There are two paradigms when it comes to technology and innovation, said Albert Saniger, founder and CEO of fintech company Nate. “The paradigm we’ve lived in is what” can machines do for us? The paradigm I want to live in to move forward is what should machines for us?”
on this week Most innovative companies podcastSaniger describes how his life was a succession of passion-led decisions implemented by rationality, and how that same lens can be applied to the role technology plays in our lives, and the autonomy we have over our decisions and our data.
Machines, he says, should play a role in the performance of tasks, not decision-making, which he sees as a defining aspect of our humanity. We should try to maintain our freedom of choice, he says — from where and how we shop to where and how we share our choices and data — whether that’s with friends or an algorithm.
According to Saniger, technology should allow us to flow seamlessly through life; it must not hinder or divert us. Because increasingly, he says, we will not live virtually or physically. We’ll just live.
“There will be no gap between the digital and physical worlds,” explains Saniger. “The binary we’ve taught ourselves to expect won’t be there, because everything will be a combination of physical objects, VR and AR.”
That’s the solution Natea unified shopping wallet, seeks to offer – the seamless integration of all of the above as it applies to ‘in-life shopping’ as opposed to in-store, in-app shopping, so that we can verify our unique store identities.
A self-confessed math geek, Saniger started coding at age 9 and was doing math by the time he was 11. team before proceeding to start Nate. While these facts may characterize him as a “left brain,” hard-core analytic, Saniger advocates rationalizing big decisions in your life.
“Where I live, what I choose to do for a living, and how I contribute to society, those choices are really hard to make right if you’re very rational about them,” he says. “But once you’ve decided, okay, this is the person I’m going to build my life with, this is the field I’m going to dedicate my career to — then you need to switch. The how you reach [those decisions] is by deliberate, rational behavior. “
Listen to the episode for the full interview.
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