

John Borthwick
Figure in the New York City tech scene. He shares his experiences with computers, the impact of the World Wide Web, and the evolution of BetaWorks.
Top 5 podcasts with John Borthwick
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74 snips
Sep 13, 2025 • 1h 2min
(BNS) John Borthwick Of Betaworks
Join John Borthwick, a key player in New York City's tech scene, as he takes you through his tech journey from early programming to the rise of the World Wide Web. He recalls the vibrant 90s tech culture and reflects on the creation of Total New York and the lessons from the AOL acquisition. Borthwick discusses the impact of the dot-com bubble and highlights landmark innovations like Photolog in early social media. He emphasizes how constraints can foster creativity and the evolution of Betaworks as a hub for innovation in AI.

55 snips
Apr 10, 2023 • 58min
How to Think About the Current Moment in A.I. | John Borthwick
In Episode 307 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with the founder and CEO of Betaworks, John Borthwick about the current moment in artificial intelligence. In John’s first appearance on the podcast in 2017, Demetri and he spoke about the challenges and opportunities present in the field of A.I. and how we could progress technologically into an immersive future of superintelligence and simulation without losing touch with our humanity. The incredibly rapid adoption of ChatGPT has caused both Demetri and John to revisit these questions and whether that immersive future that they spoke about then has finally arrived. How we would even know if it has and what the appropriate response to the current moment is for the public, for companies investing in this technology, and for governments seeking to regulate and exploit it is the subject of the episode’s second hour, which is available to premium subscribers. You can subscribe to our premium content and gain access to our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports (or Key Takeaways) at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you want to join in on the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces genius community, which includes Q&A calls with guests, access to special research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners, you can also do that on our subscriber page. If you still have questions, feel free to email info@hiddenforces.io, and Demetri or someone else from our team will get right back to you. If you enjoyed listening to today’s episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe & Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 04/06/2023

26 snips
Nov 11, 2022 • 1h 11min
Funding Tools For Thinking
In this episode, we are talking to James Cham, partner at Bloomberg BETA, founder of Quizlet Andrew Sutherland, and John Borthwick, CEO of Betaworks.
Andrew previous founder of Quizlet. He is passionate about teaching, learning, and improving education. A complete Tools for Thinking nerd and angel investor in the space. You can find him on twitter @AStuth.
James is also a passionate Tools for Thinking user, investor, and thinker. James is at @JamesCham over on Twitter
John, CEO of Betaworks, @Borthwick on Twitter. Our host, mind mapper, and weaver is JerryMichalski
Jerry's MindMap of this episode can be found here: https://app.thebrain.com/brains/3d80058c-14d8-5361-0b61-a061f89baf87/thoughts/c95c954a-bb99-4496-a284-ba77ab853bbf/attachments/7a434dcd-bcbf-4151-86f5-2021e1c03750

24 snips
Jul 13, 2023 • 1h 20min
Artificial Intelligence Meets Virtual Worlds: The Future of Sentience
The two hottest topics in tech right now are the rise of generative AI and, with Apple’s recent push into spatial computing, the mainstreaming of augmented reality. Will silicon-based machines develop sentience? Will human experience extend into virtual worlds? These distinct technologies may eventually blend to spawn a surprising future, as our “real” world becomes digitally enhanced and our machines behave increasingly like humans.Today, a provocative discussion with some big (human) thinkers: Steven Johnson, visiting scholar at Google Labs and author of ”Extra Life,” “Where Good Ideas Come from,” and “How We Got to Now”; philosopher and cognitive scientist David Chalmers, author of ”The Conscious Mind” and “Reality+”; and Betaworks founder and AI investor John Borthwick.• Want to learn more about our executive membership? Email podcast@nextbigideaclub.com• “David Chalmers Thinks We May Be Living in a Simulation (and He’s OK With It)”• “Steven Johnson & Michael Specter on the Future of Life” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

11 snips
Oct 28, 2022 • 41min
Machine Learning and Public Knowledge Graphs
In this episode, we have something different — this is a twitter spaces conversation about Tools for Thinking and machine learning and public knowledge graphs between Samiur Rahman, founder of Heyday, an AI-powered research assistant & Jude Gomila, founder of Golden - a canonical protocol for knowledge. and Wiz co-founder of Spacadet Ventures and John Borthwick.
More info on SpaceCadet - https://spacecadet.ventures/
Golden - https://golden.com/
Heyday - https://heyday.xyz/