In the book Atlas Shrugged, industrialist Hank Rearden invented a new type of steel called, strangely enough, Rearden Metal, that was twice as strong as steel but half as light, sparking a manufacturing revolution.
Now, carbon nanotube technology promises to do Hank an order of magnitude better, creating a composite material 250 times stronger and 10 times lighter than steel, that conducts electricity like copper or silicon and disperses heat like steel or brass.‘Buckypaper’: stronger than steel, harder than diamonds.
They call it BuckyPaper because it is made of buckytubes, or carbon nanotubes stacked together in sheets. The new discovery and creation of carbon nano-tech are named after Buckminster Fuller whose geodesic domes are structured similarly to the 60 atom carbon nano-spheres that sparked off the nano-revolution.
Imagine the possible applications…cars, planes, architecture, weaponry/armor, tools, computers, electrical wiring…not to mention furniture, clothing…etc.
GIGO - Genius In, Genius Out. When it comes to organizing group action, a common structure not only prevents mistakes, it allows people to tap into one another’s potential. The more intention and care each person on the team puts into storing their knowledge in a way that can be shared, the more synergy that team can demonstrate. It seems simple, but virtually no one practices it, mostly because it is just too difficult.
As an entrepenuer and businessperson, I can’t afford not to tap the powe of my team, or expose myself to the mistakes that come when the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. So, I use collaborative systems to build shared reality about what my companies are up to. For example, I spent the last 2 weeks installing, learning, and customizing a salesforce.com implementation that cost about $4500. It is an investment I am happy to make - to leverage the power of my team.
However, if you don’t want to invest that, I might recommend a new service called Highrise. Highrise gives me much of the functionality I will use in salesforce for a slightly smaller sum! - It’s Free! I like it so much I want to plug it here.
The interface is clean and intuitive. I look forward to using it with
my finance - so we can make sure that we are working as a team, both leading up to the wedding and beyond!
other groups I take part in that are working to create a positive difference in the world.
We need to organize our resources and use each other’s action to inspire, motivate, and hold one another accountable. Highrise offers us a simple and powerful way to do that.
If you want to leverage the power of your teams, check out Highrise.
Aubrey De Grey suggests that when we can extend human life for 30 years or so, that will give us another 30 years to figure out how to extend it another 30 years. With the exponential increase in technology, it might just be that those born in the 21st century live to see the 25th…
Scientists in Finland said they had replaced a 65-year-old patient’s upper jaw with a bone transplant cultivated from stem cells isolated from his own fatty tissue and grown inside his abdomen.
About 10 years ago, I had the great fortune to be invited to hear Amory Lovins speak on Natural Capitalism, a philosophy that outlines (among other things) how businesses can use design efficiency to increase their bottom line while reducing their environmental impact. Integrating his then 20-years of experience in the field (now over 30 years), the book Natural Capitalism turns many business and enviromental issues on their head, offering an approach that avoids the often condemning approach of some environmental activists. His ideas (as well as his co-authors Hunter Lovins and Paul Hawken) have since become part of the canon of environmental business practices, inspiring consultants and thousands of businesses towards greater sustainability. (for example, see my interview with Jeff Slye )
On November 1st, 2007, Amory was been awarded the Volvo Environmental Award in recognition his lifetime work. The nearly quarter-million dollar prize support Amory’s Rocky Mountain Institute in its work to use design efficiencies to end US dependence on foreign oil, design cars that triple our best fuel efficiency at half the weight (see video below), eliminate the need for heating and air conditioning in buildings, and much, much more.
For more information about Amory Lovins, check out the Rocky Mountain Institute, or for more in depth study, check out this series of five video lectures on Design Efficiencies he gave at Stanford earlier this year.
Congratulations to Amory for integrating his Money, Mission, and Meaning, and dramatically shifting the course of humankind towards greater beauty!
I love the internet. I have encountered some of the most extraordinary ideas and people through it. YouTube and streaming video has opened up opportunities to learn more about more than ever before - at the click of a button.
At the same time, the information glut is outrageous. As the character “Pink” from Pink Floyd’s album/movie the wall said “I’ve got 13 channels of shit on the TV to choose from…” - well now we have literally millions of channels of “stuff” to choose from, and much of it is, well…um… “stuff.”
So I decided to make AGameWeAllCanWin.com, a wiki/place to contribute and appreciate the BEST experiences we have had on the web and elsewhere. It is a place to experience Mind Blowing Ideas and Inspiring Art - videos and text that speak about important, human concerns in a way that leaves you excited/passionate/grateful to be alive.
It is still in beta, but there are dozens of hours of video already posted, each of which inspired someone to remember the miraculous nature of life and consciousness, to dedicate themselves to making their lives and the world they live in increasingly beautiful.
So check it out - login and add your own video, or just appreciate the experiences that others have posted. Read the rules and the intention behind the Game, and remember - the more you contribute, the more you gain. AGameWeAllCanWin.com
As CEO of Smart Energy Enterprises, Inc. (SEE-Inc. A Beautiful Future Now!), makers of SmartPower Smart Energy Drink, I work to bring my passion and purpose into my business life on a daily basis. Our life-positive branding and superior quality energy drinks 2.0 are my full-time vehicle to make this happen.
As we begin our momentus shift into what I call the First Virtual Age (where we shift the bulk of our lives into internet based mediums), each major step becomes a part of history. We are currently accomplishing one of these steps through a partnership with a Facebook application named Booze Mail, where we created virtual drinks that introduce our physical ones. With nearly 1 million SmartPower based virtual drinks being passed back and forth in the first week, it offers the opportunity for Booze Mail and SEE-Inc. to monetize a Facebook application and create a new type of partnership between virtual and physical worlds.
If you are on Facebook, and want to enter our Giveaway, or want to get on Facebook (which I believe will be the premier social networking application in the world within 18 months - and on into the near future), make sure to download the BoozeMail Application, and make friends with Smart Energy Drinks.
For now, I encourage you to clarify your dreams and take productive action towards their accomplishment!
As the industrial age of machines shifts into the hyper-connected information age of the Internet, communities based on geography are giving way to those based on interest, making possible the power communities of the future: communities based on values.
It used to be that you could only hang out with people in your town or city, which 1) made building relationships relatively slow and cumbersome, and 2) made it unlikely that you would be able to find others who share your passion for 19th century Russian folk songs for example.
Through the Internet, 21st century global citizens can not only connect, but build interactive platforms on which to communicate around virtually anything that interests them. Do you love 57 Chevy’s, or vintage Napier costume jewelry, or differences in costumes between Star Trek generations? There is a group for that, or you can start one…often with members from around the globe. By collapsing the geographic space into a virtual one, the Internet is changing our understanding of “community” back to its etymological roots: Community is those we commune-icate with regularly.
However, although these interest communities allow us to connect with like-interested people around the world, sharing interests does not mean sharing values. While a Republican and a Democrat might share *interests* about the War In Iraq and be part of a community that “discusses” it online, they might understand themselves to be members of very different values communities.
Perhaps the real value of these platforms of common interest is their ability for people of like values to commune and cooperate. While our interest in a particular piece of software might last a week or two, we might meet people though that group who both become friends and introduce us to dozens of other interest groups.
Currently, companies and organizations focus on building interest groups around their products and projects. However, our hyper-connected Internet bazaar is making clear that which has always been true - people are not loyal to products, they are loyal to thier values. I believe the future will reward those organizations that attract communities of people who share their clearly articulated values, shifting the “brand” of a company from the functionality or attitude of a particular product to a way of life. At least, that is the world I want to create. SEE-Inc. A Beautiful Future Now! Creating A Game We All Can Win.
