♪ [opera music plays] ashlee: this is a beach in new zealand. this is a sheep. and this is gandalf. most people come to new zealand to check out the country's unmatched beauty and to get their middle earth fix, and that makes perfect sense. but on this trip, i'm hunting for something else, something less obvious.

i'm after the innovations being brought to life behind these doors, in these buildings, and in this studio. i'm heading out on a 400-mile journey across new zealand's north island from auckland to wellington, to find the most breathtaking inventions these kiwis have cooked up. >> this is the first one that will go up. >> the computer model has become conscious of something. ashlee: on this episode of "hello world," we will check out a mad scientist, rockets, and an ai baby that will either warm your hearts or leave you weeping over humanity's grim future. [dial up tone] silicon valley may be home to some of the biggest tech giants in the world, but it is being challenged like never before. crazy tech geniuses have popped up all over the planet, making

things that will blow your mind. my name is ashlee vance. i'm an author and journalist, and i'm on a quest to find the most innovative tech creations. and meet the beautiful freaks behind them. >> "hello world." ashlee: oh. hello. ♪ ashlee: this is auckland, the home to 1.5 million of new zealand's 4.5 million people. people living outside auckland tend to knock it as congested and hectic. meanwhile, people living in auckland celebrate the way of life it offers. >> here's that gelato place everyone wants to go to. ashlee: the city has a bustling food scene, a gorgeous harbor surrounded by fertile volcanic land, and those black sand beaches you saw earlier -- they are just a half-hour drive from

downtown. this next part is going to sound cheesy, but honest to god, it is true. auckland is full of cheery, optimistic people. you feel good when you are here, like you can do stuff, big stuff, crazy stuff. like, say, replicating human consciousness on the inside of a computer. ♪ >> it is our primary means of communication. but it has been untapped in terms of a human-computer interface. >> how can i help you? >> a computer can express itself to you in a human-like way that is emotional, cognitive. that's when you start getting to sort of an interesting place. ashlee: going to see an ai baby. on a sunny afternoon.

the fellow you meet next is a madman, in the best possible way. >> you will pull the muscles which lower the brow. ashlee: he is mark sagar, a computer scientist at the university of auckland. mark became famous for building super detailed simulations of the human body, and ended up winning a couple oscars for his work on films like "avatar" and "king kong." these days, mark is -- how to put this? trying to reverse engineer the human brain. he has built a series of simulations around the way the human face moves, emotions, and how neurons fire. mark: we are trying to build a computer that has experiences, can imagine, and basically has its own existence, in a way. now what we are going to do is run baby x.

what we are building here is a computer that can learn. so this baby, she is sort of looking at us and hearing us. if i make a loud noise, she can get a fright. this is what she can see. this is my face here. so she is not copying my smile. she is responding to me. this is a little baby's first -- baby's first book. you can pick up the page and show her something. you have to get her attention. ashlee: hi, baby. what do you see? what's this? >> puppy. ashlee: very good. what is that baby? >> apple. mark: just because you are in new zealand, you have to give her the sheep. ashlee: what do you see? >> sheep. ashlee: very good, baby. mark: the long-term goal is can we create a model of consciousness?

the computer model has just become conscious of something. is there a thought or not? all the facial expressions, everything is run by a neural net. this is what is driving in the background. what you're looking at now, these are all of the connections lighting up as the baby is doing stuff. ashlee: this is a simulation of what would be happening in someone's brain? mark: exactly. if you're going to make a character biological then you have to use a natural model, so that is what is going on inside baby x. now, we take this stuff and will connect it to cognitive computer systems. so you have biological, neural networks, connected to artificial intelligence portals, and the potential for that is enormous. that is where the future will probably be. ♪

ashlee: there is a term new zealanders have for possessed inventor-types like mark. they are part of the country's number eight wired culture. like so many things here, the story of number eight wired goes back to the sheep. farmers used to make fences out of eight wire gauge metal. then they started to use the wire to fix any problem on the farm. over time, a number eight wire mythology evolved to capture the can-do spirit of people living in a remote place and of a people who had to solve problems in any clever way they could. while new zealanders remained fond of the eight wire idea, there is an undeniable sense that the country is ready to level up. it is time to start inventing with more purpose and polish. the gritty garage workshop is giving way to this -- a pristine, mad-scientist lab that looks like it could be for sale in an apple store. ♪ ashlee: sir ray avery embodies

kiwi ingenuity. he is a prolific scientist and inventor. he made a fortune in the pharmaceutical industry, and then decided to dedicate his life to helping the world's poorest people, hence the "sir." sir avery: right this way. ashlee: this is a cool house. i followed sir avery through a door to his garage/lab, where he creates his objects. the house is white. you are wearing white. sir avery: i have two dress shirts. i have black for winter and white for summer. the thing is i know i have 4795 days left to live. ashlee: how do you know that? sir avery: i've done the algorithm analysis of somebody born at my age in my time, so i know what i would do with the next 10 years of my life. failure really is for people who are not prepared. you don't waste time on things that aren't going to get you to where you need to go, things like clothes.

ashlee: sir avery is well known for taking complicated medical devices and making them simple, cheap, and durable. did you make this in here? sir avery: yeah. ashlee: this is your workshop/lab. sir avery: yeah. ashlee: currently, he is working on this incubator. sir avery: it is almost like something that superman would be happy to be in, and the shape of it is much more about getting even air distribution than trying to make it look cool. ashlee: the life pod costs $2000 versus $40,000 for typical incubators. the hope is that it can save thousands of lives each year. sir avery: i will show you, this is pretty cool. this is pretty ugly. ashlee: he also has this giant block of frozen chicken slurry as a way to amplify the nutritional value of trash meat. sir avery: after kentucky fried

has taken all of their bits, the leg and the chest, they make it into this stuff. ashlee: yum, chicken slurry. i will have a spoonful later. sir avery mixes the trash meat with, of all things, kiwi to break it down into the basic amino acids so the body can absorb it. it is aimed at helping malnourished children. sir avery: if you take that, you will get instant energy. you don't have to digest it. it will go straight across your gut. it will save millions and millions of kids' lives. einstein said the most elegant solution is always the most simple. kiwis have a very practical way of doing things. you take away the noise that you have often with things like silicon valley, and a bunch of guys in sheds with bits and pieces, they come up with stuff that nobody else has thought of. ♪ ashlee: coming up, we take a look at rockets. this is a dream come true. ♪

>> i think new zealanders don't think big enough. they don't go out to the really big problems and the big billion-dollar ideas.

♪ >> i started building rockets when i was at school. the very first rocket i built ended up being put on a bicycle. ashlee: most rocket companies are started by wealthy government and billionaires. rocket lab was started in 2007 by this maniac, peter beck. peter is one of the most capable people on the planet. he never went to college, opting instead to hone his own engineering craft in the garage and machine shops. peter: i do not know why rockets make me so happy. [laughter] ashlee: now, he wants to make it much easier and cheaper to put small satellites into space. peter: if you had a satellite on your lap right now, in one week, i could have it in orbit, moreover, i can have it in orbit with less cost than any other

way of getting it there. ashlee: the first rocket launch will take place later this year. this is the first one that will go up? peter: yep. ashlee: commercial customers have already signed up, and there is a two-year waiting list. how much will you charge? per flight? peter: $4.9 million. ashlee: $4.9 million might seem like a lot, but it's actually a remarkable figure. >> lift off for the falcon nine rocket. ashlee: the cheapest way to get to space today is on one of elon musk's rockets from spacex. that costs $60 million per trip. rocket lab's prices would open space to a whole new set of customers, including scientists and businesses, and in effect, democratize space. this is what the aerospace world has dreamed of for decades. this is the second stage? peter: second stage. ashlee: you can lift it up. peter: yep.

ashlee: you rolled your eyes a little bit at this eight wire thing, why is that? peter: if somebody says that rocket labs is a number eight wire company, they are gone. number eight wire is about patching stuff together to make it work. that is not what rocket lab is about. it is about high tech innovation and doing really clever things. ♪ ashlee: with launch day approaching, the pressure is on. today, they are running an engine test at a site near the auckland airport. so the worst-case scenario -- peter: it blows up. ashlee: the best case? peter: it will touchdown. building a company is hard. building a rocket company is insane. ashlee: i hitched a ride with peter to the test site and arrived just in time for countdown. >> 3, 2, 1. ashlee: the engine test was successful, but there is still a ways to go. what does it feel like in your gut, that countdown clock? in the office?

peter: i don't sleep much. that is probably the best answer to that question. ashlee: with a bit of luck, peter will maintain his sanity through 2017. that is when rocket lab plans to start flying for paying customers. this is a tiny company of 100 people that will have bested entire nations and firmly put new zealand's stamp on the world. that is not eight wire culture, that is just flat-out amazing. ♪ ashlee: and with that, it is now time to leave auckland and journey to middle earth. we could have flown from auckland to wellington, and it would have taken one hour, but we wanted to bask in hobbit lives. we wanted to see the land. >> road trip. ♪

ashlee: dear laptop, new zealand is everything they said it would be. plus burger-o's. if aliens ever visit earth and want to see what it had to offer, their first visit should be new zealand. it is like a sampler platter of landscapes. rolling hills, deserts, plains, tropical forests, whizzing by one after another. that is it for now. thanks for listening, laptop. love, ashlee. ♪ ashlee: three hours outside auckland, we made a pitstop in a hot spring.

all of the signs leading into this place warn you that you will get meningitis if you stick your head under water. i'm hoping that i live after this relaxing afternoon. the more i learn about meningitis, the more afraid i am that i have meningitis. you know, you come to new zealand, and it is all eight wire culture, you can send up rockets -- next thing you know, dunk your head under water and you are dead. this mud is cool. just reminds me of all the -- floating around in my brain. ashlee: coming up next on "hello world," i steal peter jackson's camera and get sucked into virtual reality.

announcer: "hello world" is supported by ca technologies, powering opportunity in the application economy. explore more at ca.com.

ashlee: welcome to a rainy and famously windy wellington, new zealand's capital city and home to a thriving film industry. director peter jackson is the local boy made good. he famously made "lord of the rings" here, and then shot past being a one-hit wonder. peter has created an entire movie industry based around his film production company, weta. this is welliwood. it is just like hollywood, but without any of the glitz and glamour. studio labs and soundstages are dull and unmarked. they are tucked into a suburb called miramar. weta has started to expand into virtual reality, and i was invited to take a look at the

first vr movie, a scene from "the hobbit" where smaug wakes up from a nap. >> thief, i smell you. ashlee: you said it wasn't going to be frightening. >> there you are. thief, in the shadows. ashlee: that is crazy. you feel real emotions when you see it. >> that is the nice thing about the nice thing about vr. people get so much more emotional experience than from a video game or whatever. that's why we're on the software side to enable these high-end experiences. ♪ ashlee: next, the studio where they filmed "lord of the rings." >> if you just want to grab that, and we will have a look around. ashlee: i got a crash course in motion capture filmmaking.

using peter jackson's very own custom-made camera. which is not really a camera but a device to place the director in a virtual world. there is a screen on the top that shows a rough version of the final graphics, while dozens of sensors around the room record all of the cameras movements. >> what we have to do is yell "action," do this stuff, and say "cut" like any other film. ashlee: action. >> inside, get inside. ♪ >> it is too late, you have to run to safety. ashlee: this tech brings a human element back to green screen filmmaking. it is more tactile. it makes the director actually feel like he is shooting the film again. all right, cut. [laughter] >> really good sport. ashlee: weta became an industry of its own. after the success of "lord of the rings," spawned other startups that are there own

mini-weta. on my last stop, i went to 8i, a vr company recording people in three dimensions to bring them into virtual reality. >> the difference from looking at a video to seeing a hologram that looks just like the real thing is so powerful. ashlee: 8i is developing software that will bring ai to the masses. the day you can capture a loved one in virtual space is almost here. >> we will show you some experiences where we captured humans with off-the-shelf cameras, and it feels like you are in the room with the person. ashlee: can i check it out? >> sure. so you can see the room? ashlee: yes. >> all right. so we create a virtual environment, but then capture very lifelike motion of the cloth and the human performance and we can compose those together. ashlee: so you have been at weta, used to making these

fantastic cgi creatures, but it would not work for a normal person. >> you don't want to drop a hollywood budget just to record your child experiencing his first steps. as we saw that these headsets were coming along, there was no clear, efficient, cheap scalable solution to capture reality and author expenses at a scale, and paste that would create a similar content database for people to enjoy. ashlee: so this is going to be like a movie. oh, my god. that is crazy. i'm sort of like afraid of heights. ♪ ashlee: oh -- i felt like i was going to walk off a cliff. that was really frightening. although i was a bit skeptical, it was time to scan myself. so i could meet the virtual ashlee. which way do i look? this way? >> you don't have to look

anywhere. you are captured from all angles. have fun. ashlee: i just have to stay in a circle? >> pretty much. ashlee: i was surrounded by 30 cameras, all perfectly spaced and measured. it was like an ocd paparazzi. i am ashlee vance, but i'm not really ashlee vance. i am a digital asset getting made at 8i studios. then in post, they put together all of the different angles to make a final 3-d version of me. if you want to get very nerdy, this is called volumetric cinematography. just for the nerds. >> hands in pockets. >> hands in pockets. >> my virtual friend. ashlee: so i get to see my virtual self today. >> you have seen yourself many times in 2-d videos. ashlee: i think i'm going to be underwhelmed. i think i'm just going to see what i always look like in the mirror. i don't know why seeing a 3-d version of yourself would be a big deal. i would rather be chased by smaug. so i just walk around? that is kind of strange.

the detail is insane. you can see my whiskers, right? the cameras are that good? >> and we are looking to increase that resolution as well. >> give yourself a smooch. [laughter] >> step into yourself. ashlee: oh, no. that is crazy. whoa, i did not know where i was in the room. [laughter] i thought it would be really janky --it is really lifelike. that was the biggest surprise for me. >> do you think people are going to want vr to be human? ashlee: i have two boys and they grow up so quick and it's like, if you could just remember how they talked and their gestures and the funny things they said, that would be really cool. ♪ ashlee: here is the thing about new zealand. its economy today depends on sheep, cows, and tourist.

everyone knows that needs to change. technology is the country's future. thanks to companies like rocket lab and 8i, the change is underway. foreign investors have started to pour money into new zealand, and engineers are staying home, because there are good jobs to be had. if you are an outsider looking to come here, why not? the scenery is breathtaking, the weather is good. the eight wire days have passed. new zealand is taking on some of the hardest problems in the industry. it is working on the technology of the absurd. ♪ ashlee: on the next episode of "hello world," i go to sweden and hang out with moose hunters at the arctic circle, take over the country's electrical grid, and eat cinnamon buns with spotify's daniel ek. >> like it. ashlee: seems more wholesome

than a cinnabon. ♪

♪ emily: she is considered one of the most powerful woman in silicon valley. starting her career at motorola three decades ago. seeing the rise of the famous razr phone. she became cisco's first ceo. after seven years there, she is taking a job at the chinese electric car start up nextev, aiming to take on the auto industry, tesla, and a crowded market of car competitors, from apple to google.