This morning I explained to a friend that, in my estimation, Buckminster Fuller was a super-human engineer, architect, author and visionary. He’s perhaps best known today for some terrific quotes he made during his long and rich life, including my favorite: “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” (more…)
Even though the delivery of Tesla model 3 vehicles might be two to three years off, getting lines longer than when Apple rolls out a new phone, and 198k reservations, set up a realization for the world that a new reality is being forged, and it has legs. For example, the lines were up to 500 people in San Diego, but a similar phenomenon was going on all over the place, and online. The car is good looking and has great specs. Now the firm just needs to execute, which is no easy challenge. (more…)
“Breath on the Wind” writes on my post: “A Chilling Lesson From Two of History’s Most Important Philosophers,” A computer can progress from one bit of logical data to another in a far more rapid progression than is possible for human beings. Will we one day have computers tell us that they have a right to “personhood” because they think? Humans have the potential for multiple levels of thinking and we seem to have the potential for intuition: the ability to jump to a correct conclusion bypassing the logical steps.
I also often wonder about the limits of computers vis-a-vis human thinking. (more…)
In connection with my post, “A Chilling Lesson From Two of History’s Most Important Philosophers,” a reader from Florida notes: Hi Craig, Wow! Had to read that a couple of times.”
I wrote: Glad you liked it! (I use exclamation points only in response to those who use them.) (more…)
It’s the birthday of the father of modern philosophy, Rene’ Descartes, who began his professional life as a prominent mathematician and scientist in 17th Century France. His much better-known explorations into philosophy came as an accident, when he realized that doubt was a requirement to the scientific method. Famously, he called everything he knew into question, but then began to fear that perhaps there was nothing we could know with any certainly about ourselves and the world around us. (more…)
A colleague in the southeastern part of the US has a huge and rock-solid fuel supply of wood to make into pellets, and, on the basis of that feedstock agreement, I’m trying to help him raise a significant amount (nine figures) of investment capital to build a plant. Having said that, I’m concerned with what’s going to happen in due diligence.
I wrote: (more…)
A large object collided with Jupiter a couple of weeks ago
(pictured here), and had the relatively huge planet not been there, it may have hit our home here in the Milky Way.
It’s worthwhile to reflect occasionally on the Earth’s insignificance in the universe. All this hysteria is happening on a minuscule dot in one of many billions of galaxies.
Here’s the definitive video on this subject. Warning: have a box of tissues near you when you click on it. (more…)
It’s the tenth anniversary of the Time Magazine article “Global Warming: Be Worried. Be Very Worried.” Writing for Time, journalist Jeffrey Kluger began his 2006 report: Polar ice caps are melting faster than ever, more and more land is being devastated by drought, and rising waters are drowning low-lying communities.
OK, so where are we a full decade later? Joe Romm notes in this article:
The main differences in climate science between now and 10 years ago are: (more…)
Plumber
A harsh winter can take a serious toll on a residential plumbing system. In addition to cold temperatures, months of heavy use can result in sediment buildup, damaged insulation, rust, mold, and a variety of other issues. This is why all homeowners should take some time every spring to make sure their plumbing system is running as efficiently as possible.
Check for Leaks (more…)
The days in which the world is powered by carbon fuel sources like coal and oil will eventually pass. These fuels are finite and will someday run out. They also cause pollution. However, there are other industries that have developed around renewable resources. These resources are plentiful and far cleaner than non-renewable resources. These are the fuel sources of both the present and the future. (more…)
