Welcome to the future. There’s a lot of talk about “change” these days—isn’t there? But this time—this wave of change—is like never before. It’s a time when all of the domains of civilization are changing at the same time, from technology to politics to economics.
It's a turbo-charged period of change we call “compressional acceleration”—a pace of technological change that makes the last 10 years feel like the equivalent of the previous 100. Thus, it makes a single lifetime feel like an 800 year journey through time.
Imagine.
We’d get to meet King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette plus witness the inventions of the year 2,500—all before we find our mortal shells six feet under.
CC andrew abogado
What to do?
We can think more about how we think. Ironically, it's not about technology. Rather, it's about what technology has done to and is doing to us, and how we cope with and leverage it.
It's about our mindset. Industrial era operational mindsets no longer cut it. It’s a time to be smarter, more flexible and mobile. It’s a time for creativity, ideas, creation and innovation.
It's a good time to be... well, a bit of a Screwball.
Screwballs are good
The screwball pitch changed the game of baseball
Screwball comedies in the 1930′s effectively addressed social issues, and helped us navigate the emotions of the Great Depression
Screwballs are eccentric, eclectic and multi-talented
Screwballism should be spread
The world needs Screwball-ness
Who are some of the thinkers thinking about thinking different about the future?
But we see it all the time. We see it by way of what it can do—such as when it moves leaves on a tree.
We also "see" air when we feel it—like when the wind blows sand in our eyes and blurs our vision.
If all we saw was air being the stuff we breathe, Columbus would have never sailed his ship to the New World, we wouldn't build wind farms to produce energy—and we wouldn’t be able to burn fossil fuels (ironic, isn’t it?)
To continue to innovate, we need to be willing to see, think and feel differently—which takes work. In his fascinating HBR article, Tony McCaffrey refers to a concept called functional fixedness, where we often fixate on the common use of an object to the point where we miss innovation opportunities—ones right in front of our eyes.
To this point, Tony sites the story of the Titanic—coupled with some interesting facts from historic record:
The Titanic was maneuverable for a reasonable amount of time after striking the iceberg
The iceberg was 50 to 100 feet tall and had a surface area of 200 to 400 feet
The tragedy: Everyone saw the iceberg as a big huge thing that sinks ships. Nobody saw it as a lifeboat
Here's what could have happened: The Titanic could have maneuvered a “lean” into the iceberg and passengers could have climbed or jumped to the flat surfaces of the iceberg to wait for help to arrive
We all experience the "Titanic effect" without realizing it. For example, my partner (Sue) and I experienced a power outage one day early this spring. After a day without repair, we decided to drive to the store to purchase ice—so we could protect the food in the fridge. As we began driving down the driveway and venturing into the dark, we carefully maneuvered around the last few remnants of winter (the weather was warm, but a few snow piles remained).
Now wait a second:
Option 1:
Burn fuel
Drive in the dark
Risk our lives
Spend time getting to a store
Remove hard earned money from our pocket
Purchase water that has been frozen by someone else
Add more plastic to the recycling challenge
Or:
Option 2:
Walk outside with a container
Scoop-up some of the water frozen by God
Protect our food
We had a good laugh, got out of the car—and proceeded to execute Option 2.
Thinking better, together:
I found this object next to my golf ball on a golf course recently:
front back The mandarin symbols were intriguing to me and I slipped the thing into my pocket (I then proceeded to expertly miss my putt).
The next day, I asked Sue what she thought the object might be. I said, “I wonder if it’s part of an exotic cigarette or cigar container of some sort?” I figured that was a possibility since a golf course is such a great place for guys to practice their bad habits—such as telling dirty jokes, liberally uttering expletives—and of course, smoking cigars.
While we pondered, I typed “amurai” into Google on my iPhone (I was the lazy one). Instantly there were a number of hits for “Samurai”. Within moments, Sue said, “I got it!—It’s a piece of matchbook from the restaurant called Samurai ”. We rubbed our fingers on the paper and confirmed, “Yep, it’s a cardboard-like material consistent with a matchbook”. I Googled again—and sure enough—the logo and typeface matched that of Samurai restaurants.
By thinking together (and by tapping multiple senses and sources) we arrived at the conclusion within moments—versus me pondering the thing for a day. Why do I think we were able to arrive at a conclusion more effectively?
Two heads are always better than one
My reference to smoking might have helped Sue surface the notion of “matchbook” (Or, for all I know, maybe I originally and subconsciously "knew" the thing was a matchbook and therefore thought of smoking)
We collaborated with a computer (Google) which is the equivalent of consulting millions of humans (sort of)
We were better at “seeing” the object when we looked at it and touched it
Sue is smarter than me
So:
Sometimes things appear—and we can’t see them
Sometimes we see something—but it's not really there
Sometimes we see something—but it's different than what it appears to be
Sometimes we see just one single thing—and don't realize how many things it can be
We’re in an era like never before–a time during which we can overcome our collective challenges and realize our greatest dreams—if we work (and think) better together.
Toward this end, you’ll be seeing more from us on the topics of cognitive science, creative thinking and global collaboration. There will be writings, webinars, resources and ultimately some technologies—all geared toward helping us think better about thinking, together.
Sue and I have had the same wireless carrier for a zillion years (Okay, maybe not a zillion years—but a long time). Through the years, we’ve had all kinds of voice and data plans. Overall, we’ve been satisfied. However, there’s a thorn in our side recently; It’s something we like to call the “limited unlimited” data plan.
[Photo:Abdulla Al Muhairi - CC]
You see, the carrier no longer offers unlimited data plans for smartphones—but the unlimited plan we currently possess is grandfathered—and we like having it.
Here’s the rub: In recent months, we've been receiving warning notices informing us that if we continue at our current usage rate, performance will degrade (and it does). At first, these wrist-slapping messages occurred at 5GB. Now we receive them at 3GB. Obviously they’d like us to move to a plan that makes more sense for them.
Scarcity:
One can understand how this happens. If data and data networks were limitless and free everywhere—we wouldn’t be having this discussion. But they’re not free and limitless resources. And, after all, it’s this kind of supply-demand continuum that makes the world go ‘round—right? It keeps the economy humming. It allows wireless companies to be in business. The wireless companies provide people with jobs. Jobs allow people to pay for the things they want (such as data services on their smartphones) etc.
But is it possible that at times this dynamic causes an unnatural exchange of “value” between humans? Is it possible that the aforementioned value-trading dynamic is a function of scarcity—or at least a scarce mindset in our society?
Perhaps.
Consider a favorite restaurant—a place where you dine frequently. Imagine that when your patronage increases, food and service quality automatically decreases proportional to the rate of your increased patronage. Would that make sense?
Money:
Money has been around for thousands of years, so it's hard to imagine a world without it.
[Photo: 401K's Photostream - CC]
But a world without money did exist. In fact, modern humans have been around for about 50,000 years—much longer than money. So, as hard as it is to imagine, it’s safe to say that money has been not-around more than it has been around. Further, there are non-money systems in existence today, such as food-sharing systems within certain hunter-gatherer societies, there are “gift societies” and there is a reemergence of various barter systems.
But of course, all systems of any kind have their pros and cons. For example, Wikipedia will tell you, "Bartering has several problems; most notably that it requires a "coincidence of wants'". However, our amazing hyper-connectivity these days makes coincidences-of-wants more coincidental & connected than ever before—witness Collaborative Consumption.
It’s provocative to imagine for a moment that maybe these certain funny shaped tokens, paper with symbols, or sequences of bits on a computer screen (i.e., money) might represent an out-moded arcane mechanism that’s been necessary for several thousand years simply because we had no other practical alternative.
But maybe now we do.
Abundance:
Again consider the basics of our current system:
Some human (or humans) control one thing and keep that thing from others human(s) until said other human(s) pay for that thing. In turn, said other human(s) who just paid for the thing happen to control some other thing and keep that other thing from other other human(s)—until the other other human(s) cough up some hard cash for the other thing that the other human(s) control—and so on.
Scarcity.
Ironic. Popular language these days includes terms like “collaboration”, “community”, and “teamwork”. What meeting do you attend where you don’t hear those (or similar) words? Yet, just about everything we do in society comes down to keeping something from someone else until they pay for it, usually with money.
What would happen if things were more abundant (Or if we thought more abundantly)?
For example, the Sun is rather abundant, and generally speaking, humans don’t trade shares of sunbathing-units as a commodity traded on a stock exchange. Nor do we pay anyone for the experience of feeling the Sun on our face when we walk outdoors.
If food, data, or energy were limitless, maybe we wouldn't have our wrists slapped at 3GB. Maybe we wouldn’t have to pay for such things at all.
I know—unrealistic and idealistic—right?
Or is it?
Nikola Tesla
Consider this:
Over 100 years ago, Nikola Tesla had a viable strategy for producing perpetually available energy for everyone everywhere
Physics tells us that energy never “goes away”
The Sun showers the Earth with 5,000 times the energy we need every single day
Tesla couldn't fully bring his vision to fruition in large part because others wanted to make boat loads of money.
Regardless: Perhaps there are more alternatives available to us than we think. Or at least, perhaps, we need to start thinking a bit differently about how we think about these things.
It was an oddly compelling experience, and it makes mees thinks about human nature.
First: Whether out of necessity, or brilliance, Pinterest requires a Pinterest invitation-request in advance (at least at the time of this writing). After submitting a request - and waiting a day - I was invited.
Human Nature Lesson (Reminder): We want what we can't have.
Interest: Pinterest asks about your areas of interest, such as architecture, food, etc. After clicking categories, Pinterest suddenly presents to you new (and existing) friends who are interested in similar things. Insto-presto I felt "validated".
Human Nature Observation: We all want to be part of a tribe - and we all want to be accepted.
Imagery: There are many things that "move" human beings: The sound of music, a tender touch, or the taste of cinnamon. Then there are images. I'm reminded why the term "eye candy" exists. I found myself on an eye sugar-high.
I felt the reflection of humanity in an instant. Sure, in many cases, there were consumer products, pretty clothes and other images of "stuff". Not necessarily "humanity" one might say. Then again, we are what we put out there.
Then I realized that each image had a person attached to it. In essence, each of them was saying, "Hi, I'd like to share this with you".
Adage Confirmation: I heard it said, "Pinterest is Tumblr for people who can't write". Maybe. But I know this: A picture can indeed be worth a thousand words. I felt like I was able to get a "feel" for who people were in an instant - more than with any other social networking experience.
In one case, I think I even learned how to "see" in a certain way. I saw through the eyes of an architect. I didn't just see the designs this particular woman creates, but rather, I saw what she sees, and thus saw what inspires and informs her designs.
I found myself instantly compelled to "pin" or "re-pin" images. I was kid again, "Mommy, Mommy... Look, look! There's a tree. Look, look. It's a bird!".
Human Nature Observation #2: We're constantly hungry for discovery - and we're dying to share what we discover - with others.
It didn't take long for me to decide what categories interested me. Architecture, Tech, Science, Places and Design were a few that I clicked. In life, we tend agonize, "Who am I? - What am I about? - What am I meant to do?"
Likely Fact: Deep down, we probably know who we are. At least we "know" what interests us. We should listen to ourselves.
Wild fire: From nowhere, this image-bookmarking site goes from nobody to millions - in no time. In the U.S. alone, there were 18.7 million unique visitors in March, 2012. In spite of the millions, it still feels personal. The welcome letter remains in first-person: "I'm excited to invite you to join Pinterest, a social catalog. I can't wait to have you join our little community... - Ben & the Pinterest Team"
Observation: Things happen fast in the 21st Century. You too can make things happen quickly - and with scale.
I was reminded of the power of the era in which we live. Have an interest, product or project to change the world? No problem, you can go from "zero to 60" in four seconds.
Assertion: We can, in fact, change the world for the better, together - especially with the "cognitive surplus" we possess and the tools we now have at our fingertips. Clay Shirky's book "Cognitive Surplus - Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age" points to brain research showing that we're naturally more prone to share, connect and support each other than we are to acquire, consume and take from each other. More than we might think.
Interested in the sources of the images contained within this blog post?
Well then, join Pinterest, friend "CraigArtJames" (me) and see what my new friends have to share with you.
The definitions of how and where we live, and why - are on the fly.
When I grew up in suburban Cleveland during the 60's and 70's, life was ideal. Surreal ideal. I was an only child (still am). My earliest memories are of a new brick ranch style home - and then a modern split-level.
In my early teens, I tore-up the neighborhood on my banana bike or skateboard, and then graduated to a 10-speed. I had a hamster named Adam (survived by our sweet little dog who's name I won't divulge for self-centric masculinity reasons).
There were backyard fridge-box adventures (gosh, those were the best) and of course there were "my woods" - i.e., wild nature just down the street for my best friend Jeff and me to explore (until, of course, the trees came down so a K-Mart could go up). Heck, we can't all just run around in the woods - we have to buy stuff, right?
A remnant of "My Woods" - A piece of tree taken away - to make way - for K-Mart :-(
We had a TV that looked more like a French Provincial desk than a box of electronics. Outside of the weekly thrill of watching the trash being picked up, the real "main event" was the occasion when humans actually came to our house to fix the desk/TV unit.
Lucky for me, outside of watching a show or two, my Mom, Dad & I talked more than we watched.
Growing up, I learned about the twentieth century dream, which made perfect sense to everyone at that time: School--> More school--> Job --> Better Job --> House --> Bigger House --> Maybe even a Bigger-er house --> Retire.
If one used his/her head, and worked hard, it all worked out.
But not any more.
_________________________
Welcome to the 21st century
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As Richard Florida outlines in The Great Reset ...we're living midst an historic reset where the definitions of "work", "play", and "home" are changing forever.
In The Great Reset, Florida explains that we've been through similar economic "resets", and that each one of them have had a major impact on where we live and work. In the 1870's (The "Long Depression") the big shift was rural to urban. After the 1930's (The Great Depression) we experienced the big shift from urban to suburban.
Now, we're experiencing the "mega-regions", where small struggling cities & regions become integrated with larger multi city metropolises. One such mega-region, the so-called Bos-Wash (A corridor encompassing Boston, Philly, New York, Baltimore and Washington D.C.) is inhabited by 50 million people, and has the economic output twice that of Canada. These are complex and diverse regions characterized by human diversity, mixed-use development and a wide range of industries and creative sectors.
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Stepping Back
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The term "home" has various meanings. In the case of animals, it refers to their habitat. For humans, it can mean both "house" (physical dwelling) as well as the general idea we call "home" - i.e., an area or community where we find refuge, shelter, comfort and connection.
In recent years, comfort and connection come from all kinds of places and sources... from the people we know, to the places we go, to how we spend our time, to what we surf, to where we actually "live" and/or work.
Before the industrial revolution, the term "home" was basically synonymous with "house" - i.e., the physical place. It was likely the place we worked, too - i.e., the farm. But in the twentieth century, work became a completely different physical place - a place away from "home" - and away from your "house".
Today, work goes with you. The office is increasingly your home... and home is where you are.
In many ways, it's like a return to the nineteenth century, when work, home and house were all the same place. But this time, there is a very distinct difference: These various life-domains are not only combined - they are all increasingly mobile.
__________________________________
It started with the mobile phone
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For anyone born after 1985, the idea of communication devices tied to a specific physical address is hard to imagine. A similar trend is happening with the home/house. It's becoming less a function of a specific place as it is becoming a function of where you are, at the time.
Some people are even asking the question, "How do we define where we are when we're there? The article, below, talks about how tablets such as iPads are becoming "extensions" of our bodies. These devices respond before we even give them a conscious command. In a way, they are extending our physical and mental "locations" beyond the place we're actually located.
The new "mobile home" is becoming increasingly like your mobile phone. Small, portable, modular & inexpensive.
One company making such homes is called Tumbleweed, "The Tiny House Company" Imagine your house on wheels wherever you go. New job? New gig? No problem: Have house, will travel. Your house, dog, hamster and you are on your way - in the lead-time of a day.
The Tata Nano House starts at $720 USD - built. (That's seven-hundred-and-twenty-dollars, not $720,000). Seven days to construct. At 1/1,000th the cost of some homes, sure, you'll weigh the purchase carefully - just like you'd weigh the purchase of an iPad - but an iPad purchase doesn't define your life for a 30 year period. Nor should a house.
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What if you need extra space?
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The pub (dare we return to the real "pub" a.k.a. the "public house"?) the coffee shop and other community spaces become your extended home - digitally interconnected and populated with other humans with whom to interact. Extra stuff to deal with or store? eBay, Craig's List: At your service.
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Share, Swap, Switch
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At Korman Communities you can opt for flexible "Apartment Homes" on a short-term rental full-service basis. Part home, part community, part hotel. If you nail a new job that takes you to a different city, no prob. Notify Korman and swap over to another similar Korman unit in that new city. No leases to break. No drama.
With airbnb.com your you can swap/rent homes, apartments, boats or villas across the world. Meanwhile, your place at "home" can be rented by others (also on airbnb.com).
With an average U.S. household spend of $16,000-$17,000 per year on housing (and its associated upkeep) (that's $50/day)... share/swap/rent looks pretty attractive.
And thanks to my friend Aron in Brno (formerly a fellow in Shaker Heights, OH) I now know about CouchSurf
No money is transferred. People share their dwellings with others within the non-profit CouchSurfing community. As they say, "Open your Mind, Open your Home... Open the World". Benefits include couch + connection.
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The net-net
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The house-building/owning patterns of the later half of the 20th century ultimately became unsustainable - as evidenced by the meltdown of '08/'09. The Great Reset points to studies showing that, ironically, regions with better home-ownership stats suffer in other ways, like unemployment. When people are trapped by their homes, they don't have the flexibility to go where their work and skills "work" best. As a result, the region and the collective suffer.
Our economy is increasingly one of ideas, knowledge and service that depend on flexibility and mobility.
We, too, need to be more flexible.
There's no one answer. For some, a farm makes sense. For others, it is a couch. And for many, it's a hybrid. Regardless, we're in an era when choice making becomes key - and choices, indeed, we can make.
The 21st Century is changing what these words mean. It's also changing the word "Entrepreneur".
Wikipedia says that an "Entrepreneur" is a person who makes money through taking risks and accepting full responsibility for outcomes. Okay, that accurately describes many entrepreneurs. But there is a new breed of "free agent" Entrepreneurs coming onto the scene whom I like to call "NEOpreneurs". They aren't just interested in money - and they take on more than financial risk. They risk their reputation - and former definitions of success. They work for what they believe - and not just for business achievement. As Jon Stein, founder of the firm Betterment states, "There’s a noticeable shift in what people value most in their careers. The New York Times studied key words in a sample of commencement speeches last year. The words 'world' and 'love' showed up far more often than 'money' and 'success'."
These observations are a byproduct of other shifts in our society
In the 20th Century, GDP was invented to measure output, growth, production and "more-ness". FDR and his administration invented it as a way to measure the economy after the Great Depression. But what made perfect sense 70 years ago doesn't necessarily make sense today.
GDP is being questioned by many. Most recently, the United Nations joined the conversation with a panel calling for “new ways to measure progress” in advance of the Rio+20 Global Transition 2012 Summit
"Work" - What is it?
I consider a round of golf "play". For Annika Sörenstam, it's serious business - and serious work. Today, more and more workers are redefining what "work" is. They are "black collar" workers (according to Philip Auerswald). They're hyper-connected and on the go - They think differently than workers of the past - They don't accept the historic roles of management and labor - They're innovative and independent - They work whenever and wherever they happen to be - And their office is their smartphone.
There's a whole new lot of them coming on-stream. Soon, three billion people who were formerly excluded from the advances and progress of the last five centuries now have a seat at the information-connected table. Auerswald asserts, "Prosperity in the 21st century won't be about life-long "employment" and ever increasing "consumption" as in the 20th century. Instead, it will be about connecting, creating, contributing, and collaborating in a rapidly evolving world. Intense localization will interact with all-pervasive globalization".
Stein recognizes that money and certain "rules" can motivate - to a point - but only to a point. He chooses to give his employees the freedom they desire to get the work done... when and where they want to get it done. Stein states, "In designing a working environment that would bring out the best qualities in our team, we had to come up with a model to satisfy the demands of a startup while balancing the needs of individuals. The No-Hour Workweek means our team is constantly in contact. Two-thirds of our team takes customer calls on weekends, and our development team frequently works into the wee hours of the morning. We monitor social media, catch up on emails, and work on projects at night and over the weekends, and we’re constantly attending industry and networking events. The No-Hour Workweek also means that our team members can come in at 8, 12, or not at all if they’d prefer to work remotely. It means they can work at the times they’re most productive, make family gatherings, attend to personal commitments, leave early for travel or yoga or drinks with friends."
We knew the 21st century would bring us change. Here it is.
Are you NEOpreneur?
Join NEOtropolis and "What's the Big Idea?" on April 3, 2012 to learn more.
The answer is up - way up... and certainly not "out".
Vertical farming is the idea -- and it can change the landscape of how we produce and consume food.
Regarding the photos, below... both depict Akron, Ohio. Urban is rural. Rural is urban. We can feed those in our respective communities, and we can do so across the world.
There's lots to think about. It takes 2500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef and it takes 120 gallons of water to produce a single egg. Imagine.
There are all kinds of inefficiencies associated with what we do and how we do it, with respect to food.
But it doesn't have to be that way. There are better ways. The ideal idea is to grow food where people live (versus shipping it to them) and do so without wasting other precious resources. We can seed and feed to the sky - and grow plants without soil or water.
We can do these things. If we decide to do them - together.
NEOtropolis returns from its Spring Break and kicks-off its season "back nine" on March 27th. The show, titled "Taste and Place", explores the forces of technology affecting our production and consumption of food.
The "What's the Big Idea?" segment smacks you with some sobering facts: A billion people are still hungry... 40,000 kids die of starvation each and every day... and 50% of the food we produce is thrown out.
But once again... there is good news if we leverage technology, apply a collective will, and implement visionary ideas. Join NEOtropolis and "What's the Big Idea?" on Tuesday for one of those technology solutions.
Quiz: Which photo depicts Akron, Ohio?
Craig Arthur James 2012
The above are not necessarily the views of NEOtropolis Western Reserve PBS. Rather, the above article is the view of this author related to topics he may discuss as a contributor on NEOtropolis.
The "What's the Big Idea?" (WTBI) segment raised awareness of the importance of energy in tackling other large issues that face the planet Earth. We also suggested that if we can be successful in creating and harnessing additional, and cleaner, energy - we will be able to solve many of the world's greatest challenges via a beautiful and elaborate 'domino cascade' of events.
Some of the Stats from the WTBI segment...
The sun showers on us 5000x the amount of energy we need - everyday
Currently only 1% of Earth's water is usable by humans
Water desalination is energy intensive
70% of current freshwater use is for agriculture
Additional clean water = more food
More Food = Less Famine, Poverty, Disease
Less Famine, Poverty, Disease = Less Conflict and War
All of this means... More time, energy & applied brain power
... This means we can apply those brilliant minds to other challenges ...
Cure cancer, Go to Mars, and stuff we can't imagine right now ...
Key = The Collective Will to Begin this Beautiful & Elaborate Domino Cascade
The Northeast Ohio Clean Cities Coalition, is a program of the Earth Day Coalition. Clean Cities is an initiative of the US Department of Energy promoting efficient vehicles, advanced vehicle technologies, alternative fuels, and alternative fuel vehicles. The goal of the program is to promote better air quality through improving transportation emissions.
If you're interested in a 'coffee chat' about the powerful content of Abundance - let us know, Craig and Sue
The Original Post...
How often do you use the term "energy"? You probably use it in a "traditional" fashion, referring to the energy moving your car, keeping you warm or powering your computer.
You probably also think of "energy" when you encounter people too - right? i.e., "He has great (or bad) energy". You know what you feel - but how do you "know"?
As I write this in a coffee shop, I gaze off to think. Then, lo and behold, I see this:
At that moment, I realize that "energy" involves everything - everyone - always - everywhere.
On Tuesday, February 28th on NEOtropolis we talk about energy and more: Turning junk into art, waste into fuel, up-cycle, recycle - The works.
During the "What's the Big Idea?" segment, we touch on the big-picture of energy and it's amazing impact on everything we know.
There's lots to think about: Numerous studies indicate that in the coming decades (if we stay on the current track) there simply won't be much of the stuff (energy, that is)left for us to use.
But it doesn't have to be doomsday. There are tremendous possibilities if we tap our collective brain-power and explore new aggressive solutions. For example, the Sun showers the Earth with 5,000 times the energy we need each and every day.
PS: What's informing some of the "What's the Big Idea?" thinking for the Episode? It's an Amazing book (and movement) about the tremendous possible future in front of all of us - if we change our thinking: "Abundance - The Book".
craig arthur james 2012
The above are not necessarily the views of NEOtropolis or Western Reserve PBS. Rather, the above article is the view of this author related to topics he may discuss as a contributor on NEOtropolis.
--> Update: Post-show blog post including links to information on Music in the Workplace, Music & Health... and more. Find it HERE
Muse-ic. Do you know that the word "music" is derived from the the Greek word "mousike" meaning "Art of the Muses"? - Muses are those magic goddesses who inspire the creation of literature, art and lyrics.
You see, there are all kinds of expressions; visual, verbal and artistic. Spoken language has been around for a long time. But other types of expressions - the more mysterious and magical ones - are the ones that have been around even longer. They're the ones that tend to touch our soul and ignite our hearts.
Music might be considered one of the most magical and mysterious of all. There are no words to express the feelings music can emote. As my friend Pastor Joe says, "One can read and play notes - but jazz and improvisation can't be described or prescribed. Life is jazz".
He's right. Life is jazz - here in Northeast Ohio - and across the world. Maybe it's time to improvise.
Today's post is primarily verbal via the "audio-blog" you'll find immediately below. Through it, you'll meet a guitar-playing guy named Pat, and hear a few musings about music, big ideas, and expression.
Could music be a key (no pun intended) to making progress here in Northeast Ohio? Tune-in on February 14th to find out - and hear a few hints here about the "What's the Big Idea" segment of the Feb. 14th episode called, "The Languages of Expression":
By now if you're into music at all, you've probably already seen Walk off the Earth's 5-people-playing-a-guitar video. 53 million people have decided to watch it - and counting. Is music powerful?:
craig arthur james 2012
The above are not necessarily the views of NEOtropolis or Western Reserve PBS. Rather, the above post has been produced by and are the views of this author, related to topics he may discuss as a contributor on NEOtropolis
As I write this article on the eve of the NEOtropolis Episode "Phantom Borders", I can't help but reflect on the fact that today, February 6, 2012 the U.S. Embassy closed it's doors in Damascus, and our diplomats race back home to safety.
While Western powers push for a tough UN resolution against Syria - Russia and China veto the Resolution.
Russia, China, The U.S., Saudi Arabia and others... all in a debate over approach, principles and their own interests.
Meanwhile yesterday, 173 million people and 11 billion dollars spell, "Super Bowl".
So: This time, "What's the Big Idea?" isn't so much about a Big Idea as it's a Big (set of) Question(s).
Will likely refer further thought (and encourage comments) via our SmartSimpleMobile blog starting with the replication of this very message, there. In the meantime, I am once again compelled to clog your email in-box.
Separately, but related - a reminder of Umair Haque's HBR/blog. He begs similar questions.
Tweet: Craig Arthur James (@CjamesCatStrat) 1/22/12 8:41 AM:
Okay, it's probably unrealistic to suggest that we can make sense of it all - all in one shot. But, we can at least begin to try.
The all-new NEOtropolis kicked-off it's Season-3 by airing live on Tuesday, January 10, 2012 via Northeast Ohio's Western Reserve PBS. View the video archive of the show HERE. NEOtropolis is a half-hour series that helps Northeast Ohioans make sense of the forces of change surrounding them.
The new host for the show is Luke Frazier.
I'm your "What's the Big Idea?" contributor.
In the "What's the Big Idea?" segment, we tease your curiosity with mind-blowing concepts related to the show's overall theme of "Exploring how the forces of technology, globalization and diversity are shaping the ways Northeast Ohioans work, learn, live and play".
Reference materials and links regarding each episode's Big Idea segment are found via the "What's the Big Idea?" Blog.
A Facebook friend shared an old video with me recently. It was an archive of a local nightly news broadcast from a Cleveland television station circa ~ 1977.
The newsmen (yes, they were all men) were covering a snow storm. There were a couple guys in the studio, and one was on the scene:
"So, it's really snowing out there isn't it, Fred? Oh yeah, you got that right, it sure is, Jim... lots and lots of snow everywhere. Wow, so lots of snow then? Yeah, snow. Tons of snow. It's really something, the snow is - isn't it..."
The same basic exchange was repeated over and over for about 15 minutes. Did we really need those guys to tell us (over and over) that it was snowing while we were searching for our cars buried under a huge snow drift somewhere? (Not that I remember this point in history, of course ;-)
Our current 24-hour news cycle still seems to perpetuate this habit at times (but faster). My point is, those guys in '77 might have been so mesmerized by the medium (and impressed with themselves) that maybe they missed the whole story.
Fast forward: 2012 and the social web. Might we be so seduced by the mechanisms available to us that we don't quite know why or how to use them? Are we "talking snow" all over the place? We send a video here, tag a photo of a person eating dinner (in the snow) over there, or tweet random/redundant content everywhere. Why?
The amount of stuff that used to take 10,000 years to bounce 'round the world now is exchanged every single day.
Intuitively I think it's all a good thing. But imagine if we took more of this sometimes-random sometimes-redundant hyper-exchanged information, and targeted and tailored it just a wee bit better. For example, there are schools in Nepal that only have a few books (literally). The books are secured under lock and key because they are so scarce and valued.Thus ironically, the resources the kids desperately need aren't necessarily available to them.
I have a friend who's thinking through strategies for the electronic targeting and delivery of certain educational material to those very kids. Sure, there are numerous challenges beginning with the fact that many of the locations don't currently have computers and/or Internet access. But the concepts are relatively simple:
Who needs the info?
What exactly is the info they need?
How can we get them the info? and/or...
How can they find said info without "us"?
The technology we currently have (at most of our fingertips) is truly amazing. But, I think we can do even amazing-er things in this world if we're just a little less intrigued and/or limited by the medium itself, and a bit better at delivering the right content, to the right people, at the right time.
Sure, at times it feels as though we've "cracked the code" on using these technologies effectively - but I think we've only just begun.
This Blog entry is the continuation of a conversation originated in email.
You're invited to join it.
Net-net, it's a discussion about America, the World and the Future... Trivial stuff like that.
Have we become complacent? Have we lost our way? What does the future hold?
SCENARIO:
Read the early portions of the book That Used To Be Us, by Thomas L. Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum
The opening tells a story of Escalat(ors) in the U.S. and Construct(tion) in China. We've fallen behind.
Sent an email to certain folks explaining how the story hit me
Numerous responses ensued via email
Migrated the conversation to this Blog
Responses, to-date, will become blog-post-comments within, if/as commenter(s) approve
Please add comments and share your thoughts
Between meetings and reading email responses, I had a few interesting serendipitous experiences. One of them is briefly described below. After that, you'll find the original message that started this whole thing. Below that, one finds articles by Umair Haque you might find interesting.
AN AMERICAN COFFEE SHOP - AN EXPERIENCE - CLEVELAND, OHIO:
After a couple days of productive and enjoyable meeting(s) with colleagues, I find myself alone (literally alone, as the only customer) in a pretty darn big and rather nice coffee shop, not far from downtown Cleveland, Ohio. It was the peak-peak of the (traditional) work-week (10:00 AM, Wednesday morning).
I'm not saying this represents every coffee shop in America - or even Cleveland. But it made me pause - and think.
I ordered a green tea and asked the young gent behind the register for a receipt. The register's printer wasn't functioning. The young gent asked the manager what to do. She instructed him to create a hand-written receipt. He searched for, and found, a receipt-pad... but discovered there were no receipt forms remaining within. He inquired with the manager, yet again.
...At this point, I said, "Don't worry about it".
I proceeded to settle in for some wireless.
The wireless was down.
Our gent from the register said, "Oh, yeah, I was supposed to bring in my laptop today to figure that out - but I forgot".
Meanwhile, the manager shuffles back and forth a couple times to pop outside for a smoke in a little alcove in front of the coffee shop. She gazes upon a boarded-up crumbling theater across the street.
Plumes of smoke ascended from her as if they originated from her pony-tail (an attempt at creative writing). By this time, another customer walks in, a middle-age woman. She sits by herself and begins work on a crossword puzzle. Shortly thereafter, four other people arrive. It's three older gents and a young woman. As they assemble together, the guys begin to berate the young woman for not having a job, and they expertly highlight her inability to secure one.
What's happening?
ORIGINAL EMAIL MESSAGE 12-19-11:
I'm reading Tom Friedman's & Michael Mandelbaum's "That Used To Be Us". In the first few pages, they share this: Meijiang Convention & Exposition Centre in Tianjin, China. Built from the ground-up in 32 weeks:
In Washington, the Washington Metro system had two (2) broken escalators (21 steps each). It took 24 weeks to repair those 42 steps --- i.e., about the same amount of time it took to build the entire Meijiang Convention Center Complex including countless huge escalators.
Meanwhile, back in DC, an outfit was paid $225K to study/assess the state of the Washington Metro system. (I'd do it for $224K: "Broke" ;-)
The Washington Post reported, "...people are getting used to it" (the condition of the system).
Wow.
Needless to say, this one gets a full read.
As we all have our own version(s) of day-to-day do's that need to "get done" I do wonder what the future holds, in a macro sense... and what we (still) can do about it.
...Just thought I'd help start your day with a headache :-)
Thanks for letting me indulge.
OTHER READING YOU MIGHT FIND RELATED / INTERESTING:
100-ish years ago, "Edison", "Westinghouse" & "Einstein" were the "Gates", "Jobs" and "Sagan" of their time. Those names still roll off our tongues, and big companies still bear their names.
Even though we depend on AC power, wireless communications and clean energy, we don't often think of Nikola Tesla. If it wasn't for him, the iPhone would be the "iHand-write-it, mail-it, and-wait".
Tesla understood and basically invented those technologies in the 19th century. But people thought he was a bit "insane". Not because he had a few personality quirks (today we might call it OCD) but because his ideas, experiments and inventions were so extreme. "Wireless communication?" "Clean energy?" "Impossible!". "The guy is absolutely out of his gourd." Buggy whips were the smarter, safer, practical investment.
But he changed the world.
How do you know if you're onto something so BIG that it might help change the world too?
You make no sense. Your friends and colleagues think you're wacky, unrealistic and "out there". They may even work hard to stop or block you. J.P. Morgan helped slow Tesla's advancing dream of "clean energy, everywhere, for everyone - for free". The Commodore would have none of that. Otherwise, how could there be a "monopoly"? How could the energy business be controlled by a small group of companies, including General Electric (which Morgan helped create through his merger magic). No Nikola, no! We'll have none of that.
You can't help yourself. Tesla was known to work for three days straight without sleep. He was so focused on doing his work that he tore-up a contract that he had with George Westinghouse. That contract would have made him (Tesla) one of the first billionaires on the planet. But he didn't care (about money). He cared about the work. He cared about changing the world.
Intuitive insight. Brain science tells us that the brain is imperfect - but efficient. Our brains have been "filling in the blanks" (inaccurately) for survival reasons, for thousands of years. If you bumped into a prehistoric guy at Starbucks and asked him, "Hey, prehistoric alive-guy, when I saw you running yesterday, was it a) a lion or b) a tiger that almost ate you?" He'd likely answer incorrectly. He may not remember "lion" or "tiger" but his brain knew that he had to run like hell, regardless. Our brains still "know" what to do in a sub-second. However, in our modern society, we've become a bit too prone to stop, plan and analyze. It's as if we stopped, opened our laptop and reviewed the strategic don't-get-eaten plan while a liontiger runs toward us. Chances are your first thoughts are the right ones: Go with it. Trust it. Run like hell!
Today, amazingly, the notion of "clean energy for all, everywhere - for free" is actually here for us. But the "energy" is the energy of ideas, knowledge, culture and information that we can now seek (or share) for almost-free - from anywhere - anytime.
Guessing you've experienced type-ahead correction on your smartphone. My iPhone does it with attitude: I type this - it promptly says, "Nope, I don't think so, bub - you actually mean that". It-she-he continues to "correct" the same word or phrase several times until he-she-it finally agrees with what I wanted to type.
More: My iPhone is rude and obnoxious (is that redundant?):
A while back, I drafted a note to send to the world about a friend. It sang his praises; "He's a great guy, and he knows EVERYBODY in town". Well, my smarter-than-me iPhone decided that "knows" should be a word that sounds like "knows" but begins with "bl".
Thankfully, I corrected that correction before it was sent.
More more: iPhone likes to take the phrase "and the thing is..." and makes "thing" a word that sounds like "song", but it begins with a "th", describing a certain undergarment.
Rude. Obnoxious. Alas, my iPhone's digital-mind is in the gutter.
But then:
I realized that iPhone might actually have some important insight midst it's ill-informed correction activities:
It takes "I'd love to..." and changes it to "I'd live to..." almost every time.
iPhone is smart. Smart indeed.
It knows that if I lived to be 100, that's still only one 50-millionth of Earth's lifespan (to-date). Further, it knows that if I wanted to travel to the recently-discovered next-closest Earth-like planet (Kepler-22-b) it would take 220,000 of my lifetimes to get there (22 million years).
iSuspect iPhone's been trying to tell me something.
Given the infinitely small amount of time we get to spend on this planet, we should "love what we live for" and "live for what we love".
Could you imagine saying "I invented the World Wide Web".
Well, this guy can - because he did:
Tim Berners-Lee
A guy who's only 55 already having such an amazing impact on the history of humanity. Imagine.
Ever wonder if you could come up with something as meaningful? His story begins with being frustrated ~ 20 years ago. Frustrated with having to go to different computers - having to use different software - and having to work in different data formats... to accomplish his work.
"Why not use the Internet?", he mused... "There's this huge un-locked potential out there"... "What if we could all share data and information all across the world?
But his idea didn't just stay an idea. First, Tim wrote a memo about it.
Eighteen months later, he received permission from his employer to work on the idea "off to the side as a play project". His imaginative play project resulted in an innovation now used by just about everyone in the world - impacting our lives in every possible way. He made it happen.
In his TED Talk, Tim suggests that the real impact of the Web has only just begun.
What could you do? What might be your WWW? Tim has a simple challenge for us, for starters.
Bumped into a colleague at a coffee shop. Haven't seen her for a month or two. She asked what I was up to.
Being the occasional smart alec (OK, not just occasional) I said, "Fixing the World, you know... the usual". I further explained that I've been busy and haven't had the chance to type-up the plan and send it off to Obama - yet. We chuckled, did the small-talk thing... and went our separate ways. I continued my work & then checked email. This Time Magazine article was in my in-box:
I realized that my joke might not have been far off. I realized that we all have the challenge, the opportunity - and perhaps the responsibility to help reinvent our country - and the World.
Fareed Zakaria always has a way of getting one thinking in global terms, indeed. And with this most recent article, he hits you in the nose with provocative observations and imperatives:
Investment Vs. consumption
Investment in innovation
Investment in people
In the 50's, the U.S. was the only research lab in the World. No longer.
Protectionist economics? Not possible. People & companies will jump on the Net and conduct commerce wherever and with whomever they want.
"America needs radical change - but we have an 18th century system determined to check and balance the absolute power of a monarchy. It is designed for gridlock at a moment when quick and large-scale action is our only hope".
After you read his article, my guess is you'll have different answers to small-talk questions in a coffee shop. Then again, you may have the same answers - but I bet they'll have a different meaning.
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