ON THE RECORD

Name: Paul Saffo.

Name:Paul Saffo.

Age:Mid-50s.

Family:Married.

Background:Born in Los Angeles, Saffo grew up in California and has degrees from Stanford, Cambridge and Harvard. A technology forecaster for over two decades, he joined the Institute of the Future in Silicon Valley in 1985 but is on sabbatical from his role there. He is a widely published essayist and author and advises governments and organisations.

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Why he is in the news:Saffo will be a keynote speaker at Ibec's Meeting of Minds: Convergent Technologies conference in Dublin next week.

Hobbies:collects scientific antiques and obsolete technologies.

Something you might expect:He is a board member of the Long Now Foundation (longnow.org) , which aims to promote thinking responsibly and creatively about the next 10,000 years.