Charlie Rose Science Series
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12/05/2007
Tom Perkins
A conversation with author Tom Perkins
A conversation with American businessman Tom Perkins about his book Valley Boy: The Education of Tom Perkins.
DVD
Charlie Rose DVDs on Amazon.
Charlie Rose DVDs on Amazon.
Audio
Audio available through Audible.com.
Audio available through Audible.com.
Transcripts
Transcripts available through Voxant.
Transcripts available through Voxant.
Thanks for the interview with Mr. Perkins. It was really more like a conversation, which was enjoyable to listen to 2 men talking about toys, work, and adventures.
First off, I'd like to give a shout out to my dad, who recommended the google search that landed here. Secondly, after meeting Perkins for the first time, I'm impressed with the analysis of VC as an industry. Clearly mature, it will begin globalizing, just as Perkins Chinese office is still a question mark? But what happens when availability of resources decelerates worldwide and growth becomes negative? Assuming all resources go to zero as time goes to infinity, and that resources are the ingredient for economic growth, how will VCs thrive during negative growth, to avoid the crashes Wall St. always follow decelerations with?
I was dismayed to hear Tom Perkins' starry-eyed enthusiasm for genetic engineering and all things biotech. The Union of Concerned Scientists just today sent their newsletter with an article about the $500,000 fine the Scotts Company must pay for allowing the escape of its engineerd bentgrass into the wild where it is interbreeding with wild grasses and causing great frustration and economic hardship for farmers. Scotts got off cheaply, even though this is their second offense. And if one has been paying attention, there are other instances which cause alarm, such as the Star Link corn debacle, and the natural and social disaster Monsanto's engineered cotton seed is causing in India. All present the horrifying picture of little man all dressed up in his hubris playing God for profit. Like the Sorcerer's apprentice he cannot really understand nor control what he has set in motion. And this time, Walt Disney won't be around to provide a happy ending. It is to be wished that Mr. Perkins will find a better place for investment than into potentially devastating, uncontrollable and irreversibly damaging technologies.