll be harder to track that from a news point of view.
It’ll work a little bit like plate tectonics, slow, excruciatingly
slow, but at the end of it, we’re likely to see mountain ranges.
((Jack))
Let’s pick up this conversation in just a minute. I want to pause for a moment and take a look
at what the best and brightest and see what happens when they get together
under one roof and take a look at, perhaps, the best wired network that anyone
has, the one in your own brain.
MIND INSTITUTE PACKAGE((Chuck Gardener, Parent of Autistic Child))I refer to him as my “guardian angel.” He’s really just shown me a kind of higher way of living.Chuck Gardener would do anything for his eight year old, Chaz…But what breaks Gardener’s heart is the one thing that he alone cannot do, find a cure for autism, the brain disorder Chaz suffers from…Autism makes communication, relationships, and even certain tasks incredibly difficult…One day while talking to three other Central Valley dads, Chuck Gardener decided that, together, there was something that they could do: create a place where all the information about the disorder could be studied under one roof with the best specialists…The MIND Institute was born…((Chuck Gardener, Parent of Autistic Child))You would find these little, tiny, bright spots of information, but it was really clear that the guy who was doing something really innovative with neurology wasn’t talking to the guy who was doing something really innovative with gastroenterology.The pieces have started to come together at the MIND Institute or the Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders, located at UC Davis…((Dr. Robin Hansen, UC Davis Pediatric Specialist))I think what is really unique and extraordinary about the MIND Institute is the collaboration between clinicians, researchers, parents, and families, and I think that’s really what’s driving us forward.The belief in the value of linking resources in one location helped Chuck and the other dads spearhead fundraising efforts to reach six million dollars to get the project started…For parents, traveling to several places was often exhausting. Gardener, a general contractor by trade, wanted this new facility to be more welcoming…((Chuck Gardener, Parent of Autistic Child))And, so, we really wanted to create a clinic environment that was more residential and kind of brought everybody’s anxiety level down.In this environment, specialists like pediatric doctor Robin Hansen interact with children with autism and other disorders like Chaz or Sam in this case…At times, experts can even study behavior in a less intrusive manner through two-way glass…The ultimate goal is finding a cure neurodevelopmental diseases that affect the brain like Autism, Tourette’s, and even Attention Deficit Disorder, but it’s also to make the treatment process, meantime, as easy as possible for children and their families…The cutting edge collaboration has drawn praise and financial support from the legislature and Governor Davis.((Governor Gray Davis))Well, I believe that research is the key to all kinds of disturbing diseases, and certainly autism deserves a very high priority in our research efforts.Governor Davis helped grant millions in funding. Specialists say it’s needed more than ever as the rate of autism among California’s children continues to grow…The MIND Institute hopes to find a cure in ten years, and doctors say that each day of this collaboration is an important step forward…((Dr. Robin Hansen, UC Davis Pediatric Specialist))And I think that as we do each individual evaluation with multiple areas of expertise, we all continue to learn from each other. These children are so complicated that there really is no one quick answer.There’s so great a demand for the MIND Institute’s services that expansion plans are already under way…Still, Gardener and the founding fathers remain modest about their efforts.((Chuck Gardener, Parent of Autistic Child))I really don’t think there’s anything exceptional about us as dads or parents. I think that any parent that had a child that was suffering as much as these kids are would do anything that it took to help sieve their suffering.He says that he couldn’t live with anything less. Gardner, along with the other adults and families ultimately await the time when a cure is found. Then Gardener’s dream of something else will come true: he will share a conversation with his son…((Chuck Gardener, Parent of Autistic Child))I guess the first thing I’d tell him is that I appreciate his patience. That we got to the cure as quick as we could.END MIND INSTITUTE PACKAGE
((Jack))
Back with George Shirk at Wired News.
George, where is this all going to go?
Does it ever get to the point that the broadband is there where someone
can deliver all these unimaginable services to my home or to my computer or
to my cell phone? Where’s it going?
((George Shirk,
Wired Editor-In-Chief))
Well, of course, I don’t exactly know.
If I did, I be down at Wall Street right now investing in that way,
but I’m very interested in tracking the news on it, obviously. I sense that we’re very close to seeing a really
radical set of changes in the are of sensory technologies. That is to say, having our machines talk to
other machines on our behalf. We can
start to see that in new car designs now coming out. Even in the New York Auto Show, I noticed that sensors are being
installed in automobiles. Volvo is
an interesting company in that way. They’ve
installed sensors in the automobile to direct headlights dependent upon the
speed of the car. The faster you go,
the higher the beam and the narrower the beam, and the slower, but this is
not a driver controlled reaction. It’s one machine talking to another machine
talking to another machine and then performing an action on our behalf. I think we’re going to be seeing a lot of that,
not only in the consumer areas, but also in medical technologies and so on,
so I think this is really an interesting area that we’re going to be hip to
in the next five to ten years.
((Jack))
You know, when you think of the internet, some of the old issues come back
to mind like the digital divide and online privacy. Do these issues still follow us as we continue
to innovate and grow?
((George Shirk,
Wired Editor-In-Chief))
Oh sure.
((Jack))
And we haven’t found easy solutions to any of these, have we?
((George Shirk,
Wired Editor-In-Chief))
No, and the fact of the internet and the fact of the network on a global
basis is still going to dominate our coverage, and it not dominate, it’s still
going to be a big part of it. There
are a lot of things to work out when you’re talking about connecting this
many people to one computer network. Right
now we’ve got 300 million people in the world connected on the net, and how
is it that they are going to interact from a business point of view or a political
point of view within a global context? These
are all very big questions that all of us have to deal with, and coming from
different countries, it’s a completely different deal.
((Jack))
That’s fascinating because in other parts of the world, the internet is
very expensive, so different slices of the culture have access to it and other
slices do not, so it’s a cultural change.
When does that start to wash ashore in the United States? When do we begin to feel that from Europe and
Latin America and places like that?
((George Shirk,
Wired Editor-In-Chief))
Well, I’m not sure. I’m sure that
we’ll ever feel that from Europe or Latin America, or whether they’ll feel
it from us. You know, the way the
internet and the way that people are accessing the internet from different
countries is such a different kind of experience.
In Brazil, for instance, the first ISPs were the banks, and the banks
were ISPs to the internet to deal with their customers who were trying to
deal with a hyperinflationary economy, so it was a completely different motivation
that drove people to the internet in Brazil than it was, say, in Argentina,
which is right next door but undergoing economic recession, and, similarly,
much different to the United States as it was to Mexico, so it’s very interesting. You know, we’re just starting to build this
thing now. Where it’s going will continue
to be a great mystery and a great delight, I think.
((Jack))
And, also, it does not mean that this is nailed to the floor in California.
I mean, this kind of innovation can take place in Southeast Asia, in
Europe, and Latin America just as easily as it can happen here.
((George Shirk,
Wired Editor-In-Chief))
Oh yes. Again, I think the term
Silicon Valley, to me anyway, represents a state of mind and a commitment
to forward looking people who are using new technologies to improve our lives,
and this is going to happen wherever it is, whether it’s in Southeast Asia
or here or in Mexico. There’s also
a very dark side to that too. I hope
I’m not coming off as whistling past the graveyard here.
These are the same technologies that are going into things like weapons
technology and weapons of mass destruction and so on, so these are areas that
we have to be very cognizant of. Areas
of privacy and political repression we have to be aware of. It’s not all going to be—not everything is
easy to figure out, that’s for sure.
((Jack))
Well, we’ve made it this far. I
think we’ll do pretty well down the road.
((George Shirk,
Wired Editor-In-Chief))
I hope so.
((Jack))
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Melissa, back to you.
Cut to Melissa
in another part of the Wired offices
((Melissa))
Thanks Jack. Keeping up with all
these advances doesn’t have to be stressful.
It can actually be a lot of fun, much like this area of Wired Digital. We’re in the web monkey region.
You know, there’s a place that makes it easy for you to keep up all
the advances. They’re all under one
roof, hands on, and a blast to play with.
It’s Called the San Jose Tech Museum of Innovation.
SAN JOSE TECH MUSEUM PACKAGERobots with an attitude…A vehicle that lets you drive in space…And medical technology that could improve or even save your life…They’re just a few of the two hundred and fifty exhibits sharing a home at the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose…((Kris Covarrubias, Tech Museum of Innovation))California, of course, has always been known as a state of innovation and daredevils and risk takers, and the Silicon Valley really embodies that spirit, and the Tech even more really encapsulates what that innovation is all about.The museum includes four different galleries that showcase California’s technology, including how a computer chip is made, but it’s more than just computers and the internet…Here, you also see, for instance, how computers can improve your jumpshot or how 3-D imaging really works…((Kris Covarrubias, Tech Museum of Innovation))In our life tech gallery, we see how technology is helping save human lives. In our exploration gallery, we see how technology is helping us explore outer space.The whole idea is to make everything hands-on and fun. You have such a good time that you actually forget you’re learning. In this case, the computer is going to spell KVIE…A computer remembers where the letters were in this spelling game…A short distance away, you can spell out your dream rollercoaster/thrill ride, an exhibit that combines computer and math skills into hands-on learning that’s fun for all ages…((Jason Martin, Visitor))It’s cool. You can make it any size you want. I think it’s very interesting, and it’s good for some kids. It raises your expectations of what technology can do.Technology also enables visitors to do things like design a dream bike…((Male Visitor))I’m twenty-six, so I’m a big kid.((Female Visitor))It’s just so strange. Even the simple things are so amazing.“Curiosity corners” throughout the museum are manned by instructors who explain these advances and offer demonstrations of their own…Interaction here is key to spark interest in learning more about the science of daily life that makes everything from cell phone service to ordering fast food possible…The hope is that after stepping through these doors, the seed will be planted among visitors to some day dream up advances of their own…((Kris Covarrubias, Tech Museum of Innovation))What we’re trying to do is inspire the innovator in everyone. We want everyone to see that they can have fun and invent their own technology.END TECH MUSEUM PACKAGE
((Jack))
Technology is obviously a big part of everyone’s life, from the ATMs we
use to do our banking, the PCs we have on our desks at work and at home, and
down the road, perhaps, touchscreen voting to take some of the craziness out
of the election process.
((Melissa))
Yeah, we definitely could use that. We
saw a lot of that craziness with the last election. Touchscreen voting is the wave of the future.
Riverside county was one of the first in California to try this online
voting method.
It’s called ABC Edge, with a simple touchscreen as you mentioned, Jack.
Voters cast their ballots in the language of their choice.
Now, there are other touchscreens on the market; each is testing the
best way to eliminate confusion and inaccuracy.
Cost though? Well, that’s still
a factor. Also in the works, and I
think this is pretty cool, a way that you could actually vote by voice. They’re still testing that technology to actually
call the state, register your voice, and then cast your choice.
((Jack))
Just call them on the phone. Kind
of like an electronic thumbs up and down.
((Melissa))
Exactly. That would work because
who would have my voice? That would
be perfect for me.
((Jack))
Time now, for us to thank George Shirk and everyone here at Wired News.com. I’m Jack Kavanagh, thanks for joining us.
We’ll see you next time.