In 1962, at Rice University, John F. Kennedy announced to the world the commitment that would form a cornerstone of his presidency: for the US to land a man on the Moon before the decade's end. This was the "Moonshot" of the then president of the country, assassinated one year later.
On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first person to step on the surface of the Moon. This centuries-old, seemingly unattainable and impossible dream finally became a reality. The project's passion, collective determination, excitement, enthusiasm, focus, and its able management of errors, failures and even tragedies, were the keys to making this dream come true.
The great Silicon Valley technology companies that are changing the world with their innovations have incorporated the term “Moonshot Thinking” into their DNA, because technological capacity is not enough if it is not driven by those values and principles, and an enthusiastic and contagious attitude of dreaming.
Today it is not necessary to be a "tech giant" to tackle the challenges humanity faces in the next decade. Did you know that your mobile phone today has a computing capacity 100,000 times greater than that NASA used for the Apollo XI mission in 1969? And your smartphone is right in your hands, as are the exponential technologies that are going to accelerate change at a dizzying, 10x rate.
Don't you think that you can, now more than ever, be an active agent of change, in close collaboration with your colleagues, employers, colleagues, friends and family? We are sure that the answer is yes, that you can help change the world and leave an indelible mark on it: cure diseases, reform the educational system and make it universally accessible, take the Internet to the 8 billion people who will populate the Earth in 2022 (now only 3 billion have access), increase our intelligence and access to global knowledge, achieve sustainable development goals, reformulate and change the lives of an ageing population, etc.
July 20th, 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of one of the great achievements of the 20th century: man's landing on the Moon.
Marking this occasion, at Ideagoras we encourage you to describe and share with the world your "Moonshot", your dream, your passion for the next 10 - 15 years. All you must do is define what problem or challenge you aim to solve, with what radical solution, and how you will approach it through the use and orchestration of the scientific and technological developments that we are witnessing in this exciting, exponential era, as we head down the road towards Singularity.
Share it in a tweet, with the hashtag #mymoonshot. We will make sure that your tweet, your moonshot, enjoys even more visibility, and that it charts a course for the Moon, and lands on its surface, taking its place – the one that a unique dream like yours deserves.
Like you, the community of Moonshoters will be able to locate and read it on our virtual satellite, between July 16 and 24.
And, most importantly, they will be able to evaluate it, so that, in real time, you'll be able to see where your Moonshot ranks. The community's favorite will be eligible for presentation at one of our Talks at Ideagoras in October of 2019.
So, what's your Moonshot?
