San Francisco is a special place. The city has a healthy share of thinkers and futurists, visionaries and entrepreneurs, whose numbers are bolstered by the proximity of Silicon Valley. It’s a vibrant place, brought alive by the creativity of the people moving throughout it. It’s easy to see, why San Francisco was the natural choice for the inaugural Novus Conference.
Themed “Reimagine the American Dream,” Novus drew a crowd of pioneers to The Battery for a day of talks and personal connections. A diverse range of speakers addressed attendees in The Parlor and Musto Bar, ensuring that no matter the individual’s personal interest, there was something to inspire and awe. Oceanus’ own Ari Eisenstat served as a Novus delegate, one of an incredible team headed by Kunal Sood, whom extended an invitation to others in Oceanus’ organization. The amazing group of speakers contained entrepreneurs, activists, artists, futurists, engineers, social wizards, and those whose talents include these and more.
In the Parlor Room, against a beautiful painting by speaker Raghava KK, we heard from Tim Draper on what the future holds, Sonia Arrison and Dr. Joon Yun on life extension, Susan Alzner and Martha Adams on the empowerment of women and girls, and many more, capped off by Steve Jurvetson’s exciting anticipation of a post-scarcity world. Visitors to the Musto Bar practiced breathing with Rabia Hayek, learned about the importance of the large-scale from Ken Feldman, and ended the room’s series with a well-received fireside chat with Sean Ironstag and Ari Eisenstat discussing Oceanus and our very own dream.
With the talks still fresh on everyone’s minds, the Penthouse opened for the Awards Show. Participants were honored for their contributions to humanity; these awards made it clear once again what an incredible, beautiful group of people had been gathered there. These were people who make it their missions to enhance, prolong, better, save, and benefit the lives of others in the world around us.. For this reason, we were honored and overjoyed to interact more after the show. Invaluable connections were made, ideas shared, and dreams expanded as we realized the manifest destiny of humanity.
Novus was an important refresher in the power of innovation and collaboration. Perhaps most exciting of all, we heard about ideas and ideals which not only lay in line with Oceanus’, but expounded upon them. The Novus crowd sets the bar high, and challenges all to leap it–and that’s just what we plan to do.
PROJECT OCEANUS 