Thus the fact that 1.5 million programs have been run on Rigetti's Forest — its user-friendly interface to the quantum world — tells us that radical … - Peter Diamandis

Three hundred years ago, 2 percent of the world’s population lived in cities. Two hundred years ago, it was 10 percent. But the Industrial Revolution’s steam-powered punch forever altered those numbers. Between 1870 and 1920, 11 million Americans left the country for the city. In Europe, 25 million more crossed an ocean to settle, predominantly, in US cities. By 1900, 40 percent of the United States had urbanized. By 1950, it was 50 percent. By the turn of the millennium, 80 percent.

While short-term job loss is the inevitable and often painful result of demonetization and dematerialization, the long-term payoff is undeniable: goods and services once reserved for the wealthy few are now available to anyone equipped with a smart phone — which, these days, thankfully, includes the rising billion.

In 1992, as we sought to establish our permanent terrestrial campus, we put out an RFP (request for proposals) that basically said, "Hi there, we're ISU. We have this concept for a permanent campus. We've held five summer programs in five different cities, and this is our vision for what we want to create and where we want to go. Please tell us how much cash endowment, buildings, and operational money you will give us to bring our vision to your city." Had we gotten no response at all, I would not have been surprised. But that wasn't the case. Within six months, we received seven proposals ranging from $20 million to $50 million in funding, buildings, faculty, equipment, and even the promise of accreditation. In short, everything we needed to implement the next phase of ISU.