Tuesday 23 June 2009

Every person a teacher

Every person in an organisation should be a teacher. Each people learns one (or a small number of) topic(s) well enough to become a teacher of it. They then teach this to other people in an organisation.

A person may have to go to an external course to learn a topic, but this cost to the organisation is repaid (to an extent) by this person passing on what they have learnt.

Obviously, the organisations need at least one person whose specialism is teaching, i.e. they can teach people to be teachers.

Whilst the organisations would typically be a business, this concept could be applied to whole societies, or the world...

Estimated time of arrival

How long before all of the world's people have representative government?
How long before all of the world's people have reliable access to basic needs (balanced diet, clean water, shelter, sanitation, education, healthcare, employment)?
How long before all of the world's people have their human rights protected?
How long before we have zero crime?
How long before the notion of nationality dies?
How long before the falasy of religion dies?

Am I impatient? Yes. So are the many who will suffer and die before this dream becomes a reality.

The credit crisis (yawn)

Economic problems are merely a distraction from the technological progression of mankind.

Sunday 7 June 2009

Two pronged approaches

Problems can be solved from more than one direction. Two-pronged approaches may work better. For example, if the problem is not having enough money, then the solutions are to try to earn more money and to try to limit expectations; if the problem is being too busy, then the solutions are to try to simplify life and to try to improve the ability to deal with things.

Work log

Scientists meticulously record the detail of their experiments in lab books. Office workers seem to rely on memory. Sure, there's email. The scribbed notes of a meeting or a phone conversation. But when you talk to so many people about so many things wouldn't it be good to have a record of when you last spoke with them or met them and what was discussed. And a record of what you did on a particular day.

Trains, tunnels and phones

Mobile phones should have a "stay connected" mode for when travelling on trains so that the call is automatically reconnect after a period of no signal, such as when going through a tunnel.

Caffeine atomiser alarm clock

Waking up is painful. Caffeine eases the pain. But how to eliminate the time between waking up and getting caffeine? Alarm clocks with a built in coffee percolator exist. But you have to wake up before drinking. What if the caffeine could be in your blood stream before you wake up (and thus waking you up)? Without using an intravenous line, an atomiser would be the best bet - it would atomise caffeine by your head and you would breath it in. All connected to an alarm clock of course.

Free (canine) energy

People like having dogs as pets. Dogs need walking. People don't always have enough time to walk their dog. We need more energy. Inference of this collection of facts: put the dog in a giant hamster wheel and let it exercise itself and generate electricity at the same time. Alternatively a roller-bed could be used. Dogs may need some encouragement to do this electricity generation, perhaps the metaphorical carrot on a stick could be used. Or train it young.