Category: Innovation

The Internet : A Terrestrial Climate Controller ?

On By cjx07sterIn Automata, Innovation, Intelligence, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Global warming is a result of a set of complex feedback systems on a planetary scale. The earth has an extraordinary number in of feedback mechanisms and energy transfer systems that tend to balance energy storage worldwide, both in terms of oceanic heat, atmospheric heat and the heat in the more solid components of the earth.  It is a relatively closed system with not much coming in and out except perhaps energy from the sun, black body radiation to space.

Models have been developed to simulate and forecast the rise of the heat capacity and temperature of the earth and it’s systems, and the local effects on sea level, and great work of many scientists is starting to reveal the uncomfortable truth that the globe is warming, and we, humans might just be associated with it’s cause. What science now tells us is that global warming is big in scale and has time factors relating to centuries, or many generations, rather than one or even a fraction of a generation.

Let’s say we readers and all few billions of us on the planet know, that we have a causal relationship to the rate of warming, and that as the planet warms further, our children are likely to suffer on mass as a result.

This knowledge is enough for us to be concerned, but not enough to change our behaviour.  Our evolution is not that way inclined.  We tend to change behaviour based on experience, and generally only if we believe a change in behaviour results in a fairly immediate observable impact on our lives and the lives of those around us.

Global warming is big, its’ long term, and for human endeavour to try to change the outcome for the better, we would all need to act.  All people, towns, cities, states, countries, regions.

We have seen that classic governmental lines of control do not cause massive coordinated change in human behaviour worldwide.  However we have also seen that social networking is universal, carried by the internet, and does provide some means of at least coordinating thought in the right direction.

We have seen evidence of global coordination with the rise of ‘earth hour’ which now travels around the planet, country by country, one day a year to promote reduction of power.  The internet allows for this kind of coordination and action, whereby people can get some kind of feedback related to their behaviour.

Is it possible then, that with global internet availability, that this provides people with an opportunity to coordinate globally in terms of global requirements and resolutions.  That the internet would provide at least a mechanism to allow like minded people to gather global support for a particular urgent behaviour.

There is a new campaign to make an immediate behavioural change in Australia, for a carbon tax.  This is sponsored by a #sayyes campaign also as a tag on twitter.  It remains to be seen whether it can get enough steam to cause a revolution, but it is on the Internet, and anyone, Australian or otherwise could have a say.

Innovation 7 – Miles on Fire as Engineering

On By cjx07sterIn Engineering, Innovation, MusicLeave a comment

It was April 1988.  I was working at Costec in Sydney at the time, a company then designing and making custom simulators for the power industry focussed on the idea of it’s two founders. Each one different, using currently available technology, fit for purpose – to train operators, and difficult to create, hours of work, based on a simple idea.  Wonderful time that was.

My first inkling that there was that kind of special thing was when I went to a concert at the time, It was Miles Davis playing in Sydney.  One of two concerts I think.  I had heard some of his music before, but not much.  I had even bought some sheet music of his and tried to play it. Didn’t understand it.

At that concert, I did experience Miles Davis, and got to know him through his music and ways around the stage. The way he kind of orchestrated on the fly, getting through his ideas in such an innovative way, each time he played a number. Here was one of the most intense people I ever saw or met. Someone who seemed to have an idea, and then do his best to express it through the entire composition, components of which were his trumpet playing, others were his sidemen. Music has a quality that is free of language.  Music speaks straight into the mind of the listeners, his kind of music devoid of lyrics and words, it goes straight in, if you let it. I did.

So it has taken  about 25 years for me to figure out what it was I heard.  What I heard was the physical expression of a burning idea through music. I am sure that non of it that I heard would be repeatable, without the man at the centre of it.  Since it was not just about the music, it was also his attitude, stance, control, and direction of that idea, his total focus on it, in order to have his musicians play it the way he saw it.  There I saw a match and its consequent fire of an idea, a physical thing.  It is here now, and tomorrow it will be there as well, but it may be modified, discarded for a better one, developed. I could be better tomorrow, it could be irrelevant, but for sure, there is a strong will about that idea that has to get out.

Since that time, I have come to understand about innovation in a similar abstraction.

Take an idea and then think about how you would tell someone about that idea musically.  Would it be noise, a lone trumpet song, and orchestra playing, a symphonic movement, which one, first or last ? How solid is the idea.  If someone kicks it, will it last, will it just blow away in the wind ? How permanent is the idea or its expression.  How quick does it have to be made ? How long does it have to last ? What color is it ? How much of that color is in fashion ? When will it go out of fashion ?……

Would you care ?

Innovations are true to the idea, its clarity and purpose. They reflect the idea so that others can see it.  The innovation itself has a timeframe, a purpose and a reason. So engineering too, it full of innovation and surprise, resulting in physical things others can see and appreciate, for what they are worth, their repeatability, and value, and for how long they are around.

Innovation 5 – Step out into the Gale of Reality

On By cjx07sterIn InnovationLeave a comment

Ferodo had got a solution, it was crystal clear, his team, a handful of talent, had reached his objective some months back.  There were in fact many innovations that had been proposed to solve a particular problem, which if implemented could make quite a difference to his product and the customers who really wanted it.  His team had been congratulated, along with other teams. So it surprised him that from that glorious day he was congratulated in winter, to now – late spring, nothing had happened.  Nothing at all.  He went back to his day job, and so did all the other team members.

recently heard through the grapevine that his CEO Galarbha had asked, “so how is it going then  ?”

Ferodo said to himself, and his ex team mates : “You got to be kidding me” what is going … theres no budget.. theres no project team.. “, “why ask this, doesn’t he know we all went back to our day jobs ?”

And so a new challenge.. how to get the idea out of his room into everyone else’s room.  He had not budget, but others did.  He had no team, but others did. The innovation was also not in his area of responsibility, actually belonging to another department.

And so Ferodo started on a new journey, one which took him through many parts of the massive company, one where everyone had an opinion, an experience, a reason why they did what they did, and all these seemingly conspired to prevent his idea from becoming a reality.

So having developed an idea, he had thought of the Michaelangelo, and Picasso, and others who had innovated.  Even Miles Davis came to mind.  These people had ideas, but they also had an incredible sense of voice and identity, which allowed them to be able to see an expression of the idea through others. To modify, to adapt, and to be able to express the right idea at the right time, at the leading edge of man’s desire to improve or move on.

Ferodo decided to start to work the idea through the system.  Conference call after conference call, stupid email after stupid email, but gradually as he stepped out of the innovation room, into the world at large, he found that many others had also thought of his idea, others had also come to the same conclusions.  But occasionally ideas have to come at the right time, to fill the right dreams, and the right ordering to make it all work.  Holding onto that idea, but getting out of the innovation room into the real world, really makes a tough test for an idea.  If the idea is good, it can withstand the winds of opinion and experience of the people that have to take it forward.  If it is really good, then those people outside the room will be convinced it was their idea all along, and now is their chance to take part.

It dawned on Ferodo as well, that even though others felt it was their idea, usually only part of it was, actually the only guy with all of it in his head was Ferodo.  Once again thinking of key designers and artists in particular, he realized he just had to keep the threads going and eventually something great would result.  But it’s been a while now, and Ferodo cannot even remember where his innovation room was located.  He never went back to it.  But his customers and his CEO are happy with the result.

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