Inventions like electricity and microwaves that we take for granted seemed otherworldly not too long ago. Taking a chance on new technology is part of venture firm Lux Capital ideology: “We believe before others understand.”
Josh Wolfe, Lux Capital’s cofounder, started the firm with a mission to support scientists and entrepreneurs —even if their ideas might seem outside the box to the general public. Today, Wolfe is funding advances in industries like biotech, AI, and defense. On this week’s episode of the Leaders in Innovation podcast, Wolfe discusses how he views the rapidly accelerating technology space—and how it can be used for good.
“It’s that old cliché that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,” Wolfe says. “When you hold an Apple product, to this day, I still feel the sense of magic in the features and the interactivity. Finding a technology that gives you that feeling of a spell that’s being conjured—that to me is magic.”
The potential of a product like that is something Wolfe searches for in the companies he backs. Among Lux Capital’s current lineup are biotech companies discovering gene therapies that were once unthinkable and defense companies exploring possibilities for merging AI with national security. Underscoring these investments, Wolfe says, is a belief that technology is neither inherently good nor bad—instead, it’s a company’s business model that determines whether an innovation will be a net positive.
“The implication in this current moment of accelerating AI and gen AI, on the one hand, is this beautiful democratization of the tools that used to be captive to the very large companies,” Wolfe says. “The downside is, what are the business models that will be perverting the virtues of that?”
In this emerging context, one key element that Wolfe identifies for any successful business is building a foundation of trust with consumers. Faith in a company to choose the right business model, paired with the company’s own sense of healthy competition, is the combination that he sees driving positive change in the future.
There’s one other lesson Wolfe has learned that’s both disappointing and uplifting for the next years of tech development: Humans never change, but science always does.
“Human nature is a constant. We have to relearn all the lessons. We read history, we read our fictions, and we can learn through the past,” Wolfe says. “But science compounds; science doesn’t go backwards. We learn that something we thought was true is no longer true; we come up with a better explanation. That’s how science advances, always and everywhere. I’m always perennially optimistic about science and always skeptical about the human condition.”
Listen to the full conversation between Jason Citron and James Vincent on this week’s Leaders in Innovation podcast. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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