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Peace in the Middle East: Could Alternative Energy Be the Solution?

I have been thinking about the situation in the Middle East and also the rise of oil prices, peak oil, and the problem of a world economy based on energy scarcity rather than abundance. There is, I believe, a way to solve the problems in the Middle East, and the energy problems facing the world, at the same time. But it requires thinking "outside the box."

Middle Eastern nations must take the lead in freeing the world from dependence on their oil. This is not only their best strategy for the future of their nations and their people, but also it is what will ultimately be best for the region and the whole world.

It is inevitable that someone is going to invent a new technology that frees the world from dependence on fossil fuels. When that happens all oil empires will suddenly collapse. Far-sighted, visionary leaders in oil-producing nations must ensure that their nations are in position to lead the coming non-fossil-fuel energy revolution. This is the wisdom of "cannibalize yourself before someone else does."

Middle Eastern nations should invest more heavily than any other nations in inventing and supplying new alternative energy technologies. For example: hydrogen, solar, biofuels, zero point energy, magnetic power, and the many new emerging alternatives to fossil fuels. This is a huge opportunity for the Middle East not only for economic reasons, but also because it may just be the key to bringing about long-term sustainable peace in the region.

There is a finite supply of oil in the Middle East -- the game will and must eventually end. Are Middle Eastern nations thinking far enough ahead about this or not? There is a tremendous opportunity for them if they can take the initiative on this front and there is an equally tremendous risk if they do not. If they do not have a major stake in whatever comes after fossil fuels, they will be left with nothing when whatever is next inevitably happens (which might be very soon).

Any Middle Eastern leader who is not thinking very seriously about this issue right now is selling their people short. I sincerely advise them to make this a major focus going forward. Not only will this help them to improve quality of life for their people now and in the future, but it is the best way to help bring about world peace. The Middle East has the potential to lead a huge and lucrative global energy Renaissance. All it takes is vision and courage to push the frontier and to think outside of the box.

A Bottle That Purifies Enough Water for a Year

This is a really great invention -- a hand held water bottle that can purify a year's worth of water. It removes not only parasites and bacteria, but also viruses. It was just announced recently at a defense industry tradeshow and was a big hit among military commanders who need a better way to get water to their troops. Beyond that it could be a lifesaver in disaster areas and in developing countries where finding clean water is a daily struggle.

Russian Scientists Discover Radiation Absorbing Mineral

Russian scientists in the Khibinsky Mountains in the Arctic Circle have made an important scientific discovery. They've found a new mineral which absorbs radiation.     It does not yet have an official name and is known only as number 27-4. It can absorb radioactivity from liquid nuclear waste.

Read the rest here.

Scientist Says "Never in Our Imagination Could This Happen." Famous Last Words?

Whenever a scientist says something like, don't worry our new experiment could never get out of the lab, or don't worry the miniature black hole we are going to generate couldn't possibly swallow up the entire planet, I tend to get a little worried. The problem is that just about every time a scientist has said something is patently absurd, totally impossible or could never ever happen, it usually turns out that in fact it isn't as impossible as they thought. Now here's a new article about scientists creating new artificial lifeforms, based on new genetic building blocks -- and once again there's one of those statements. I'm guessing that this means that in about 10 years some synthetic life form is going to be found to have done the impossible and escaped from the lab -- perhaps into our food supply, or maybe into our environment. Don't get me wrong -- I'm in favor of this kind of research into new frontiers. I just don't think anyone can guarantee it won't escape from the lab.

Plans for a Lunar Ark to Save Humanity

Researchers at the International Space University (ISU), of which I am an alumnus, are proposing an interesting initiative to build an ark on the moon to preserve human civilization and biodiversity, and the Internet, in the event of a catastrophe on earth, such as a comet impact, nuclear war, etc. This project is similar to what I proposed in my Genesis Project posting in 2003.

Humans are just beginning to send trinkets of technology and culture into space. NASA's recently launched Phoenix Mars Lander, for example, carries a mini-disc inscribed with stories, art, and music about Mars.

The Phoenix lander is a "precursor mission" in a decades-long project to transplant the essentials of humanity onto the moon and eventually Mars. (See a photo gallery about the Phoenix mission.)

The International Space University team is now on a more ambitious mission: to start building a "lunar biological and historical archive," initially through robotic landings on the moon.

Laying the foundation for "rebuilding the terrestrial Internet, plus an Earth-moon extension of it, should be a priority," Burke said.

Networked Genome -- New Finding Shatters Current Thinking

A new finding has discovered that the human genome may be highly networked. That is, genes do not operate in isolation, but rather they are networked together in a far more complex ecosystem than previously thought. It may be impossible to separate one gene from another in fact. This throws into question not only our understanding of genetics and the human genome, but also the whole genomics industry, which relies heavily on the idea that genes and drugs based on them can be patented:

The principle that gave rise to the biotech industry promised benefits that were equally compelling. Known as the Central Dogma of molecular biology, it stated that each gene in living organisms, from humans to bacteria, carries the information needed to construct one protein.

The scientists who invented recombinant DNA in 1973 built their innovation on this mechanistic, "one gene, one protein" principle.

Because donor genes could be associated with specific functions, with discrete properties and clear boundaries, scientists then believed that a gene from any organism could fit neatly and predictably into a larger design - one that products and companies could be built around, and that could be protected by intellectual-property laws.

This presumption, now disputed, is what one molecular biologist calls "the industrial gene."

"The industrial gene is one that can be defined, owned, tracked, proven acceptably safe, proven to have uniform effect, sold and recalled," said Jack Heinemann, a professor of molecular biology in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand and director of its Center for Integrated Research in Biosafety.

In the United States, the Patent and Trademark Office allows genes to be patented on the basis of this uniform effect or function. In fact, it defines a gene in these terms, as an ordered sequence of DNA "that encodes a specific functional product."

In 2005, a study showed that more than 4,000 human genes had already been patented in the United States alone. And this is but a small fraction of the total number of patented plant, animal and microbial genes.

In the context of the consortium's findings, this definition now raises some fundamental questions about the defensibility of those patents.

If genes are only one component of how a genome functions, for example, will infringement claims be subject to dispute when another crucial component of the network is claimed by someone else?

Might owners of gene patents also find themselves liable for unintended collateral damage caused by the network effects of the genes they own?

And, just as important, will these not-yet-understood components of gene function tarnish the appeal of the market for biotech investors, who prefer their intellectual property claims to be unambiguous and indisputable?

While no one has yet challenged the legal basis for gene patents, the biotech industry itself has long since acknowledged the science behind the question.

"The genome is enormously complex, and the only thing we can say about it with certainty is how much more we have left to learn," wrote Barbara Caulfield, executive vice president and general counsel at the biotech pioneer Affymetrix, in a 2002 article on Law.com called "Why We Hate Gene Patents."

"We're learning that many diseases are caused not by the action of single genes, but by the interplay among multiple genes," Caulfield said. She noted that just before she wrote her article, "scientists announced that they had decoded the genetic structures of one of the most virulent forms of malaria and that it may involve interactions among as many as 500 genes."

Even more important than patent laws are safety issues raised by the consortium's findings. Evidence of a networked genome shatters the scientific basis for virtually every official risk assessment of today's commercial biotech products, from genetically engineered crops to pharmaceuticals.

Read the rest here

Steorn Set to Demo "Free Energy" Device Tomorrow

Steorn, the Irish company that claims to have invented a mechanical device that generates unlimited free energy with no fuel, is scheduled to demonstrate their device publicly for the first time in London tomorrow. A panel of 22 independent world experts has been recruited to study the device. It should be an interesting demo!

Children of Men Needs to Be Seen

Go see the film Children of Men -- it's a bleak, brilliant, entirely convincing vision of the near future -- and has great action too. Here's a YouTube video that makes the case for why this film should win an award.

Minding The Planet -- The Meaning and Future of the Semantic Web

NOTES

• Master Copy can be found at this URL or http://tinyurl.com/yynb93
• Last Update: Tuesday, November 7, 2006, 10:17AM PST
  
• License -- This article is distributed under the Creative Commons Deed.  If you would like to distribute a version of this article, please link back to http://www.mindingtheplanet.net from your version, thanks.
• Printable version -- Click here to download the printable PDF version of this article
• Illustrated Version -- See the version by the Lifeboat Foundation

 

Prelude

Many years ago, in the late 1980s, while I was still a college student, I visited my late grandfather, Peter F. Drucker, at his home in Claremont, California. He lived near the campus of Claremont College where he was a professor emeritus. On that particular day, I handed him a manuscript of a book I was trying to write, entitled, "Minding the Planet" about how the Internet would enable the evolution of higher forms of collective intelligence.

My grandfather read my manuscript and later that afternoon we sat together on the outside back porch and he said to me, "One thing is certain: Someday, you will write this book." We both knew that the manuscript I had handed him was not that book, a fact that was later verified when I tried to get it published. I gave up for a while and focused on college, where I was studying philosophy with a focus on artificial intelligence. And soon I started working in the fields of artificial intelligence and supercomputing at companies like Kurzweil, Thinking Machines, and Individual.

A few years later, I co-founded one of the early Web companies, EarthWeb, where among other things we built many of the first large commercial Websites and later helped to pioneer Java by creating several large knowledge-sharing communities for software developers. Along the way I continued to think about collective intelligence. EarthWeb and the first wave of the Web came and went. But this interest and vision continued to grow. In 2000 I started researching the necessary technologies to begin building a more intelligent Web. And eventually that led me to start my present company, Radar Networks, where we are now focused on enabling the next-generation of collective intelligence on the Web, using the new technologies of the Semantic Web. 

But ever since that day on the porch with my grandfather, I remembered what he said: "Someday, you will write this book." I've tried many times since then to write it. But it never came out the way I had hoped. So I tried again. Eventually I let go of the book form and created this weblog instead. And as many of my readers know, I've continued to write here about my observations and evolving understanding of this idea over the years. This article is my latest installment, and I think it's the first one that meets my own standards for what I really wanted to communicate. And so I dedicate this article to my grandfather, who inspired me to keep writing this, and who gave me his prediction that I would one day complete it.

This is an article about a new generation of technology that is sometimes called the Semantic Web, and which could also be called the Intelligent Web, or the global mind. But what is the Semantic Web, and why does it matter, and how does it enable collective intelligence? And where is this all headed? And what is the long-term far future going to be like? Is the global mind just science-fiction? Will a world that has a global mind be good place to live in, or will it be some kind of technological nightmare?

All Seafood Gone by 2050 -- Overfishing and Overpopulation

New research suggests that all the world's ocean seafood stocks will be gone by 2050...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Clambakes, crabcakes, swordfish steaks and even humble fish sticks could be little more than a fond memory in a few decades. If current trends of overfishing and pollution continue, the populations of just about all seafood face collapse by 2048, a team of ecologists and economists warns in a report in Friday's issue of the journal Science.

"Whether we looked at tide pools or studies over the entire world's ocean, we saw the same picture emerging. In losing species we lose the productivity and stability of entire ecosystems," said the lead author Boris Worm of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

"I was shocked and disturbed by how consistent these trends are - beyond anything we suspected," Worm said.

While the study focused on the oceans, concerns have been expressed by ecologists about threats to fish in the Great Lakes and other lakes, rivers and freshwaters, too.

Worm and an international team spent four years analyzing 32 controlled experiments, other studies from 48 marine protected areas and global catch data from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's database of all fish and invertebrates worldwide from 1950 to 2003.

The scientists also looked at a 1,000-year time series for 12 coastal regions, drawing on data from archives, fishery records, sediment cores and archaeological data.

"At this point 29 percent of fish and seafood species have collapsed - that is, their catch has declined by 90 percent. It is a very clear trend, and it is accelerating," Worm said. "If the long-term trend continues, all fish and seafood species are projected to collapse within my lifetime - by 2048."

A World Without Elephants

This is so sad. Elephants are increasingly being wiped out due to encroachment by nearby human populations, and also by inept human attempts to help them -- and of course by poaching. As their species is increasingly backed into a dead-end corner, and as older elephants are separated from their herds, younger elephants are developing psychological disorders and are becoming violent. Meanwhile female elephants are not learning to rear their young properly, leading to developmental disorders and social problems that then ripple from generation to generation. All of this is adding up to a downward spiral for elephants worldwide -- and in fact, as the article illustrates, elephants in completely separate communites around the world are starting to exhibit signs of "going crazy."  I've always loved elephants and I wish there was something that could be done.

Humanity is so out of balance with the rest of planet. I'm a realist though -- I don't believe that governments, or even the majority of people in the world, will ever just sacrifice their own gain for the good of the environment or any other species. Only if it is clearly tied to their survival or personal gain, will most people and governments "feel the pain" enough to change their behavior.

The solution to the tragedy of the commons is to privatize, or to somehow connect what happens in the commons to everyone's survival and benefit. Locally, elephant survival and well-being could be assured if the local government and people were paid to maintain them as a world resource. I think that there really should be a form of global taxation whereby every government pays into a fund that is then used to pay certain local communities around endangered resources and species to protect and steward them.

If there was a way to turn their environments and endangered species into resources that earned money for them (more money than they could earn by destroying them), then they would finally be motivated to take care of them. I doubt that any other kind of solution will ultimately work. Maybe I'm too cynical or too much of a realist or a pragmatist. But I really do think this solution would work, not just for the elephants, but the rainforests, the whales, coral reefs and fisheries, etc.

Zooming Out in Time

For an interesting read -- download this wonderful presentation on zooming out in time as a way to predict the future. It's from a talk given at the Long Now Foundation. Nice visual slides illustrate how the world changes over vast timescales.

Dolphins are Smarter Than We Think

This is an interesting article about recent evidence of deep thinking by dolphins:

At the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Mississippi, Kelly the dolphin has built up quite a reputation. All the dolphins at the institute are trained to hold onto any litter that falls into their pools until they see a trainer, when they can trade the litter for fish. In this way, the dolphins help to keep their pools clean.

Kelly has taken this task one step further. When people drop paper into the water she hides it under a rock at the bottom of the pool. The next time a trainer passes, she goes down to the rock and tears off a piece of paper to give to the trainer. After a fish reward, she goes back down, tears off another piece of paper, gets another fish, and so on. This behaviour is interesting because it shows that Kelly has a sense of the future and delays gratification. She has realised that a big piece of paper gets the same reward as a small piece and so delivers only small pieces to keep the extra food coming. She has, in effect, trained the humans.

Her cunning has not stopped there. One day, when a gull flew into her pool, she grabbed it, waited for the trainers and then gave it to them. It was a large bird and so the trainers gave her lots of fish. This seemed to give Kelly a new idea. The next time she was fed, instead of eating the last fish, she took it to the bottom of the pool and hid it under the rock where she had been hiding the paper. When no trainers were present, she brought the fish to the surface and used it to lure the gulls, which she would catch to get even more fish. After mastering this lucrative strategy, she taught her calf, who taught other calves, and so gull-baiting has become a hot game among the dolphins.

You've Heard about Global Warming ... Now Comes "Global Cooling"

Russian scientists are now predicting a period of "Global Cooling" will begin in 2012. Well at least the good news is that Al Gore can make a sequel. And I guess this means San Francisco will have even colder summers...er winters...now? But all jokes aside, this is something to track. The term "global warming" is  misleading. In fact a better term would just be "global climate change." An increase in temperature does not mean that all parts of the world will get warmer -- it will actually result in a precipitous decrease in temperature in some places as the Gulf Stream currents change and global air currents also shift. While everyone else is getting their sun-tan lotion ready, perhaps those in the know should be buying down jackets?

US Rice Supplies Inadvertently Contaminated

It has just come out that supplies of rice in the USA have been contaminated with a gene that was not approved for human consumption. 

Amazon Desertification May Start Next Year -- Global Warming Could Increase by 50% -- Note to Self: Find New Planet

Amazon Rainforest Faces Desertification

Amazon rainforest 'could become a desert'

And that could speed up global warming with 'incalculable consequences', says alarming new research

The Independent (U.K.), July 23, 2006

The vast Amazon rainforest is on the brink of being turned into desert, with catastrophic consequences for the world's climate, alarming research suggests. And the process, which would be irreversible, could begin as early as next year.

Studies by the blue-chip Woods Hole Research Centre, carried out in Amazonia, have concluded that the forest cannot withstand more than two consecutive years of drought without breaking down.

Scientists say that this would spread drought into the northern hemisphere, including Britain, and could massively accelerate global warming with incalculable consequences, spinning out of control, a process that might end in the world becoming uninhabitable.

The alarming news comes in the midst of a heatwave gripping Britain and much of Europe and the United States. Temperatures in the south of England reached a July record of 36.3C on Tuesday. And it comes hard on the heels of a warning by an international group of experts, led by the Eastern Orthodox " pope" Bartholomew, last week that the forest is rapidly approaching a " tipping point" that would lead to its total destruction.

The research ­ carried out by the Massachusetts-based Woods Hole centre in Santarem on the Amazon river ­ has taken even the scientists conducting it by surprise. When Dr Dan Nepstead started the experiment in 2002 ­ by covering a chunk of rainforest the size of a football pitch with plastic panels to see how it would cope without rain ­ he surrounded it with sophisticated sensors, expecting to record only minor changes.

The trees managed the first year of drought without difficulty. In the second year, they sunk their roots deeper to find moisture, but survived. But in year three, they started dying. Beginning with the tallest the trees started to come crashing down, exposing the forest floor to the drying sun.

By the end of the year the trees had released more than two-thirds of the carbon dioxide they have stored during their lives, helping to act as a break on global warming. Instead they began accelerating the climate change.

As we report today on pages 28 and 29, the Amazon now appears to be entering its second successive year of drought, raising the possibility that it could start dying next year. The immense forest contains 90 billion tons of carbon, enough in itself to increase the rate of global warming by 50 per cent.

Dr Nepstead expects "mega-fires" rapidly to sweep across the drying jungle. With the trees gone, the soil will bake in the sun and the rainforest could become desert.

Dr Deborah Clark from the University of Missouri, one of the world's top forest ecologists, says the research shows that "the lock has broken" on the Amazon ecosystem. She adds: the Amazon is "headed in a terrible direction".

Fred Pearce is the author of 'The Last Generation' (Eden Project Books), published earlier this year

Electronic Smog

Are you living in a cloud of electronic smog? New research has shown that fields from electrical wiring and devices in the home and office should be considered to be a form of pollution. Recent studies are finding that many cancers and other diseases may be directly related to exposure to these electrical fields.

Study Discovers Whale Song Syntax

New research into the mathematical properties of whale songs reveals that they have a complex language:

The songs of the humpback whale are among the most complex in the animal kingdom. Researchers have now mathematically confirmed that whales have their own syntax that uses sound units to build phrases that can be combined to form songs that last for hours.

Until now, only humans have demonstrated the ability to use such a hierarchical structure of communication. The research, published online in the March 2006 issue of the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, offers a new approach to studying animal communication, although the authors do not claim that humpback whale songs meet the linguistic rigor necessary for a true language.

"Humpback songs are not like human language, but elements of language are seen in their songs," said Ryuji Suzuki, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) predoctoral fellow in neuroscience at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and first author of the paper.

This research is important because it brings us one step closer to someday being able to decode whalesongs and eventually even communicate with whales. In the long-term it may also contribute to the development of general techniques for interspecies language translation -- techniques that could someday come in handy if and when we start to interact with extraterrestrial species.

Doomsday Vault to House World Seed Bank

The Norwegians are planning to create a deep underground vault near the North Pole to house a backup copy of seeds for all known varieties of crops. The goal is to ensure food supplies and enable humanity to regenerate in the event of nuclear war, global warming or other catastrophes. It's a good idea. This is similar to my own idea for what I call the Genesis Project, which would provide a backup of critical human knowledge as well, and a system for helping humanity relearn it, in case we get knocked back to the Stone Age for some reason.

Big Thinkers' Most Dangerous Ideas

The Edge has published mini-essays by 119 "big thinkers" on their "most dangerous ideas" -- fun reading.

The history of science is replete with discoveries that were considered socially, morally, or emotionally dangerous in their time; the Copernican and Darwinian revolutions are the most obvious. What is your dangerous idea? An idea you think about (not necessarily one you originated) that is dangerous not because it is assumed to be false, but because it might be true?

 

Hydrino Power -- A New Source of Energy?

A new source of inexpensive, renewable energy that depends on a modified form of hydrogen has quantum theorists up in arms: they say it violates the laws of quantum mechanics. The inventors, on the other hand, claim they have extensive proof that it works.

It seems too good to be true: a new source of near-limitless power that costs virtually nothing, uses tiny amounts of water as its fuel and produces next to no waste. If that does not sound radical enough, how about this: the principle behind the source turns modern physics on its head.

Randell Mills, a Harvard University medic who also studied electrical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, claims to have built a prototype power source that generates up to 1,000 times more heat than conventional fuel. Independent scientists claim to have verified the experiments and Dr Mills says that his company, Blacklight Power, has tens of millions of dollars in investment lined up to bring the idea to market. And he claims to be just months away from unveiling his creation.

NASA Makes Plans to Deflect Possible Asteroid Hit in 2036

This just in...

NASA has outlined what it could do, and in what time frame, in case a quarter-mile-wide asteroid named Apophis is on a course to slam into Earth in the year 2036. The timetable was released by the B612 Foundation, a group that is pressing NASA and other government agencies to do more to head off threats from near-Earth objects.

The plan runs like this: Eight years from now, if there's still a chance of a collision in 2036, NASA would start drawing up plans to put a probe on the space rock or in orbit around it in 2019. Measurements sent back from the probe would characterize Apophis' course to an accuracy of mere yards (meters) by the year 2020.

If those readings still could not rule out a strike in 2036, NASA would try to deflect the asteroid into a non-threatening course in the 2024-2028 time frame by firing an impactor at it — using this year's Deep Impact comet-blasting probe as a model. Experts would start planning for the "Son of Deep Impact" mission even before they knew whether or not it was needed.

Snow in Somalia - First Time in History - Global Warming?

It just snowed in tropical Somalia, for the first time in history. Is this further evidence of chaotic global climate change? Read the article here.

How to Save the Amazon Rainforest

I read the an article today about how Brazil is gradually losing the fight to save the Amazon. The worlds' rainforests are a global resource -- not only are they directly important to the air we all breathe, they also harbor a huge, still untapped, reservoir of species diversity which could be of profound importance to science and future medical and pharma research. The problem is that currently there is no direct benefit to Brazil, or other rainforest nations, for the global use of their rainforest resources.

The key then is to find a way to turn rainforests into economically valuable national resources for countries that maintain them. In other words, rainforests should be to Brazil, what oil is to Saudi Arabia (or actually better, because rainforests, unlike oil, are renewable). Rainforest countries should make more money by keeping their rainforests alive and healthy,  than by chopping them down.

Future Evolution of Human Species

Here is a thought-provoking article that discusses several possible directions for the future evoloution of the human species. It includes comments by Richard Dawkins, as well as several scenarios with pictures of what humans might look like in the distant future.

New Ice Age Coming Much Sooner than Expected?

Significant new research findings indicate that a new ice age may be starting sooner than anyone expected...

CLIMATE change researchers have detected the first signs of a slowdown in the Gulf Stream — the mighty ocean current that keeps Britain and Europe from freezing.

They have found that one of the “engines” driving the Gulf Stream — the sinking of supercooled water in the Greenland Sea — has weakened to less than a quarter of its former strength.

The weakening, apparently caused by global warming, could herald big changes in the current over the next few years or decades. Paradoxically, it could lead to Britain and northwestern and Europe undergoing a sharp drop in temperatures.

Click here for the full article

New Data Indicates Earth 3 Million Years Overdue for Mass Extinction

A new study claims that life on earth emerges and is wiped out in 62 million year cycles. The dinosaurs vanished 65 million years ago. That implies we are 3 million years overdue for a mass-extinction cycle. Or maybe we're 3 million years into one? Data indicates that species are presently going extinct at an increasing rate not seen since the last mass-extinction.

Study Finds that Second-Hand Smoke Dulls Children's Brains

A new study has found that exposure to even low levels of second-hand smoke at home had a significant negative impact on children's reading and math performance at school.

Interesting New Magnetic Motor Announced: Big Claims Made

If you are interested in alternative energy, here's something new to look at -- a new magnetic motor based on ideas that originated with Nikola Tesla. The makers claim it is an "economical solution for the world's power and energy needs." Well, we've heard that before, but it's good to keep an open mind -- maybe someone will get it right eventually. For more info, see their site, which has a lot more info on how it works.

Dolphins Save Humans from Shark Attack

Here is an interesting true story about how a group of humans were saved from a shark attack by a group of dolphins.

The Next Flu Pandemic...

This article provides some interesting details on the leading candidate for the next flu pandemic, which is overdue, and appears to be brewing in Asia. Unlike normal flu's pandemic strains seem to have an uncanny ability to kill off people in the prime of their lives, by causing the immune system to go so far into overdrive that it actually kills the host as well as the virus. The article points out that governments and vaccine companies are dragging their feet in facing this threat.

Russian Doc Predicts Bird-Flu Will Kill 1 Billion; Possibly This Year...

A Russian academician has predicted that bird-flu will stem to humans and kill up to one billion people around the world within 6 months of an outbreak. He says it is highly probable that a pandemic could take place within the next year. There is no evidence cited for his claims however he refers to studies to this effect allegedly in hands of US authorities. We'll be tracking this meme as it develops to see if it is credible. Please update here if you get further data. Editor's Note: The World Health Organization is organizing an emergency summit to develop strategies to combat the threat of this potential pandemic.

What Lies Beneath Lake Vostok?

Deep beneath the South Pole ice-cap is a strange fresh water lake -- Lake Vostok. Lake Vostok is the subject of intense speculation, debate and strange conspiracy rumors. Because it hasn't been exposed to our atmosphere since at least the last ice-age, it may contain ancient microorganisms that do not exist anywhere else on our planet. Some researchers even suggest it may be a perfect testbed for researching life on other planets, or at least researching Earth's past. But the plot thickens. Over the last few years I have heard interesting and strange (unconfirmed) rumors about a massive magnetic anomaly deep within Lake Vostok. I have also heard a number of rumors about accidental visitors being turned away on threat of death from Lake Vostok by armed military guards, and rumors of high-level interest in whatever is down there from a number of intelligence agencies and space agencies. Now why would they need armed military guards at a remote South Pole research lab? Could there be something more interesting than just ancient bacteria down there? Recently a major controversy erupted over Russian plans to drill through the ice-shell that shields the lake from the surface atmosphere. This article provides some more background on this mysterious and interesting research site.

C02 Build-Up Surprises Scientists...

Recent data indicates that the pace of C02 buildup in the atmosphere is moving faster than expected, raising speculation of the dreaded "feedback effect" kicking in. Computer simulations have predicted this, now it may be happening -- or it may just be a temporary anomaly. In a few years we will know, once we have more data. If indeed feedback is taking place, predictions indicate that massive global warming effects will take place much sooner than expected. Time to invest in that houseboat you always wanted?

A Scary Article Explaining Imminent Rapid Climate Change

Just read an interesting article about the coming end of the world, in which the author traces the recent history of rapid climate change, government cover ups, and secret preparations for the polar ice-cap melting which now seems pretty much inevitable. Fascinating read. I think it's definitely time to go watch Waterworld again (yes, it was a bad movie, but it featured a really cool trimaran!). I wouldn't mind living on a boat actually -- except for the problem of bad weather. Too bad we can't just live off world (yet). Anyway, it is too late to prevent global inundation -- at this point there is about a 30 year delay, so even if we were to change our policies (not gonna happen under present administration) it wouldn't make a difference for about 30 years. But by then it is likely, according to the article, that every coastal city will be flooded or underwater. So, I guess on the bright side we will all have waterfront property!

US Army Food... Just Add Urine

The US Army has developed a new way to enable soldiers to carry less water. They have created rehydratable food rations that come in a wrapping that is actually a sophisticated semi-permeable membrane. So to rehydrate the food, soldiers can simply pee on it, or even pour dirty water on it if that's all that is around. The membrane filters out 99% of the bad stuff so that only clean water gets into the food. Sounds appetizing.

NYC Covered Up High Asbestos Levels After 911

A report has come out that the levels of asbestos in lower Manhattan were (are?) at least twice what is considered safe for humans by the FDA, and possibly worse. Levels were so high after 911 that they overloaded the tests. However, this data was purposely concealed from the public following 911.

This Just In: The Race for Magnetic Power

I just received the following internal release from a company that starts alternative energy companies (Magnetic Power, Inc., which I am an investor in). MPI has a number of interesting alternative energy devices under development. My investment was in their superconducting project (ROOTS) -- which focuses on room temperature superconducing polymers. But anyway, the article below is about research on magnetic motors -- specifically it is news about one of their competitors, Perendev Power, who are now rumored to have a working magnetic motor nearing production. I am not an investor in Perendev Power. Please note that I am not endorsing Perendev Power by posting this -- in fact I would caution any investor to be extremely careful when investing in the fringes of alternative energy R&D. I am blogging this release here with permission from MPI. The purpose is to point out that magnetic motor technology seems to be getting ready for "prime time." Is it perpetual motion? No, it is not based on any violation of the Second Law -- it is instead an extremely clever use of magnets to make amazingly efficient motors.

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Magnetic Power Inc. - MPI

A fuel-free magnetic motor is invented in South Africa

Michael J. Brady, head of Perendev Power Developments Pty. (Ltd.), a South African firm, after 5 years of experimentation, claims to have developed a 20 Kw magnetic motor driven generator set, requiring no input of any kind. Continental European and Russian market rights have recently been licensed to an undisclosed German firm.

Brady states that a prototype was delivered to Germany in March, and is now undergoing safety tests of the type performed in the U.S. by Underwriter’s Laboratories. Production is slated to begin within 60 days. According to Brady, no external power is required to start the motor, and tests indicate no reduction of magnet strength. Brady alleges that one prototype has run for two months.

Brady’s website is Perendev Power. The site includes a recent rotating prototype, as well as computer simulations of the device.

Magnetic Power Inc. has been following Brady’s work with interest, since similar fuel-free, magnetic devices, are under development in our laboratories. However, unlike Brady’s heavier prototype, several of MPI’s generators are lighter and more compact, having no moving parts, thus more easily adaptable to power homes and vehicles.

While in the past, Brady’s posted production schedule has been overly optimistic, if his current test results are correct, he has proven a principle, and made a major contribution to solving the world’s energy problems with a fuel-free, renewable, alternative.

© 2004 Magnetic Power Inc. All rights reserved.

301A North Main St. P.O. Box 880 Sebastopol CA 95473
office 707 829-9391 cellular 707 280-8210 e-mail [email protected]

Should Corporations be Democracies?

I just saw an interesting film, The Corporation, that suggests that many corporations (which legally have the same status as "persons" in the USA) could be clinically diagnosed as psychopaths. While I felt the film was a bit heavy-handed, there were many points that were quite thought-provoking. For example, one point the film made was that many corporations are now global, but governments are national, and thus many corporations are out of the jurisdiction of any governing body. Furthermore, the film makes the point that because corporations are motivated only to maximize shareholder value, they have no incentive to be "responsible persons" in society, and in fact, they have every incentive to try to "externalize" costs by cutting corners, offloading problems and waste onto the public, and cheating if they can get away with it. So rather than obeying laws and being good citizens out of some sense of morality or ethics, they do so only if and when the risk of getting caught is greater than the chance of getting away with it. There are also some interesting stories in the film about some organizations and how they are attempting to change to become more sustainable. In any case, I think this film is worth seeing -- it certainly informs the debate and is highly thought-provoking.

Seeing this film reminded me of a blog posting I wrote last year, On the Separation of Corporation and State. Perhaps this concept should be proposed as a new Constitutional Amendment? The question is how could it be structured so as to be effective and not merely symbolic? Another question I've been thinking about: Is there a way to add feedback to corporate revenues such that they benefit or suffer due to additional factors such as their environmental impact, social impact, etc.? For example, could corporations be rewarded or penalized financially by an independent body for various good or bad behaviors? To some extent governments have attempted to do this with various taxes and tax-credits. But for the most part, I'm not sure the effect has been pronounced enough. Ultimately it has to be a strong enough effect that investors will start to worry about these factors and consider them when making investment decisions. They should think "Is this company good to the environment?" not just because it's a warm fuzzy thought but because it could really impact the value of the company's stock in the future! The problem is how to administer such a penalty-reward system, and also all the potential legal challenges that might arise? It may simply be impractical.

Still, there is a problem that everyone recognizes -- large multinational corporations answer to nobody yet affect everybody. They are not democracies -- neither their employees nor the people in the communities and biospheres they impact have significant voting power over their behavior. Even their shareholders don't have equal voting power -- only the large shareholders really have impact on decision-making. It's strange that America is both the champion of Democracy and Capitalism -- because while these two systems support one another, corporations are anything but democratic in structure! That may have been tolerable in earlier times when corporate influence was much smaller. But today, corporations are perhaps more powerful than democratic governments. Is it time to take another look at this issue?

Democracy and capitalism are both in the process of breaking. Democracy is breaking because it was not designed to handle such large populations (in other words the Electoral College system, and much of the rest of our present form of Democracy, are obsolete in the face of larger populations -- the effect that an individual can have is less than before in my opinion when it was practical for everyone to speak directly with their Representatives), and because it was not designed to withstand corporate influences (modern day independent capitalist corporations with legal status as "persons" did not exist when our republic was designed). Capitalism is broken because it lacks checks and balances such that it will destroy the marketplace if left unchained. We can already see this taking place, for example in the drastic depletion of global fisheries due to unrestrained over-fishing. This will happen not just with fish, but with every natural resource, given enough time. Capitalism is simply not designed to be sustainable -- that was never considered to be a risk when capitalism was originally conceived of -- back then the world seemed to be a very big place with virtually unlimited resources. Today as the world becomes smaller and populations become larger, resource constraints are an increasingly important issue.

While individual corporations may realize their livelihoods depend on certain resources and may control their behavior accordingly, they cannot control what other corporations, perhaps in entirely different industries with different goals, do. Thus corporation A may need resource X and take care to preserve it, but that may not stop corporation B from destroying or damaging resource X in the process of working with resource Y. Since corporation B is only interested in resource Y, it has no incentive to preserve resource X, and in fact, if destroying resource X makes it able to leverage resource Y more cost-effectively it will do so. This is a fundamental "bug" in the way capitalist systems are designed presently. It really needs to be fixed.

There does not seem to be an effective feedback loop -- there is nothing to really balance these organizations anymore, yet they are increasingly powerful. The simplistic hope that "the market will sort it out" has not led to a solution and doesn't show any sign of doing so -- in fact we just see Tragedy of the Commons taking place on a global scale. Of course we could get rid of the Tragedy of the Commons by simply making everything into private property -- but I wouldn't want to live in such a world. Rather than take such drastic measures, why not find a way to moderate the behavior of corporations instead? Then we can have a Commons, something which I think is essential to a free society.

Given that governments are becoming weaker than global corporations, we have two choices. One would be to somehow try to restore the balance of power between governments and corporations (with what, a world government? And who would be its citizens -- corporations, nations, or individuals, or all of the above? And if so, who would have the voting power in such a structure?); the other option would be to acknowledge that a fundamental shift has taken place -- maybe corporations ARE the new governments?

Rooftop Turbine Could Give Every House Free Electricity

A new design for a rooftop turbine that is just about the size of a satellite dish is making waves in Scotland. The designers claim it pays for itself in 3 years and is guaranteed for 20 years -- providing free electricity to power each household that has one. It's an interesting idea.

The Devastating Effects of Shrimp

Shrimp fishing and shrimp farming are devastating the oceans. This brief report lists some of the surprising statistics related to this problem. For example, did you know that the ratio of discarded (wasted) fish to kept shrimp in a typical catch is often as high as ten to one? And what happens to all that discarded fish? It gets dumped, dead, back into the ocean. This is equivalent to clearcutting of forests, only it's worse because it is happening in international waters and is totally unregulated. It's the Tragedy of the Commons at work once again. It also turns out that shrimp farming is displacing huge numbers of local jobs, ruining local economies. This is worth knowing about -- and maybe not eating much shrimp is a good idea too.

Transgenic Tombstone Project Hits Snags

Yikes this one freaks me out -- A project to splice the DNA of dead people to apple trees as a way to preserve people's "essence" after death. Fortunately, it has hit some snags. I would not want to bite into an apple and find out that I was actually eating grandma!!!! This project really gives new meaning to the story of the apple in the Garden of Eden. I don't think we should be making such apples -- let alone eating them. And I'm not sure I like the idea of inserting even so-called "junk DNA" (which recently has been found to be less likely to be "junk" -- it may in fact code for important steps in development) into food, let alone into the environment in general.

Brilliant New Electric Motor Invented in Japan

An inventor in Japan has designed a new motor that uses cleverly positioned permanent magnets to consume significantly less power than it should, and even to output more power than is put in! But before you dismiss it -- read this detailed investigative article. This could be a very important innovation.

First Ever Hurricane in South Atlantic - Global Warming?

For the first time in recorded history a hurricane has formed in the south Atlantic, off the coast of Brazil. Is this a precursor of coming climate changes?

Methane on Mars -- Possible Sign of Life

Methane has been detected on Mars, which may indicate the presence of bacteria.

Yellowstone About to Go Boom?

Of course I've been tracking this one for nearly a year already, but now that mainstream press is discussing this I guess it's ok to post it here without you all thinking I'm a wacko. The fact is that there are serious rumblings and changes taking place at Yellowstone and nobody knows what could happen -- but there is at least the theoretical potential for a truly massive hydrothermal explosion -- big enough to have national or even global consequences. In the dark labyrinths of the Web that I read every day there are raging debates about this subject. Anyway, if you're planning to go to Yellowstone in the near future, do us all a favor and walk very very softly!

We've Already Sent Life to Mars, It Turns Out...

It turns out that we've already sent life to Mars, and it may be still living there, according to a researcher who has studied the decontamination methods used by NASA. Only our early Viking landers were fully heat sterilized. Subsequent missions have most likely been contaminated with bacteria from Earth. This, in my opinion, is a very good thing. In fact I would advocate raising some private money now to deliberately send pods of Earth life to Mars as soon as possible -- bacteria, spores, seeds, and perhaps other lifeforms that can survive on Mars. Humanity could easily wipe ourselves out, as well as the rest of our planetary ecosystem -- this would at least help to increase the chances that Earth life would live on somewhere else. Perhaps after billions of years, we could even re-evolve on Mars from the bacteria we send up. Of course we could speed things up a lot by sending up higher lifeforms, like lizards etc. -- but we would also need to send something for them to eat. I have in the past proposed sending up little "ecopods" -- ecosystems in a pod -- that are designed to fall to the surface of Mars and seed ecosystems -- they are self-contained ecosystems that can survive on Mars, and also have opening so that things from inside them can go in and out at will. Ideally these pods would be designed to replicate themselves -- perhaps by spreading seeds and bacteria around themselves, or by containing things like ant colonies that have a way of spreading. It's an interesting design challenge to try to figure out what would be the optimal (lightest weight, most durable) "ecopod" technology that could spread life on Mars.

Earth on Verge of Sixth Mass Extinction

Scientists are charting an alarming trend in the rate of species exctinction that mirrors previous mass extinction patterns, such as the decline of the dinosaurs. Data indicates that we may be on the leading edge of the "Sixth Mass Extinction" -- this time it is caused not by a meteor impact, but by humans.

One of World's Leading Insurers Warns of Global Warming Catastrophe

One of the World's leading insurers is warning that global warming is going to get dramatically worse and may result in economic losses equivalent to one World Trade Center disaster, annually. Read the article.

Secret Pentagon Report Leaked: Warns of Coming Climate Change, British Ice-Age, Riots, Nuclear War

A leaked secret report by top Pentagon analysts claims that within 20 years Britain could become "Siberian" and Major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas. In addition the report warns of nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting around the world as massive climate changes reshape the planet.