Building the Next Great American City | Esmeralda CEO Devon Zuegel

Enveda's Radical Vision for the Future of Medicine | Viswa Colluru & Pablo Lubroth

Enveda Founder and CEO Viswa Colluru believes we have been looking for new medicines in the wrong places for decades. In the Season 1 finale of Forecast 2050, I sat down with Viswa and Pablo Lubroth, VP of Special Projects at Enveda, to discuss why 9 in 10 drugs fail in clinical trials despite Big Pharma spending $276 billion in annual R&D, how AI is finally unlocking 99% of nature's chemistry that we've haven't been able to read, why the incentive structure of biotech capital markets is actively bad for patients, why insisting on understanding how a drug works actually slows down drug discovery, why aging may not be inevitable, and why mental health is going to be the defining medical crisis of the next 25 years. Extended Show Notes: https://finnmurphyirl.substack.com/p/3dc95f79-4a7e-4c80-9630-970c1e6e2117 Transcript (with helpful links!): https://finnmurphyirl.substack.com/p/beb7222d-efd1-472b-85be-09d7a7faf1a5 Chapters: 00:00 Intro 01:09 The Quintessential Problem With Drug Discovery 04:57 Pablo’s Journey to Enveda 06:29 Insisting on Understanding Biological Mechanisms Slows Down Drug Discovery 09:39 Science Has Been Divorced From Human Experience 12:22 Scientific Reductionism Has Not Led to Better Drugs 19:31 Lessons Learned From Big Pharma Missing Out On GLP-1s 22:11 Capital Markets Disinventivize Risk-Taking and Harm Patients 28:12 How to Prioritize Which Illnesses to Cure 33:38 Prediction and Prevention is a Better Strategy Than Treatment 38:27 Drugs to Make Us Limitless Like Bradley Cooper 42:53 Aging is Not Inevitable 43:34 Everyone Has a Chinese Peptide Guy 50:13 The Loon Shots for 2050 52:39 Mental Health Will be The Biggest Challenge for 2050 54:46 The AI Revolution in Medicine Viswa Colluru is the Founder & CEO of Enveda, a clinical-stage biotech company using AI to discover new drugs from nature. He built Enveda from $55K of personal savings into a unicorn with over $500M raised and multiple assets in clinical trials. Before founding Enveda, Viswa was the first Innovation Scientist and Product Manager at Recursion Pharmaceuticals. He holds a PhD in immuno-oncology from UW-Madison. Pablo Lubroth is a VP of Special Projects at Enveda and the Co-Founder & Editor of Decoding Bio. He previously built and led the biotech practice at Hummingbird Ventures and co-hosts the annual AI x Bio Summit at the NYSE. Pablo holds degrees in Neuropharmacology and Biochemical Engineering from UCL and an MPhil in Bioscience Enterprise from the University of Cambridge. Viswa on X: https://x.com/viswacolluru Pablo on X: https://x.com/pablolubroth Enveda: https://enveda.com Decoding Bio: https://www.decodingbio.com Forecast 2050 is a series about the next 25 years—and the builders, thinkers, and leaders shaping what comes next. Finn on X: https://x.com/FinnMurphy12 Finn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finn-murphy-16160465/ Nebular is a venture capital firm based in New York City. Head to nebular.vc for more info.

Building the Next Great American City | Esmeralda CEO Devon Zuegel

Devon Zuegel believes America has been building cities wrong for decades. She grew up spending summers in Chautauqua, an intellectual community in western New York where four generations of her family shared a household and she knew her neighbors better than the ones at home in California. Now she's building a village called Esmeralda 90 minutes north of San Francisco to prove that formula can be replicated. I sat down with Devon in San Francisco to talk about harnessing urban planning as a powerful technological force for good, age-segregation in America and the impending population crisis, and why we need more incredible cities popping up across the country over the next 25 years. Extended Show Notes: https://finnmurphyirl.substack.com/p/8bcb1293-d2f5-4c6c-a133-8a6d0826b839 Transcript (with helpful links!): https://finnmurphyirl.substack.com/p/forecast-2050-episode-7-devon-zuegel?r=25ihqz&triedRedirect=true Chapters: 00:00 Intro 01:07 Chautauqua Inspires Esmeralda 03:02 Cities Are A Technology 06:33 The Autonomous Vehicle Takeover 10:02 The New Multigenerational Society 13:29 American Colleges Make the Economy Dynamic, but Break Up Families 17:39 Remote Work and the Expansion of the Metropolis 19:55 A Real Alternative to the Suburb/City Dilemma 22:21 Real Life Is The Classroom 26:04 Esmeralda’s Open Door Policy 27:59 Making Cities Worth Living In 32:51 The NIMBY Problem 35:10 The Digital-Physical Divergence 38:29 The Cities That Have Gotten It Right Before Devon Zuegel is the founder and president of the Esmeralda Institute, where she is building Esmeralda, a village of the future just 90 minutes north of San Francisco envisioned as a Chautauqua for Silicon Valley. Devon on X: https://x.com/devonzuegel [https://x.com/devonzuegel] Devon’s Personal Site: https://devonzuegel.com/ Esmeralda Institute: https://esmeralda.org/ Forecast 2050 is a series about the next 25 years—and the builders, thinkers, and leaders shaping what comes next.  Finn on X: https://x.com/FinnMurphy12 Finn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finn-murphy-16160465/ Nebular is a venture capital firm based in New York City.  Head to nebular.vc for more info.

Rule Britannia? How the UK Wins the AI Era | Matt Clifford & Ian Hogarth

Matt Clifford and Ian Hogarth believe Europe is roughly a decade behind the United States in building the technology companies that will define the next era. But they also believe that the gap can be closed, and that the UK and Europe could even leapfrog America, if political leaders and the public make fundamentally different choices. I sat down with Matt, co-founder of Entrepreneurs First and architect of the UK Government's AI strategy, and Ian, co-founder of Plural and Chair of the UK's AI Foundation Model Taskforce, to talk about what Europe needs to do to save itself from stagnation. We get into why Europe's risk aversion is a bigger threat than American superiority, why career politicians won't survive in the new multipolar world, and why the pro-growth movement is losing the culture war — and how to win it back. Extended Show Notes: https://finnmurphyirl.substack.com/p/2dc713af-826a-43dc-a2ad-91ad00ee6134 Transcript (with helpful links!): https://finnmurphyirl.substack.com/p/00092f0e-3f30-473f-a773-d560724b3dc5 Chapters: 00:00 Intro 01:01 The Compounding Effect: Why the US Is Winning 03:50 Jumpstarting European Growth 06:48 We Must Risk Failure to Succeed 09:30 Crisis as Catalyst 12:21 The Multipolar Moment 14:31 AI Nationalism 18:41 Career Politicians Won’t Survive the New Global Order 21:32 The Apollo Moonshot for the UK 25:26 The UK Has a De-Growth Cultural Problem 28:32 Growth ≠ Good 33:55 Prediction Markets as Gambling Companies 36:23 Political Leaders Should Not Be Neutral About the Good Life 37:41 UK and Europe: Geography as Destiny 39:33 The Next Pendulum Swings for Europe Matt Clifford is the co-founder and Chair of Entrepreneurs First, the world's leading talent investor, and Chair of ARIA, the UK's Advanced Research and Invention Agency. He authored the UK Government's AI Opportunities Action Plan and served as the Prime Minister's Adviser on AI. He was named to the TIME100 list of most influential people in AI and was awarded a CBE for services to AI in 2024. Ian Hogarth is co-founder and partner at Plural, an early-stage venture capital firm, and served as Chair of the UK Government's AI Foundation Model Taskforce. He co-founded Songkick and was named to the TIME100 list of most influential people in AI in 2023. Matt on X: https://x.com/matthewclifford Ian on X: https://x.com/soundboy Matt's Website: https://www.matthewclifford.com/ Ian's Website: https://www.ianhogarth.com/ Forecast 2050 is a series about the next 25 years—and the builders, thinkers, and leaders shaping what comes next. Finn on X: https://x.com/FinnMurphy12 Finn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finn-murphy-16160465/ Nebular is a venture capital firm based in New York City. Head to nebular.vc for more info.

Dimming the Sun to Save the World | Stardust CEO Yanai Yedvab on Solving Climate Change by 2050

Yanai Yedvab thinks we need to completely overhaul the infrastructure of humanity to avoid a climate disaster, and we can't afford to wait the 70 years it’ll take to wean off fossil fuels. Before founding Stardust, Yanai spent nearly three decades in Israeli nuclear research, ending up as deputy chief scientist at the Israel Atomic Energy Commission. Stardust is developing reflective particles to disperse into the upper atmosphere that will buy us the several decades we need to transition into a low-carbon economy. We sat down in New York to talk about how the technology works, the dangers at stake if we do nothing, and Yanai's radical optimism in spite of everything. Stardust Publication on Safety: https://www.stardustsolutions.com/science Stardust Publication on Ethics: https://www.stardustsolutions.com/guiding-principles Extended Show Notes: https://finnmurphyirl.substack.com/p/191c8d8c-50a1-42d4-a44e-03e618b9d359 Transcript (with helpful links!): https://finnmurphyirl.substack.com/p/c04e6ebb-d1e8-4cbf-97d3-fee104f21536 Chapters: 00:00 Intro 01:10 From Nuclear Physics to The Climate Crisis 04:01 The Failure of Climate Activism 05:28 How Solar Reflective Technology Works 09:12 The 1991 Eruption of Mount Pinatubo 12:01 The Montreal Protocol and How to Negotiate in a World at War 16:03 Buying Time: Weaning off Fossil Fuels Will Take 50-70 Years 18:55 Data Centers, Fission, and Fusion 19:59 Preparing for Emergencies the Israeli Way 23:40 Radical Transparency: The Only Way To Gain Trust 27:05 Persuading the Policymakers 33:05 Unlimited Ambition is What Will Save the World 35:10 Stardust Will Unlock Quantum Leaps in Weather Prediction 36:54 Stardust in 2050 40:20 Why Stardust Has to Be a Private Company 45:32 Optimism for the Future is Rational Yanai Yedvab is a nuclear physicist, former deputy chief scientist at the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, and the co-founder and CEO of Stardust, a solar geoengineering company. Stardust: https://www.stardustsolutions.com/ Forecast 2050 is a series about the next 25 years—and the builders, thinkers, and leaders shaping what comes next. Finn on X: https://x.com/FinnMurphy12 Finn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finn-murphy-16160465/ Nebular is a venture capital firm based in New York City. Head to nebular.vc for more info.

The Technologies That Will Remake Civilization by 2050 | Casey Handmer

Casey Handmer thinks we're living through the most consequential 25 years in human history, and that human civilization is just getting started. I sat down with Casey in Los Angeles to discuss how China's dominance in solar energy deployment should be a wake-up call for the West, why antimatter is the only rocket fuel that makes interstellar travel possible, and how slowing down aging may be the best solution to plummeting birthrates across the planet. For Casey, the balrog in the deep isn’t demographic decline, but a climate catastrophe that swallows every coastline on Earth. Extended Show Notes: https://finnmurphyirl.substack.com/p/6c52cb7a-572b-4f5f-8bf9-70fdaf14cf98 Transcript (with helpful links!): https://finnmurphyirl.substack.com/p/17c9604e-f38b-41a3-9068-eaf69d9f5575 Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:53 The Solar Revolution 03:43 AI is a Supersonic Tsunami 06:00 Civilization Is Just Getting Started 08:46 Intelligent Life in the Universe 12:03 The $40 Trillion Ticket to Space: Antimatter 20:57 Space Exploration by 2050 22:09 Mitigating The Climate Catastrophe 27:53 Terraforming Mars vs Terraforming Venus 35:00 Solving the Birthrate Crisis: Humans Will Become Like The Elves in LOTR and Live Indefinitely 42:07 China Is Losing Sleep Over Their Problems As Much as We Are 44:46 Governments Are Lying About Their Population Sizes 46:11 The 2050 Moonshots That Will Save The World 52:45 Easter Egg :) Casey Handmer is a physicist, entrepreneur, and the founder of Terraform Industries, working on making cheap natural gas from sunlight and air. Casey on X: https://x.com/CJHandmer Casey's Website: https://www.caseyhandmer.com/ Forecast 2050 is a series about the next 25 years—and the builders, thinkers, and leaders shaping what comes next. Finn on X: https://x.com/FinnMurphy12 Finn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finn-murphy-16160465/ Nebular is a venture capital firm based in New York City. Head to nebular.vc for more info.