Mainstage Day 3 FAVOURITES!
Thursday's crop - I confess I missed most due to preparations for my performance at 3:00, which then got moved to 5:00 due to a power-outage (GAH! Stomach knots and hand-wringing!) but here are the highlights I remember...
Hassein Labaied:
The Wind Energy Guy! The typical three-blade wind turbine is a beautiful thing, but actually it's a very inefficient machine. Much of the energy it captures is lost in transit through the various parts on the way to storage. Hassein and his group thought they could do better. By centralizing the hydraulic action and making refinements to every aspect of the turbine - namely getting rid of blades all together - they slashed costs by 50% and dramatically improved efficiency… Take a look at the "zero-blade device", the next wave of wind technology. My favourite quote from this brainy, excitable fellow "nothing is out of reach". YEEAHHHHH!
http://www.saphonenergy.com/
Robin Chase:
You thought ZipCar was cool? Yeah, Robin invented that… she's over it ;) Her next idea, Buzzcar, is even cooler. Instead of borrowing cars owned by a sharing company, imagine renting out your own car that's sitting in your garage right now costing you money? Or sitting in a parking lot all day while you work? Robin's newest venture harnesses a massive hidden resource - IDLE CARS the world over! Making it more affordable and effortless than ever before to get around, and in the process, economically empowering ordinary people while emancipating millions from the quasi-slavery of car ownership. I love it when technology uncovers a solution where everybody wins!! I love it when, instead of trying to invent a new <i>thing</i> to solve problems, great minds turn to the resources that are *already there*. Smart smart smart.
This model is spreading to all kinds of platforms - for instance AirBnB, which I've used twice already to great effect. It's part of a massive shift - perhaps <i>the</i> defining shift of my generation - a more equitable distribution of economic power… Think about it - this is the sentiment of "Occupy" put to work in the real world. Thanks to the internet, it seems that in every sphere, hegemonic systems - empires - are falling and the power is spreading out into vast networks of smaller, localized centres. The music business, the hotel business, the car industry, energy capture and distribution, food production - it's all going local. Via internet technology, small nodes of power link to other small nodes, sharing, trading, mutually benefiting, instead of one metaphoric emperor (1%) holding all the cards, ruling over millions (99%) who have no access to power.
Kind of reminds me of a song…
"the end, end of an empire,
no more lines in the sand
and the dawn, dawn of a new world
gone imperial man"
Ok I just quoted myself - apologies...
http://www.buzzcar.com/en/
Rachel Botsman:
Rachel has distilled the theory behind this Buzzcar shift - she calls it "Collaborative Consumption" and she believes it is the new frontier. This is where the future is headed, and fast. According to Rachel, the internet's open networks will completely transform business, consumption, and the way we live our daily lives. Economic power is moving and spreading laterally. So what will be the new currency in this radically evolved landscape? Rachel says: *reputation*.
For instance: check out http://www.taskrabbit.com/
(This completely blew my mind. Same concept as Buzzcar, but for everything on your to-do list.)
How individuals and companies are viewed by the public is no longer the domain of PR reps and media spinners. It is displayed in real-time, accessible, user-generated, constantly updated, peer-review-type <i>data</i>. Your online self will sport a data-based rating of trustworthiness. Sort of like a Wiki-pedia-esque compilation of who you are - an integrity-rating drawn from the people who have used your products or services. Merit and morality are becoming more closely related to economic power. ?!? It's just the beginning of course, and unethical businesses still thrive everywhere, but imagine this seed blooming… imagine 10, 20 years down this road. Although the Goliath of reckless, destructive corporations still looms large this concept is surely the birth of a feisty little David…
I invite you to explore Rachel's site for more detail, but muse with me for a second about the philosophical implications of this shift she's describing. We're creating a way for ourselves to trust each other, to encourage closer contact. We're creating an environment where it is not only <i>safe</i> for us to help each other, it is easy and economically beneficial. We're creating a reward structure for moral behaviour. WOOOAAH. To quote Don Tapscott again - "humanity is building a machine.."
http://www.rachelbotsman.com/
What's that Chinese proverb - "may you live in exciting times"?
Hassein Labaied:
The Wind Energy Guy! The typical three-blade wind turbine is a beautiful thing, but actually it's a very inefficient machine. Much of the energy it captures is lost in transit through the various parts on the way to storage. Hassein and his group thought they could do better. By centralizing the hydraulic action and making refinements to every aspect of the turbine - namely getting rid of blades all together - they slashed costs by 50% and dramatically improved efficiency… Take a look at the "zero-blade device", the next wave of wind technology. My favourite quote from this brainy, excitable fellow "nothing is out of reach". YEEAHHHHH!
http://www.saphonenergy.com/
Robin Chase:
You thought ZipCar was cool? Yeah, Robin invented that… she's over it ;) Her next idea, Buzzcar, is even cooler. Instead of borrowing cars owned by a sharing company, imagine renting out your own car that's sitting in your garage right now costing you money? Or sitting in a parking lot all day while you work? Robin's newest venture harnesses a massive hidden resource - IDLE CARS the world over! Making it more affordable and effortless than ever before to get around, and in the process, economically empowering ordinary people while emancipating millions from the quasi-slavery of car ownership. I love it when technology uncovers a solution where everybody wins!! I love it when, instead of trying to invent a new <i>thing</i> to solve problems, great minds turn to the resources that are *already there*. Smart smart smart.
This model is spreading to all kinds of platforms - for instance AirBnB, which I've used twice already to great effect. It's part of a massive shift - perhaps <i>the</i> defining shift of my generation - a more equitable distribution of economic power… Think about it - this is the sentiment of "Occupy" put to work in the real world. Thanks to the internet, it seems that in every sphere, hegemonic systems - empires - are falling and the power is spreading out into vast networks of smaller, localized centres. The music business, the hotel business, the car industry, energy capture and distribution, food production - it's all going local. Via internet technology, small nodes of power link to other small nodes, sharing, trading, mutually benefiting, instead of one metaphoric emperor (1%) holding all the cards, ruling over millions (99%) who have no access to power.
Kind of reminds me of a song…
"the end, end of an empire,
no more lines in the sand
and the dawn, dawn of a new world
gone imperial man"
Ok I just quoted myself - apologies...
http://www.buzzcar.com/en/
Rachel Botsman:
Rachel has distilled the theory behind this Buzzcar shift - she calls it "Collaborative Consumption" and she believes it is the new frontier. This is where the future is headed, and fast. According to Rachel, the internet's open networks will completely transform business, consumption, and the way we live our daily lives. Economic power is moving and spreading laterally. So what will be the new currency in this radically evolved landscape? Rachel says: *reputation*.
For instance: check out http://www.taskrabbit.com/
(This completely blew my mind. Same concept as Buzzcar, but for everything on your to-do list.)
How individuals and companies are viewed by the public is no longer the domain of PR reps and media spinners. It is displayed in real-time, accessible, user-generated, constantly updated, peer-review-type <i>data</i>. Your online self will sport a data-based rating of trustworthiness. Sort of like a Wiki-pedia-esque compilation of who you are - an integrity-rating drawn from the people who have used your products or services. Merit and morality are becoming more closely related to economic power. ?!? It's just the beginning of course, and unethical businesses still thrive everywhere, but imagine this seed blooming… imagine 10, 20 years down this road. Although the Goliath of reckless, destructive corporations still looms large this concept is surely the birth of a feisty little David…
I invite you to explore Rachel's site for more detail, but muse with me for a second about the philosophical implications of this shift she's describing. We're creating a way for ourselves to trust each other, to encourage closer contact. We're creating an environment where it is not only <i>safe</i> for us to help each other, it is easy and economically beneficial. We're creating a reward structure for moral behaviour. WOOOAAH. To quote Don Tapscott again - "humanity is building a machine.."
http://www.rachelbotsman.com/
What's that Chinese proverb - "may you live in exciting times"?
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