IdeaFlow readers may find of interest a blog conversation I've joined leading up to the June 20-22 Supernova conference in San Francisco.

Of particular interest: A great post by Irving Wladawsky-Berger on what he calls the "grand challenges" of the future:

"All these Grand Challenge problems share a few key characteristics. They are very, very difficult, requiring heroic breakthroughs from groups in multiple disciplines working closely together around the world. They must have a significant scientific, economic and/or social impact. But, perhaps most important, they must capture our imaginations, so we become enthralled by the possibilities and find within ourselves something that lets us achieve the near impossible."

These are the kind of challenges that could potentially be addressed by the evolution of what Supernova organizer Kevin Werbach calls in this post the New Network:

"If the starting point is a broadband Internet, with massive aggregation and services platforms like Google, AOL, MSN, and Yahoo!, and a host mechanisms for linking data in powerful ways, what appears now that couldn’t take hold before? The New Network is broader than [fill-in-the-blank] 2.0, because it’s less about comparisons with the past, and more about describing the future. Developments like virtual worlds, social networks, federated digital identity systems, search engine marketing, microblogging, zombie botnets, conversational marketing, and data centers in shipping containers don’t have clear antecedents, nor are they just about user control and open standards."