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Mark Pesce

Futurist & Host at The Next Billion Seconds

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Mark Pesce

About Mark Pesce

Mark Pesce is a futurist, author and podcaster. He co-founded Wisely AI, hosts the podcast The Next Billion Seconds and writes a column for The Register.

In 1994 he co-invented VRML, the first standard for interactive 3D graphics on the web. He has written nine books, from VRML: Browsing and Building Cyberspace (1995) to Getting Started with ChatGPT and AI Chatbots (2023). He founded the graduate program in interactive media at the University of Southern California in 1998, and was a panellist and judge on ABC TV's The New Inventors for seven years from 2005.

In Day One's documentary The History of the Australian Startup Ecosystem he described the early Australian tech scene and how its startup community took shape.

Talks about
Startup Lessons

In conversation.

4 episodes

Start hereThe History Of The Australian Startup Ecosystem - Part 1Part 1 opens with his account of Australian tech companies in the 1980s, before they were called startups and before local venture capital existed.

Documentary: The History Of The Australian Startup Ecosystem

The History Of The Australian Startup Ecosystem - Part 1

Recorded as Host of the podcast This Week in Startups Australia

With Hayden Williams, Evan Thornley, Tim Fung, Trevor Folsom, Peter Davison, Pete Lead, Terry Hilsberg, Matt Bullock, Allan O'Connor, Rachael Neumann, Maxine Sherrin, Malcolm Turnbull, James Alexander, Alan Jones, Paul Bassat, Hamish Hawthorn, Alfred Lo, Phil Hayes-St Clair, Cameron Adams, Bruce Tulloch, Matt Barrie, Kate Cornick

Documentary: The History Of The Australian Startup Ecosystem

The History Of The Australian Startup Ecosystem - Part 3

Recorded as Futurist and host of the podcast This Week in Startups Australia

With Michael Batko, Wayne Gerard, Petr Adámek, Peter Devine, Rohit Bhargava, Terry Hilsberg, Peter Bradd, Zrinka Tokic, Rachael Neumann, Zoe Piper, Susan Oliver, Silvia Pfeiffer, Murray Hurps, Rachel Yang, Yolanda Redrup, Peta Ellis, Sarah Pearson, Niki Scevak, Colin Kinner, Colette Grgic, Ian Gardiner, Lauren Capelin, Matt Barrie, Melissa Widner, Cameron Adams, Georgie Turner, Baden U'Ren, Evan Thornley, Alan Noble, Kate Jones, Kate Cornick, James Alexander, Dharmica Mistry, Emily Rich, Lars Rasmussen

Documentary: The History Of The Australian Startup Ecosystem

The History Of The Australian Startup Ecosystem - Part 5

Recorded as Host and producer of This Week in Startups Australia

With Steve Grace, Eloise Hall, Isobel Marshall, Darryl Lyons, Megan Sebben, Phil Ireland, Wayne Gerard, Sam Jockel, Samantha Finnegan, Arthur Sinodinos, Peter Devine, Tim Fung, Peter Tippett, Trevor Folsom, Dean McEvoy, Moira Were, Kate Jones, Daniel Flynn, Mick Liubinskas, Peter Bradd, Rachael Neumann, Chad Renando, Annie Parker, Aaron Birkby, Rachel Yang, Melissa Widner, Sarah Pearson, Colin Kinner, Lauren Capelin, Bruce Tulloch, Matt Barrie, Kate Cornick, Cheryl Mack, Andrea Gardiner, Niki Scevak

The path so far.

  1. Now

    Futurist & Host · The Next Billion Seconds

  2. From 1998

    Founding chair, Graduate Program in Interactive Media · University of Southern California

  3. From 1991 · Startup

    Founder · Ono-Sendai Corporation

  4. From 1988 · Scale-up

    Engineer (user interfaces, VR research) · Shiva Corporation

  5. Earlier

    Judge · ABC's The New Inventors

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

The Next Billion Seconds on Day One

The Next Billion Seconds is a podcast and companion newsletter about technology and the future, written and hosted by Mark Pesce.

1 person · 4 episodes
The Next Billion Seconds

Across the network.

Spot something wrong? Suggest a correctionUpdated 29 October 2026

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