Category Archives: Technology

A focus on disruptive technologies

Complexity Correlates with GDP and IQ

Average IQ correlates with a nation’s GDP, and GDP correlates with economic and technological complexity. Joseph Tainter’s The Collapse of Complex Societies details how societies grow in complexity as they solve problems that allow them to prosper. But if a … Continue reading

Posted in Complexity, Demographics, Dysgenics, innovation, IQ, Technology | Leave a comment

High Rise Innovation: If You Can Build These Things in India and Detroit, You Can Build Them Anywhere!

This method of constructing high rise buildings does not require large cranes or dangerous high altitude iron work. Once the top level is erected, each subsequent floor is completed on the ground, then raised to fit in its place, like … Continue reading

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You Will Be Assimilated; Resistance is Futile

Whether it is the Borg Collective or a modular cluster of the world’s tallest buildings, integrated modular innovation is the most likely scenario for a massive disruptive shift in world reality. The Broad Group in China has achieved remarkable results … Continue reading

Posted in China, drones, innovation, Military, Technology, Weapons | 2 Comments

The Smartphone Generation: Human Brain Optional

An eighth-grade teacher tells me that for many years she has had successive classes of students read the same book, Edith Hamilton’s Mythology. Her students have loved it — until five years ago or so. “I started to see kids … Continue reading

Posted in Childhood Development, Cognition, Technology | 1 Comment

A Distant World: A Pandemic of Virtuality

Our closely packed cities are custom-made for spreading infectious diseases. Masses of people rubbing shoulders on sidewalks, packed like sardines in subways, clustered around conference tables sharing respiratory droplets, shaking dozens of hands a day, making those face to face … Continue reading

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Long Lasting Lithium Batteries that Don’t Explode

2,000 Cycles; Charge from 0 to 100% in 10 Minutes; No Explosions After several charge-discharge cycles, lithium batteries tend to grow “dendrites” that can short-circuit the cell and start fires: There’s a problem with lithium batteries that stems from those … Continue reading

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The Coming War of the Drones

When Iran’s leaders gave the go-ahead for an incendiary proxy drone strike against Saudi Arabian oil facilities, they turned the eyes of the world to a new reality: A coming drone war. The Drones Are Coming! Recently another son of … Continue reading

Posted in drones, Technology, Weapons | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Flying Bugout Vehicle to Escape Zombie Apocalypse

Escaping the City When TSHTF in TEOTWAWKI The Surefly copter by Workhorse Group Inc. is an 8-propellor hybrid-electric personal VTOL that you can keep at home, in case of emergencies. Safety features include a ballistic parachute, a 5 minute dedicated … Continue reading

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Electric Cars Still “Toys for the Rich”

Electric car deficiencies are major, including high purchase price, short driving range, small carrying capacity, lack of charging stations, long charging times, and expensive battery packs that need to be replaced during the life of the vehicle. __ Source A … Continue reading

Posted in Energy, Technology, Transportation | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Once and Coming Age of Slavery

Slavery is Ancient and Ubiquitous in Human History Slavery enters human history with civilization… Once people gather in towns and cities, a surplus of food created in the countryside (often now on large estates) makes possible a wide range of … Continue reading

Posted in Complexity, Superfluous Humans, Technology | Tagged | 1 Comment

A Fundamental Misunderstanding of Disruptive Innovation

Brian Wang discusses future disruptive technologies as if the disruptors of the past will also be the disruptors of the future: Technological disruptors like Elon Musk, Google and Amazon will force industries and companies to accelerate or die. Companies will … Continue reading

Posted in Disruptive Technologies, Google, Green Quagmire, Groupthink, innovation, Technology, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Making Your Home Self Sufficient in Power and Heat

Making Your Own Heat and Electricity In Any Climate or Location Suddenly it is becoming possible to make all the electricity and heat for your home that you could need — no matter your latitude or weather conditions. Using “micro … Continue reading

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A World Ripe for Disruption

The global economy has been in a state of rapid ferment for several decades. Although the US has operated the world’s largest national economy for the past 127 years, some of the world’s other former economic giants are beginning to … Continue reading

Posted in Demographics, Disruptive Technologies, Draining the Swamp, Economics, Future, Genetics and Gene Expression, geopolitics, Peter Zeihan, Politics, Science, Space Future, Technology | Tagged | Comments Off on A World Ripe for Disruption

Innovation, Productivity, and Enterprise: Wealth of Nations

Innovation Leads to Greater Productivity and Wealth Both innovation in new products and innovation in new processes tend to contribute to higher productivity for both individual firms — large and small — and for nations. “Disruptive innovation” contributes more than … Continue reading

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Making Government Unnecessary II : Disruptive Innovations

Alexei Kudrov, a brilliant and honest Russian, speaking of the potential effects of blockchain technology on governments: “Soon technology will replace many of the functions of government. The technology of block chains can almost completely replace the state bureaucracy. Society … Continue reading

Posted in Disruptive Technologies, Economics, Government, innovation, Making Government Unnecessary, Technology | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Privileged, Arrogant Silicon Valley Goes Half Cocked

Deranged Supporters of Hillary also Sore Losers Silicon Valley calls for secession from America Tech CEOs and executives supported Hillary Clinton’s campaign most generously with financial largesse and copious verbiage. One might expect some degree of maturity in people who … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Google, Hillary Clinton, Ideology, Politics, Technology | Tagged | 1 Comment

Small Nuclear Reactors to Power Homesteads and Survival Compounds

Personal Power for the Coming Anarchy Western societies are aging, losing expertise and internal cohesion, and allowing the foundations of their civilisation to crumble. To survive, modern societies need to make their vital infrastructure as robust as they can. Instead, … Continue reading

Posted in Electrical Power Grid, Nuclear Power, Survival Prepping, Technology, TEOTWAWKI | Tagged | 6 Comments

An Uber Style of Medical Care for the US?

The Tech Revolution is Sweeping Over Much of US Society — Why Not Health Care? Health care-market distortions have considerably worsened since Kenneth Arrow famously described them in 1963; but in other industries less dominated by misguided government intervention, similar … Continue reading

Posted in Cognition, Disruptive Technologies, Future, Human Brain, Knowledge, Medicine, Practical Medicine, Technology | Tagged | Comments Off on An Uber Style of Medical Care for the US?

Time to Stop Worshiping the Fickle Ancient Gods of Wind and Sun

Advanced, safe, clean, affordable, reliable nuclear power is the future. Unless advanced human societies all collapse, wind and solar will always be the fickle gods of the past. Wind and solar energy are weather-dependent, variable and intermittent, i.e., therefore not … Continue reading

Posted in Electrical Power Grid, Energy, Green Quagmire, Groupthink, Nuclear Power, Oil Prices, Sun, Technology, Wind | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

A Modern Civilisation Without Working Power Grids and Internets?

The Congressional EMP Commission has repeatedly warned that a nuclear Scud missile launched from a freighter could prompt a U.S. blackout that would … last for at least a year, but kill nine in every 10 Americans. There are nearly … Continue reading

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Future Materials Medleys: Metals, Ceramics, Carbons

Humans have made clever use of metals and ceramics for thousands of years. Carbons — coal, graphite, diamond etc. — have likewise found human use for thousands of years. But it is only recently that humans have begun to learn … Continue reading

Posted in expansive future, innovation, Materials, Technology | Tagged , | 7 Comments

Heaven Is A Long-Shot Gamble Part II

According to the KISS study, the cost for a future mission to identify and return a 500 ton asteroid to low earth orbit is ~$2.6 billion USD, ignoring the costs to develop the infrastructure necessary to process the materials in … Continue reading

Posted in Asteroids, Disruptive Technologies, Future, Space Future, Technology | Tagged , | 5 Comments

SpaceX Scores Two in One: 11 Satellite Launches Plus Successful Recovery Landing of 1st Stage Booster

Elon Musk Goes Long Way Toward Redeeming Himself Elon Musk’s SpaceX finally achieved another successful space launch — plus it achieved its first successful recovery landing of a first stage booster rocket. This “two in one” success should go a … Continue reading

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Making Government Unnecessary: Brew Your Own Drugs and Chemicals at Home

Automated Molecular Synthesis vs. Biosynthesis of Drugs The image above displays Martin Burke’s molecule-making machine. It is capable of automated chemical synthesis, sometimes described as a “3D Printer for Chemicals.” The machine is meant to facilitate the automated synthesis of … Continue reading

Posted in 3D Printing, Creativity, Demographics, Discovery, Disruptive Technologies, Drug War, expansive future, Genetics and Gene Expression, Government, Making Government Unnecessary, Science, Technology | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Robot Revolution? The Disruptive Potential Cannot be Overstated

The Pentagon already deploys 11,000 UAVs and over 12,000 ground robots. Don’t be surprised if they’re the ones that save the day when the next big disaster strikes. __ http://thediplomat.com/2015/05/the-rise-of-military-robot-rd-a-global-phenomenon/ The U.S. military is interested in the use of robots … Continue reading

Posted in Disruptive Technologies, drones, expansive future, innovation, Military, Robots, Space Future, Technology, Weapons | Tagged , | 1 Comment