Unabashed

Did you know MIT posts all their course material online? And that it’s freely available to anyone on the internet (they call it MITOpenCourseWare)? If you want a little light summer reading, give it a try. This guy is, and he’s going to blog about the experience. It won’t count towards a degree, but if you’re just after the brainstuff, then why not. After all, knowledge is power, right? He’ll have plenty of knowledge once he’s done, I guess. His goal is to be able to pass the course ”Biological Systems in Nature and Medicine.” I think it’s a grand idea, and I’m looking forward to reading about it.

I’m going to have to cull some of my RSS feeds. It’s getting ridiculous. And to think: it wasn’t that long ago that I sent out a request for good blogs to read. I’ve gotten more than my fill now, thanks. Though, I have to say, if it’s really good, I’d love to have another ;-)

written by Matt Mitchell \\ tags: education, edumacation, knowledge, MIT, OpenCourseWare, power

MIT’s article “Hope on the Horizon” brims with observations on the kinds of advancements that illustrate, profoundly, that life is about to change, inexorably, for all humans, forevermore. In the article, they ask a panel of researchers to point out some economy-boosting technologies that are imminent.

Life extension, sustainable cities, robots, biosolar cells, electromechanical energy–advancements that are in the pipe right now, and have the potential not only for economic stimulus, but could also mark a metamorphosis moment for mankind (AKA the Singularity).

Embedded electronics

One transformation on the near term horizon is the embedding of low-cost electronics into almost every object that we encounter on a day-to-day basis. A pair of sunglasses may have the ability to project a visual display accessing the Internet, have an embedded cell phone and actuate other devices as one glances at them. The technology for this already exists. Flexible electronic paper and electronic clothing will change the way information is projected and harnessed at a personal level. Everyday objects may sense, detect and constantly adjust to our environment, controlling temperature, lighting, noise level, etc.

Digital fabrication

The most significant coming technology is the digitization of fabrication, the impact of which will be analogous to the digitization of communication and computation. Like those earlier revolutions, the consequence will be personalization, in this case, allowing anyone to make almost anything, anywhere.

written by Matt Mitchell \\ tags: advancements, biosolar, cells, digital fabrication, electromechanical, electronics, embedded, Energy, extension, Life, MIT, robots, Singularity, sustainable cities

I’ve expressed my displeasure of the current solar market before. Now the folks at MIT are pledging to revolutionize the technology for the very near future. For me, this is both great news, and not so great news. Supposing MIT is successful and in a few years announces a breakthrough in solar power, making it–as promised–abundant and affordable, the burning of fossil fuels, and potentially even nuclear power, will quickly go bust. That’s a lot of jobs going away, worldwide, including, potentially, mine (Though I’m not in the power generation business myself, the company I work for is owned by a Fortune 500 energy corporation.

On the other hand, it would mean that mankind’s carbon footprint would, what, half? It would shrink astronomically, regardless. And let’s face it, if we all had our own power generation resource, we would be more independent (to me that’s a good thing). If my power went out due to a storm, I’d have the materials and skill to get myself back online and wouldn’t have to wait for the power company to get to my street. Sure, I might still be down for a few days, but I’d have something to keep me busy, right?

So what will our lives be like in 20 years? Speculating that MIT’s pledge is a smashing success and cheap, renewable power is available worldwide, the world will change. Everything will change. Our lives, for better or poorer, will change. This could be the foundation for what will become the Singularity, the dawning of a new civilization. Things are happening rapidly, hold on!

Now I think of it, maybe energy companies need to think about getting into the solar panel installation market. It seems like it would be a conflict of interests, but if solar really becomes the Next Big Thing, they’re going to need something to fall back on, quickly.

Photo from Flickr.

written by Matt Mitchell \\ tags: , electricity, Energy, grid, MIT, power, renewable, solar, sun