José Cordeiro

Mr. Cordeiro, 2016

José Luis Cordeiro is an economist, and futurist. He was born in Caracas, Venezuela from European parents who emigrated from Madrid during the Franco dictatorship. Educated in Europe and North America; he has studied, visited and worked in over one-hundred and thirty countries on five continents.

Education

"José studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, USA, where he earned his Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) and Master of Science (M.Sc.) degrees in Mechanical Engineering, with a minor in Economics and Languages. His thesis consisted of a dynamic modeling for NASA’s Freedom Space Station (the International Space Station of today). He later studied International Economics and Comparative Politics at Georgetown University in Washington, USA, and then obtained his Masters of Business Administration (MBA) at the Institut Européen d’ Administration des Affaires (INSEAD) in Fontainebleau, France, where he majored in Finance and Globalization.

During his studies, he worked with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in Vienna, Austria, and with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, USA. He started his doctoral work at MIT, which he continued later in Tokyo, Japan, and finally earned his Ph.D. at Universidad Simón Bolívar (USB) in Caracas, Venezuela. He is a lifetime member of the Sigma Xi (ΣΞ, Scientific Research) and Tau Beta Pi (ΤΒΠ, Engineering) Honor Societies in North America, is also a honorary member of the Venezuelan Engineers College (CIV), and his name has been included in the Marquis Edition of Who’s Who in the World."

- From his Biography at Lifeboat Foundation

Professional career

Mr. Cordeiro is an energy expert.

"In addition to his activities as President Emeritus of the World Future Society (Venezuela) he is a professor, founder and researcher of Singularity University, a research center created by NASA, Google and other companies, which is located in the NASA Research Center , in Silicon Valley, where they investigate how to solve problems related to health, nutrition, poverty, human education through technology. Researcher at the Institute of Developing Economies (IDE - JETRO) in Tokyo, Cordeiro is also the director of the Single Global Currency Association (SGCA) and the Lifeboat Foundation, co-founder of the Internet Society, Counselor of the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology, member of the Academic Committee of the Center for the Dissemination of Economic Knowledge and of the World Futures Studies Federation (WFSF), as well as advisor to the Venezuelan Association of Executives (AVE) and several companies and international organizations..."

- From his Biography at VIDA+ Foundation

“Thanks for coming, I got a good turnout. Standing room only. (pause) I’ve known Jose for many years and most notably...starting from the beginning, which is about seven years ago, we started organizing Singularity University...and has helped developed the concept and the organization, heads up our relationship with Latin America.”

- Ray Kurzweil, Ray introduces Jose, Talks at Google, October 2014

Philosophy and Politics

Cordeiro has been an advocate of sound monetary policy and dollarization in Eastern Europe and Latin America. His 1999 book La Segunda Muerte de Sucre provided academic backing for the change from the sucre to the dollar as the currency in Ecuador, where he is regarded as one of the thought leaders of this transformation.

In 2009, Cordeiro spoke at the European Futurists Conference in Lucerne about the concept of 'Singularity': "a not-too-distant moment when artificial intelligence overtakes the capabilities of the human mind - the point when we are going to merge with machines". As a teaching fellow of the Singularity University, he added that "the purpose of Singularity University is to prepare humankind for this transformation".

Cordeiro coined the term 'Energularity' to refer to “the biggest change in the largest industry on our planet... the Energy industry’s shift from fossil fuels to solar, wind, geothermal or fusion”. He also coined the term "Benesuela" as a contrast to "Venezuela" in reference to the educational situation in that country.

In a set of forecasts about Latin America in 2030, Cordeiro and the Millennium Project highlighted two extreme scenarios: "God is Latin American" and "Disintegration in Hell".

He advises audiences to “Forget flying cars and robot butlers… the future will be a far more interesting place”.

Cordeiro has been writing a fortnightly opinion column in El Universal, the largest Venezuelan general newspaper, since 1996.

Books

• El Desafio Latinoamericano (1996)
• El Gran Tabu Venezolano: la desestatizacion y democratizacion del petroleo (1998)
• The Great Taboo (1998)
• Benesuela vs. Venezuela: el combate educativo del siglo (1998)
• La Segunda Muerte de Bolivar... y el Renacer de Venezuela (1998)
• La Segunda Muerte de Sucre... y el Renacer del Ecuador (1999)
• Pesos o dolares? (2000)
• El desafio latinoamericano y sus cinco grandes retos (2007)
• Constitutions Around the World: A Comparative View from Latin America (2009)
• Telephones and Economic Development: A Worldwide Long-Term (2010)
• Latinoamérica 2030: Estudio Delphi y Escenarios (2014)
• La Muerte de la Muerte: La posibilidad científica de la inmortalidad física y su defensa moral (2018)

External links

• Official website
• Official blog
• The Millennium Project
• Lifeboat Foundation Homepage
• Cordeiro, the 'prophet of immortality'
• José Luis Cordeiro on Wikipedia

Videos

• Singularity Summit: "The Future of Energy and the Energy of the Future"
• TEDxRio+20: "The future is not what it used to be"
• Talks at Google: "The Future of Technology and the Technology of the Future"
• Singularity Weblog: "Jose Cordeiro on Longevity and Cryonics Summit: The World Will Be A Better Place Tomorrow"