Rebecca D. Costa
Rebecca D. Costa is an American sociobiologist, futurist, and author. She is a world renowned expert on “fast adaptation” in complex environments. She is widely known for her controversial book, The Watchman’s Rattle, which offers an evolutionary explanation for modern problems such as government gridlock, terrorism, addiction, a decline in education, etc.
Her follow-on book, titled On The Verge was introduced in 2017 to critical acclaim, shooting to the top of Amazon’s #1 New Business Releases. The book examines the role predictive analytics and human foresight play in “pre-dapting” to future events. The book received critical reviews from Jim Lehrer, Alan Dershowitz, Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, John Sculley, Christine Todd Whitman, Tom Daschle, Craig Newmark, Governor Bill Richardson, and others.
She is the recipient of the Edward O. Wilson Biodiversity Technology Award. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post, The Guardian, SF Chronicle, and Larry King Live. Rebecca presently authors a bi-weekly column for Newsmax titled The Fix.
National Public Radio’s EarthSky said, “Rebecca Costa is a sociobiologist who spots and explains emerging trends in relationship to human evolution, global markets, and new technologies.”
Rebecca was born in San Mateo, California. Her father, an Air Force-trained flight engineer, moved the family to Tokyo, Japan, shortly after her birth. She attended Tachikawa Elementary School and Narimasu High School. Rebecca is fluent in Japanese and has a strong command of French. Owing to her father’s work for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), she moved to Vientiane, Laos, during the Vietnam War where she and her family lived undercover for two years.
Prior to the Pathet Lao (communist) invasion of Vientiane, her family was evacuated to The United States where she graduated from Saratoga High School. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Social Sciences from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Rebecca’s first employment was for CAD/CAM startup Calma, a subsidiary of United Telecom. Calma was purchased by General Electric when Rebecca was Director of Marketing. Subsequently, she worked in executive management for General Electric, Omex and Tera Corporation.
After two years at Tera Corp., she founded the Dazai Advertising agency in 1993 and built it into one of the most successful firms in Silicon Valley, which she sold to J. Walter Thompson in 1997. It was one of the largest technology marketing firms in California, where she developed an extensive track record of introducing disruptive, bleeding edge technologies. Clients included industry innovators such as Hewlett-Packard, Apple Computer, Oracle, Siebel Systems, General Electric, 3M, and others. She has been on the forefront of technological and scientific innovation for more than four decades.
Retiring at the zenith of her career in Silicon Valley, Rebecca spent six years researching and writing the international bestseller The Watchman’s Rattle: A Radical New Theory of Collapse. The success of The Watchman’s Rattle led to a popular weekly news program called The Costa Report which was syndicated throughout the United States until 2018. The program was praised for its nonpartisan coverage. Newsmakers ranging from Vice President Walter Mondale and theoretical physicist Michio Kaku, to former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, Bob Woodward, George Schultz, and Steve Forbes appeared as guests on The Costa Report. The program was syndicated by the Genesis Communications Network (GCN) and VoiceAmerica. The final episode of The Costa Report aired January 4, 2018.
In 2011, Rebecca agreed to host an internet television program on the emPOWERmetv Network. The program was titled Countermeasures, with host Rebecca Costa, and was loosely based on The Costa Report radio show. Following an 8-episode pilot, she was offered a contract for a full season, but declined stating “The time needed to research, write, and oversee a weekly television program is more than my schedule can accommodate.”
In 2012, Rebecca joined the American Program Bureau (APB). She is a popular public speaker at business, healthcare, education, government, and technology conferences. The Executive Director of the Center for Homeland Defense and Security said, “Rebecca Costa blew us away with her socio-biological explanation of how our complex environment drives humans into gridlock and indecision. She artfully connects the dots from genetics to complexity to evolution to gridlock.” Executive Vice President of Abbott Laboratories, John Landgraf said, “(Costa) really made me stop and think about our business in a different light.”
A global thinker in the mold of Alvin Toffler, Jared Diamond, and Thomas Friedman, Rebecca attributes her ability to see the “big picture” to her cross-cultural education and upbringing. Raised in Tokyo, Japan, and Vientiane, Laos, during the Vietnam conflict, she brings a unique global perspective to the everyday challenges of work and life.
Rebecca lives on the coast of the Pacific Northwest in Astoria, Oregon. She has two children by marriage. She is an enthusiastic supporter of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, the American Red Cross, and Habitat for Humanity.
Read her bi-weekly contributions in The Fix at Newsmax.com. Read her article Scientists Know How To Stop Mass Shootings. Is Anyone Listening? Watch her public speaking videos.
Visit her LinkedIn profile. View her YouTube channel. Follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
