The Blue Board

Just read the chapter in Abundance where Diamandis delves into the coming "Enernet". Basically cloud computing for energy. Industry leaders, researchers and the energy secretary have all said as early as fall 2013 we will start this. Ipv6 is running now and so they will be able to add sensors on nearly every electric thing in our homes and buildings and connect them wirelessly to the cloud. Supercomputers will be able to analyze usage patters and save up to 32% off your energy bill by turning things off and on when best. As simple as the washer not coming on until 2am when electricity is cheapest.

Also, once America's power usage is all being calculated and analyzed in real time the expansion of solar energy will allow people to actually surplus energy and get money back or donate it to social causes such. Solar is currently improving efficiency by 30% and dropping in price by 6% every year. In 10 years there will be a panel on every roof in the modernized world I think.

Yup. Luckily China is taking it incredibly seriously. Them just deciding to drill oil wouldnt have surprised anyone. So for them to go full bore into clean was a great and pleasant surprise. Solar and whatever this guy is working on are considered the future. All the government efforts were saying they'd come out with 4th generation nuclear in 2035. This guy, who had 3 masters and a PHd from Princeton at age 23 will have one out in 2020

I think we need to cut defense spending by $400B and put it all towards education, infrastructure (Enernet and physical roads/bridges/current electrical network), and the debt.

If we can't have far and away the best military in the world for $315B then fire everyone associated with the damn thing and start afresh IYAM.

so, this is the scientology thread?

NASA's budget should be doubled. As should ARPA and it's subsidiary ARPA-E.

Absolutely. And yeah I agree too. And just from a honor and integrity standpoint war must always be fought by carbon based life forms. If it becomes a video game then who cares. That said, the shock and intimidation we went for with the two bombs in Japan and with the massive standing military we have now can be matched by the stories "if you are an enemy of the U.S. there may just be a moment where you hear a slight whirring of an engine in the distance and then next thing a drone flies by and your whole encampment is vaporized" pervading the Middle East and the world.

The U.S. military obviously must become smarter, more efficient, decentralized, etc.

I think allowing the private sector to continue to get more and more involved with the space industry will be a big help, too.

Yep. Not just STEM education but integrated STEM education is the future. It is not being pushed on a national scale by politicians or anyone who can eff it up. It is being pushed by the largest companies in the country, most of which are tech companies. I can make a promise right now that within 10 years, the public school structure will be dramatically different. The last drastic change is public schools came in the early 1900's when leading industrialists needed public schools to prepare students to work in factories. If you think about it, the way a middle/high school student participates in education is very very similar to an assembly line...going from one class to the next, each with a specialty that rarely builds or scaffolds on any knowledge from the other classes each student attends. Tech companies today are not structured like that and are the ones leading the way for schools to change again to meet their needs.

fsufsu is right in this instance. Those companies that are pushing for I-STEM education are also those companies that "control" politicians. It most certainly will involve a much more detailed professional development program, completely different teacher certification programs, etc. Those teachers who do not fall in line will be left behind, plain and simple. One of the benefits of this complete 180 in education coming up is that the teachers who have either lost the will to continue updating their teaching strategies (older teachers) and those who just teach because it is a job (many younger teachers) will have no choice. Teacher accountability will become extremely important and focused on a lot more. Teachers will not be able just get by with the typical boring lesson that relies on rote memorization. I-STEM education is all about connection to the real-world and will undoubtedly require hands-on learning experiences that will get students engaged and excited to learn.

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Urban building one looks sick. Stuff like that makes me love the future.

Kinda cool.