A crash course in changing the world.

All Blog Posts Tagged 'WCS' (10)

2020

The world will be a different place in nine years. I hope that, due to some form of achievement with my writing, or my acting, will provide for me some form of wealth enough to provide for myself. I will probably live alone, so there may not be such a problem for myself. But due to the potential lack of food, and the fact the prices of homes and apartments will rise dramatically, I may have to decrease my budget on luxury items, but those are measures that i'm prepared to take. Suffice to say,… Continue

Added by Ryan Cann on April 14, 2011 at 5:22pm — No Comments

Techniques For Innovation

"Do the hard work needed to find a simple solution. As Leonardo da Vinci said, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”—and it is the key to this type of design work."

An elegant design by it's nature produces a cheaper product. Less material, less skilled labour is required. I feel that a simple solution is a predicate for success.

Added by Daniel Korchinski on April 14, 2011 at 5:19pm — No Comments

2021, who really knows what's going on.

Snow brushes against the window of my apartment. The flakes skirt around momentarily on the small patio before piling against the sliding glass door. It's winter, after all.

2020, this year I turn 25. I'm supposed to be well into my prime, the best years of my life before I descend into the trough of my 40s. Envelopes are scattered across my two person dining table, reminding me the government turning cogs behind the walls of my home. I reread a letter labelled declaring my personal… Continue

Added by Richard Nguyen on April 14, 2011 at 5:00pm — No Comments

Me In 2020

I see myself as an educated person, I don't know what I would be doing, but I would be living as much off the grid as possible, growing my own food, making my own electricity, etc. I would have lots of land, far away from an urban center, because that is where infighting over food and fuel would occur. I would also move a lot, to different places, based on my own desires and food requirements.

Added by Esra Froese on April 14, 2011 at 4:41pm — No Comments

Try living for a week on $2 a day

$2 a day a week is $14 a week. In our society, $14 would buy you lunch and maybe a drink. If we earned $2 a day, we would have to rethink our way of living. What do we need to buy to survive? Living on $2 a day would be very hard for most people, but others know how to because they have to. They have no car, no house, and no job. Their highest priority would probably be to stay warm and eat as often as they possibly can. For people who do own a car, have a house and obtain a job, it would be… Continue

Added by Jillian Perillat on April 14, 2011 at 4:35pm — 1 Comment

Innovation in Africa

One of my favorite "secrets" of social innovation on this list is to provide skills and not just finished technologies. In this way, not only are these people creating more products and goods, they are able to understand how these processes work. This allows people to analyze the designs in the technology and contribute their ideas hence the innovation aspect. These ideas can lead to more efficient and better technologies… Continue

Added by Elliot Lui on April 14, 2011 at 4:30pm — No Comments

Provide skills, not just finished technologies.

In today’s society, it is a necessity to have many modern technologies, such as cell-phones, laptops, ETC. Without them, the communication that many of us have grown up with would not be possible. With these technologies almost always comes an instruction manual, although many people have a lot of trouble using them. If you are a visual learner, or a hands-on learner, instruction manual will do nothing for you. How can you master the technology if you don’t even know how to use it? Many… Continue

Added by mary lofthouse on April 14, 2011 at 4:27pm — No Comments

Biomimicry in Action

Michael Pawlyn is taking a cradle to cradle approach to making off-the-grid structures. Using materials like ETFE, recycled cardboard and salt, he is making water-generating greenhouses in the Sahara, evaporating, hence desalinating, the water. The water grows plants in the shade of solar panels, and the excess water is used to revitalize the surrounding area. There is also a plan to build a restaurant in the middle of a roundabout in London, using kitchen waste to (eventually) feed the animals… Continue

Added by Esra Froese on April 14, 2011 at 4:24pm — No Comments

Mission 1 - Learn

My favourite point: Innovation (often) comes from constraint (If you’ve got very few resources, you’re forced to be very creative in using and reusing them.)

The need to innovate comes from need, after all. I picked this point over understand the environment/infrastructure/etc., because innovating under constraint is a level above observing the situation you're in. To innovate under constraint, not only do you need to completely understand the situation at hand, you also need a…

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Added by Richard Nguyen on April 14, 2011 at 4:00pm — 1 Comment

Simple solution

Do the hard work needed to find a simple solution. As Leonardo da Vinci said, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”—and it is the key to this type of design work.

It's easy to find a large c**bersome solution to problems, but these solutions often create new problems which require new solutions. This doesn't produce much progress and doesn't help society very much. As you working toward a solution, you may come across some possible solutions but it's important to stay… Continue

Added by Scott Ferg on April 12, 2011 at 6:05pm — No Comments