Trent McConaghy

I like to build things that matter for humanity in the long term. In my first startup (ADA), we explored the relation between human creativity and AI-based machine creativity. ADA was acquired in 2004. I extended that work during my PhD, and found a way to reconcile machine creativity with existing engineering knowledge. Here's the book. In my second startup (Solido), we leveraged AI to help drive Moore's Law, which was under threat due to crazy manufacturing variation. Here's the book. Now, Solido SW is used for most modern chip designs. In my new startup BigchainDBascribe, we're working on scalable blockchain technology, and applications to the Internet & IP. More: PhD in EE from KU Leuven, Belgium. Awarded #1 thesis worldwide in the field. BE EE and BsC CS from U Saskatchewan, Canada. Awarded #1 final year thesis. Did ML research for Canadian Department of National Defense, in the second half of the 90s. Wrote 2 Books [1,2] on ML, circuits and creativity. Also 35 Papers, 20 Patents. Keynotes & invited talks at MIT, Columbia, Berkeley, JPL, Nvidia, IFA+ Summit, Data Science Day Berlin, PyData Berlin, more. Lecturer at Data Science Retreat [link]. Member of Advisory Group for the e-Residency team of the Government of Estonia Organize Singularity Meets Self Improvement [link] and co-organize Berlin Machine Learning [link] meetups. Co-organized workshops on ML / circuits [e.g. 1,2,3,4]. TPC / reviewer for many conferences & journals [e.g. 1,2,3,4,5] Past projects: painting, BCI hacking, hypnosis, video game programming, surfing. Raised in a pig farm in Canada, hacking away on cold winter nights. 3D CAD tool, wordprocessor, dozens of games. more at LinkedIn

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105, 2018

Tokenize or die: Will industry giants be forced to dilute their power?

|1 May 2018|News|

For how much longer will companies like Facebook, which reported Q1 revenue this year of $11.97 billion, be able to retain a business model that capitalizes on free content generated by its users without rewarding them for it? Is it much of a stretch of the imagination to see it aligning its interests with that of its users instead of being in conflict with them?

810, 2017

Starships and Tokens; A Path to Human Self-Actualization

|8 Oct 2017|News|

Many humans don’t settle for just barely scraping by; they improve themselves towards self-actualization. Could we do the same at the level of civilization? Rather than merely avoiding disasters, let’s truly reach for the stars. In this essay, I describe a decentralized system for humanity to collectively graph the steps towards self-actualization, from conquering malaria and a shared planetary database, to universal basic income and even asteroid mining.

2009, 2017

From AI to Blockchain to Data: Meet Ocean

|20 Sep 2017|News|

I think it’s amazing that you can design algorithms that might have society-level impact. AI algorithms are in that category. And, AI is *fun*. Take Genetic Programming, where you write computer programs to evolve other computer programs. Moreover, AI poses exciting engineering challenges like scaling, and it asks the biggest questions, like the nature of the mind. For these reasons, AI was my first love. I started my AI reading and hacking intently in the early 90s. By 1997, I was far enough along hacking AI that people started paying me to do it. I never looked back, doing two companies and a PhD on AI.

2407, 2017

The blockchain infrastructure landscape: A first principles framing

|24 Jul 2017|News|

How are Ethereum, IPFS/Filecoin, and BigchainDB complementary? What about Golem, Polkadot, or Interledger? I often get questions like this. So, I decided to write about how I answer those questions, via a first-principles framing. The quick answer: there’s no one magic system called “blockchain” that magically does everything. Rather, there are really good building blocks of computing that can be used together to create effective decentralized applications. Ethereum can play a role, BigchainDB can play a role, and many more as well. Let’s explore…

2503, 2017

Three pre-blockchain planetary networks: Visa, DNS, and Sabre/Amadeus

|25 Mar 2017|News|

“Blockchain technology could change the world!” But how? If an industry gets a single shared source of truth, what happens? If you’re in the blockchain space, you may be working hard to paint a possible picture to answer that. You may be using logic and extrapolation, but wishing that you had something more tangible.

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