Peter Singer

Technology and Cyber Security Futurist
Peter Singer Speaker
  • New York Times Best-selling author of both Fiction and Nonfiction
  • Official "Mad Scientist" for US Army
  • Named by Smithsonian Institution-National Portrait Gallery as one of the 100 “leading innovators in the nation”
  • Advisor to US military and Fortune 500 on Futures and Strategic Narrative

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Peter Warren Singer is Strategist at New America, a Professor of Practice at Arizona State University, and Founder & Managing Partner at Useful Fiction LLC, a strategic narrative company that aids organizations ranging from the US military to Fortune 100 firms to better tell their story.

New York Times Bestselling author, described in the Wall Street Journal as “the premier futurist in the national-security environment” and “all-around smart guy” in the Washington Post, he has been named by the Smithsonian as one of the nation’s 100 leading innovators, by Defense News as one of the 100 most influential people in defense issues, by Foreign Policy to their Top 100 Global Thinkers List, and as an official “Mad Scientist” for the U.S. Army’s Training and Doctrine Command. No author, living or dead, has more books on the professional US military reading lists. 

His non-fiction books include Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry, Children at War, Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century; Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: What Everyone Needs to Know and most recently LikeWar, which explores how social media has changed war and politics. It was named an Amazon and Foreign Affairs book of the year and reviewed by Booklist as “LikeWar should be required reading for everyone living in a democracy and all who aspire to.” He is also the co-author of a new type of novel, using the format of a technothriller to communicate nonfiction research. Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War was both a top summer read and led to briefings everywhere from the White House to the Pentagon. His latest is Burn-In: A Novel of the Real Robotic Revolution. It has been described by the creator of Lost and Watchmen as “A visionary new form of storytelling—a rollercoaster ride of science fiction blended with science fact,” and by the head of Army Cyber Command as “I loved Burn-In so much that I’ve already read it twice.”

A noted public speaker, Singer has given keynote speeches and briefings at a diverse range of venues, including: TED, South by SouthWest, The White House, Pentagon, NSA, CIA, DIA, FBI, US Congress, the Royal Court of the UAE, Australian Parliament, Microsoft Leadership Summit, Google, “Geek Week”, Sydney Opera House, and the Festival of Dangerous Ideas.

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Speaker Video

Dr. Peter Warren Singer: How to Use The Power of Story

Peter Singer: Congressional Testimony, What Winning Looks Like?

Peter Singer: What is Useful Fiction?

Peter Singer: Our Looming Robotic Dreams and Dilemmas, 1

Peter Singer: Our Looming Robotic Dreams and Dilemmas, 2

The Future of War

Using fiction to improve defense readiness

AI and Robots: As Science Fiction Turns Real, What Do We Need to Know? Robots, Artificial Intelligence, and the Internet of Things. The next decade will see a range of exciting new technologies that all seem drawn from Science Fiction become our reality. They will drive a new industrial revolution, but also create political, economic, and security trends that will remake our world, challenging us like never before. P.W. Singer has been described by the Wall Street Journal as “the premier futurist in the national-security environment,” an official “Mad Scientist” for the U.S. Army, and consults for groups that range from the CIA and the Pentagon to Hollywood. A best-selling author of multiple books of fiction and non-fiction, Singer uses an exciting speaking style to explore for an audience the key trends and questions emerging today that will shape the world of tomorrow.

How to Use The Power of a Story Well Told: How do we better share new ideas and influence target audiences? How do we better understand and prepare for the future? How do we comprehend new trends and technologies? One answer may be to enlist the power of the oldest communication technology of all –story. Described in the Wall Street Journal as “the premier futurist in the national-security environment,” P.W. Singer is a best-selling author of both nonfiction and fiction, whose work at the intersection of strategic foresight, discovery, and narrative has been featured in media like The Economist and Wired. He is also the founder of Useful Fiction LLC, a company that aids organizations in “telling their story” more effectively. Having worked for groups that range from the US military and CIA to Hollywood and the most popular video game in history, he will explain the “why” of narrative and “how” best to tell a useful story.

LikeWar: How Social Media has become weaponized, and what we need to know about it: Terrorists livestream their attacks, Presidents win elections over social media, and viral misinformation alters not just the result of battles, but share prices, public health, and even the very fate of nations. The result is that the Internet has blurred into a new kind of battlespace that plays out on our smartphones. P. W. Singer is the co-author of “LikeWar,” a book that was named an Amazon book of the year and has been lauded by figures as diverse as the creator of the Internet, the director of the CIA, and the producer of The Purge movies. For five years, he researched how social media works and what was its effect on the world, crossing examples that ranged from how ISIS copies the Instagram tactics of Taylor Swift, a former World of Warcraft addict foils war crimes thousands of miles away, internet trolls shape elections, and China uses a smartphone app to police the thoughts of 1.4 billion citizens. Described in the Wall Street Journal as “the premier futurist in the national-security environment,” Singer uses an exciting and entertaining speaking style to explain  how and why things go viral, the new rules of power in the age of social media, and exactly what can we all do to navigate our way through a world increasingly shaped by “likes” and lies.

How Ukraine Won The #LikeWar: For years, Russia was the most feared player on the Internet, shaping everything from elections to the pandemic. But when it came time for its most audacious operation of all, Ukraine turned the tables on the supposed master of information warfare, which not only drove global sympathy, but has had real battlefield and political effect.  P. W. Singer is the co-author of “LikeWar,” a book that was named an Amazon book of the year and  consultant to groups as diverse as the US military and Hollywood He will explain  the ten techniques that Ukraine used to win its online fight, and what are the lessons for other nations, corporations, and leaders as they fight their own battles of information and persuasion.

The CyberThreatscape: What are the Key Trends in Cybersecurity: From ransomware to the collapse of cyber deterrence, a series of new threats are changing the cybersecurity landscape. A best selling author described by the Wall Street Journal as “one of Washington’s pre-eminent futurists,” and a consultant for groups that range from the CIA and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs to Hollywood, Singer uses an exciting speaking style to explore for an audience the key trends emerging today that will shape the world of cybersecurity tomorrow.

NextTech: The Future of Technology, Security, and Threats: Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, The Internet of Things, Social Media, and a new geopolitical competition; the 21st century is being shaped by a range of exciting, and scary, new trends and technologies. Described in the Wall Street Journal as “the premier futurist in the national-security environment,” and a consultant for groups that range from the CIA and US military to Hollywood and the Call of Duty video game series, Singer will explore the key trends emerging today that will shape the world of technology and security tomorrow.

Burn-In: The World of AI and Robots Turns Real: Robots, Artificial Intelligence, an Internet of Things. The next decade will see a range of exciting new technologies that all seem drawn from Science Fiction become our reality. They will drive a new industrial revolution, but also create political, economic, and security trends that will remake our world, challenging us like never before. P.W. Singer has been described by the Wall Street Journal as “the premier futurist in the national-security environment,” an official “Mad Scientist” for the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, and consults for groups that range from the CIA and the Pentagon to Hollywood. The author of the book “Burn-In: A Novel of the REAL Robotic Revolution,” Singer uses an exciting speaking style to explore for an audience the key trends emerging today that will shape the world of tomorrow.

Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: What Everyone Needs to Know: There is no issue more important and yet less understood today than Cybersecurity. Our entire way of life, from communication to commerce to conflict, fundamentally depends on the Internet. The cybersecurity issues that result literally challenge everyone: politicians who wrestle with issues from cybercrime to online freedom; military generals protecting the nation from new forms of attack, while planning cyberwars,: business executives defending firms from once unimaginable threats, lawyers and ethicists building new framework for right and wrong. Most of all, cybersecurity challenges us as individuals, parents, and citizens. The author of a book described by the chairman of Google as “an essential read” and by the head of NATO as “the most approachable and readable book ever written on the cyber world,” Singer takes the audience through the key issues and questions that we all need to better understand: What is happening? What does it mean? And, most importantly, what can we do?

Imagining the Future: Ghost Fleet and Its Real World Lessons: Peter W. Singer is a best selling author and consultant for groups that range from the US military to Hollywood, whose recent book Ghost Fleet (ghostfleetbook.com) broke new ground in creating the genre of what has been called “useful fiction.” It blended the style of a technothriller with nonfiction style research, leading to a learning experience that is both “a wild book, a real page turner” (the Economist) and “a modern-day successor to tomes such as The Hunt For Red October from the late Tom Clancy” (USA Today), but also packed with lessons of the future of technology, geopolitics, and security. Described by the Wall Street Journal as “one of Washington’s pre-eminent futurists,” Singer has been invited to brief the approach and lessons of the book to groups that range from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs to Congress and CEO summits.

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