Have you ever considered what a Think Tank is and what it is that the Think Tank Members spend their time thinking about? Well, you are not alone, in fact, nearly everyday someone applies to join the Online Think Tank and ask that very question. So, perhaps it is time we answered it.
Below is a list of topics we considered today and each has been taken from the Thoughts of the Day. Each day we consider anywhere from 40-50 topics spanning many different industry sectors and areas of the human endeavor - we have chosen a few of today's for your information and to help you understand the answer to the question; what does a Think Tank think about? After each topic will be a brief thought and quick summary:
1. Are our regulatory bodies giving ideas to our trading partners of how to manipulate trade competition?
Note that AMD, The Federal Trade Commission and the American Anti-Trust Institute are ganging up on Intel and citing actions against Intel from Japan and the EU. But why is Japan and the EU after Intel? Competition. You see many companies in those nations want Intel's secrets and market share and therefore they are using the guise of regulation to help their companies get a leg up on Intel, even help them steal trade secrets. Who showed these foreign regulators how to do this? Well, we did, and Adam Smith told us how this could happen in Capitalistic Markets.
The Japan Fair Trade Commission now has ruled against Intel - and the AMD company has filed a lawsuit as well in Delaware. Of course, AMD has been growing and attaining market share fine, without regulatory help and they are even building several new manufacturing plants. Why are we attacking market winners like Intel and Microsoft? And do we realize that the foreign nations regulatory bodies are now attacking the same US companies and hurting trade deficits?
2. "The Cyclist's Training Manual - Fitness and Skills for Every Rider" by Guy Andrews and Simon Doughty. 2007.
Almost anyone can ride a bike, and yet in many cities in the US with larger SUVs now on the road it is unsafe to ride a bike. This means many people will not end up exercising and that does not sound good for the obesity issues in America. Meanwhile, the DOT is making statements that bicycles are not primary transportation and creating bike lanes takes away monies for things like repairing bridges. Of course, if there were more bike lanes more people would use their bikes more often to get around, so this is indeed a catch-22. As a long-distance cyclist, I can tell you it can get very dangerous out there at times.
3. Magazine Article: New ScientistTech - Plant genes switched on by sound waves - 30 August 2007.
It appears that sound can change the DNA of plants which makes sense since organic cells respond to vibrational energy. It also means we can figure out the best frequencies and help plants grow faster and better. This could mean higher crop yields, better immune systems against bugs and agriculture that will produce like crazy. Maybe we really can feed the world after all, even with the Bee Colony collapses. Maybe we can make trees faster to replenish the rain forests allowing them to soak up more CO2. Think on this as there are some ominous applications for such discoveries:
Mi-Jeong Jeong of the National Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology in Suwon, South Korea, and colleagues claim to have identified two genes in rice that respond to sound waves. They also say that the promoter of one of the sound-sensitive genes could be attached to other genes to make them respond to sound too.
4. Spider Working together make advancements in web designs - Social spiders work together.
It makes sense that a complex biological system like a spider and considering its daily intake of protein that indeed it has the capacity to work with other spiders. When they found the huge webs in Texas that are sometimes 20 feet wide and go on for the length of a football field, it shows that the social spiders are indeed, king of their domain. We can learn a lot from spiders this way and perhaps this might assist us in making new materials for manufacturing? Consider that one for a moment. The spiders might also be used to secure our borders as well or get rid of mosquitoes near soccer parks that may have West Nile Virus.
5. Blogging goes main stream according to surveys. This piece from Slashdot.org:
The blogosphere has hit the mainstream, according to a new survey, which reveals that 80% of Americans know what a blog is, 50% regularly visit blogs, and 8% publish their own blog. The survey also reveals that more women than men are bloggers, with 20% of American women who have visited blogs having their own versus 14% of men.
Indeed, Blogging has come a long way, and what has often been seen as an ego-centric online diary has now turned into a communication device used by Corporations, Artists, Small Business People, teens and has created a completely new phenomena of social networking all online. The implications have also been seen with a drop in TV viewing. Even Grandma has a blog now, do you? What are you missing by not having a Blog?
6. Solar Powered WiFi - is it feasible, this excerpt from Slashdot.org also:
A small US startup has announced it has created a system for running WiFi routers in remote places using only the power of the sun. Among the first round of products from Solis Energy is the Solar Power Plant, touted as being capable of supplying 12, 24 and 48 Volts DC for use in stand-alone applications such as surveillance cameras and outdoor Wi-Fi.
Does this mean with one small satellite dish per village and WiFi that the One Laptop Per Child OLPC program may actually correct the issues concerning the "Digital Divide" perhaps it will indeed. Could it work for Rural Honduras, The Congo, Outback or Rural China? Sure it can, it is just a matter of will, time, volunteers and resources you see?
http://www.worldthinktank.net/pdfs/Honduras.pdf
7. Diamonds are forever, but what about the 7,000 carat diamond recently found?
Not long ago the BBC reported the World's Record diamond that was found, it was over two times the size of the centerpiece of the Crown Jewels in Britain. De Beers Mining Company of course found it, but what do you do with something that big? Sell it to the Billionaires in Dubai or China? What else could we use it for, diamonds have many interesting characteristics and from a physics standpoint there is much that can be done with it, maybe mankind should experiment a little?
8. Neurons in the Stomach and Gut Feelings, there maybe more to it than we think?
The human stomach has neurons in it. Do you believe that Belly Dancers in developing all the abdomen muscles and bouncing all the cells in that region of the body would spur on what many call "Their Gut Instinct" that is to say would belly dancing increase "intuition" abilities in dancers? If so why? What have you discovered? Do you get a runner's endorphin high feeling of well being? These questions were recently asked of a belly dancer professional and the explanations we got were quite fascinating, but is any of it a reality or simply mythology and tales of gypsies?
9. China to attempt to curb inflation, using food price controls.
It is amazing what the success of capitalism has done for China, but interesting that they might back track on all this now and issue price controls for food in order to curb inflation, rather than move to a currency float. China stated that 80% of its inflation came from increasing of food costs, but why is this? Polluted fields, rivers and dead zones off the coast preventing fish supply. Rice and Fish are huge food items. Price controls have the opposite effect that free-markets have on efficiency, will anyone ever learn. Quick fixes will not work and China needs to float their currency still, that cliff is moving fast and their economy is still quite fragile indeed.
10. How can one person claim to have interests in every field?
As the Online Think Tank Coordinator I am often asked how one can have expertise, knowledge and experience in so many fields. Well, personally, I am a former athlete (miler), have some local political experience, entrepreneur (franchisor), perpetual tourist in retirement, writer (beginner abilities, but lots of volume) and come from a heck of a genetic line of over achievers. My interests are the "human experience" and all it entails, all it has been, and can be. Thus my interests are everything, and I see it all as one, all inter-related and thus do not find the hypocrisy in the statement of having interests in everything.
Therefore it seems that if one thinks and sees everything as one and finds links between them all then having multiple insight and cross pollinating is a piece of cake. We see it a lot at the Online Think Tank, for me it seems natural, but for observers it puts them in a state of disbelief, which is fine as long as they do not join the think tank themselves.
11. Society Would be Wise Not to Damage its Eminent Achiever Creative Geniuses
We must be so careful not to damage the youthful genius, instead we must allow mentorship and guidance, if we fail to do this then we will be missing out on the best that the next generation has to offer. Worse, these geniuses may turn against us and since they are as smart or bright as our current smartest folks, they could easily unravel all we are and all we have built out of spite, revenge or anger. Perhaps we should be thinking here. We can mentor now, or buy more police, drug rehabs and prisons later, which will cost us 100-fold after the damage is done compared to the minimal cost of proper coaching and mentoring would now.
12. Should We Privatize Social Security?
Chile privatized social security, and it seems to be working okay. Of course the US has 300,000 million people so that test case has little bearing and their culture is much different than ours is here. The US social security is a Ponzi Scheme and it this is a real problem, am I allowed to say that? Oh no, not the truth, well it is as the Social Security withholding taxes go into a general fund not into a marked special Social Security fund.
2042, remember that date, it might even be sooner by 10-years if things do not improve. Will inflation bail us out, well maybe the government's social security exposure, but certainly that will not help the retirees living on a fixed income, they may as well call Kevorkian now? Ouch, pretend I did not say that or just finish Ken Dychwald's book for the third time.
Well, there you go, that was 25% of Today's thoughts of the day, to help you understand the level of discipline needed to be a member of the Online Think Tank, but if you like to think a lot, then it probably does not scare you much. Sincerely, Lance.
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