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“Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration” | Thomas Edison |
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DEDICATORY
The idea for this ebook is dedicated to my father, who from a very young age, taught me the importance of translating vision to action by having the courage to do so. Thanks dad.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR I am Gianpaolo Pietri. The author of Revolution 2.1: How We ShouldLive, slated for release in mid-October. I write the blog Simply Optimal to provide a blueprint for how we should live based on 5 principles: Minimalism, Entrepreneurship, Mobility, Adaptability, Sustainability. To learn more about me, go here. I have always been an idea man. I have always been a big picture guy. I have been trafficking in ideas since I was a young lad. The only problem was, I had no clue how to take action to execute them. Ideas have been flooding through me since I can remember, but it has only been recently that I have positioned myself to take effective measures in bringing them about. The main focus of all my efforts now is committed to bringing vision to fruition. Since making this commitment, I have started two blogs and written two ebooks showing others how to take deliberate action towards their goals. Ideate is the direct result of this process. I hope you will find it valuable in helping you bring your own visions to reality.
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Some of the ideas in this book were inspired by two publications written by others who focus their energy on helping make ideas happen. The first book is Seth Godin’s Unleashing the Ideavirus. Seth’s work as a writer and blogger has been instrumental in my development as each of those.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The second book is Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky. Scott is a master ideator who makes a living from showing others how to bring new visions to fruition. The writing of Nathan Bransford was also influential, especially in differentiating between the 1st Idea and all the ones that follow. For their great work in this area, I want to thank them for inspiring me to contribute this work to that end. Thanks guys. You’re work is an inspiration to us all.
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I. WHAT IS IDEATE? II. HAVING IDEAS IV. TIPS FOR MAKING IDEAS HAPPEN
TABLE OF CONTENTS
III. WHERE THE BEST IDEAS COME FROM V. 33 REVOLUTIONARY IDEAS THAT CHANGED THE WAY WE LIVE VI. 5 IDEAS POISED TO CHANGE THE FUTURE VII. YOUR THREE IDEAS VII. SHARE AND ENJOY
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[v. ahy-dee-eyt, ahy-dee-eyt; n. ahy-dee-eyt, ahy-dee-it] verb, -at·ed, -at·ing, noun
i· de· ate
–verb (used with object) 1. to form an idea, thought, or image of. –verb (used without object) 2. to form ideas; think. –noun 3. ideatum. Origin: 1600–10; ide(a) + -ate1 —Related forms i·de·a·tive [ahy-dee-uh-tiv, ahy-dee-ey-] adjective un·i·de·at·ed, adjective un·i·de·at·ing, adjective
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Ideas come and go all the time. They can strike at any time and take an infinite number of forms. They come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes they come at the most inoportune moments and from the unlikeliest of places forcing us to find creative ways to make sure they stick. One of the most important characteristics for generating ideas comes directly from the 5 principles of the Simply Optimal blueprint. Adaptability
HAVING IDEAS
Being adaptable means being flexible and open to the constant shifting of the tides of experience, environment, and circumstance. Like the sea, at times the tide rushes in in a swell of inspiration. Then there are times when the tide subsides, and you’re left walking the desert wasteland where you couldn’t touch a good idea with a 10’ pole. We need to find a way to enhance the one, and reduce the latter, so we can start creating more work that matters for us as individuals, and as a civilization. We need to ideate now more than ever in order to preserve the opportunities we’ve spent generations forging. Here are 5 tips to help you stay afloat during high tide, and find solace when the tide subsides.
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BE CURIOUS In many ways we are all curious about specific things, which change from person to person. When focused in the right place, curiosity can lead to great discovery. When harnessed properly, it can lead to new discoveries every day. That’s what we’re looking for: consistency in ideating. Leonardo DaVinci was a master at targeting his curiosity toward worthwhile goals that led to meaningful execution of some powerful ideas. His curiosity alone may be the sole reason he’s considered one of the greatest innovators of all-time. Curiosity drives passion. Edison’s relentless curiosity is what drove his passion to pursue the creation of a light bulb that worked for an extended period of time after failing to do so thousands of times. The need to know compelled him to experiment obsessively with different filaments. The one that finally worked? Cardboard. Go figure. Be curious about the world around you and the needs of the community to which you belong. Doing so will empower you to develop viable, transformational ideas on how to change it.
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BE OPEN Let the ideas flow through you like an ocean’s current when they come. Don’t limit yourself to the ones you think are good, the ones you think are viable, or the ones you think may be profitable. Explore them all. You never know which will be the one to finally hit, and change the way we live. Being open-minded is all about tearing down the walls of conformity and convention. We all find comfort in the usual and familiar, but it is the unusual and unknown that lead us to points of change, and open the floodgates of discovery. New discoveries always lead to new innovations. We need to grab the keys away from the gatekeepers who tell us we need to be safe, obedient, and comfortable. We need danger, freedom, and discomfort. Take a trip to a place you never thought you would. Flip things on their head and see them in a new light. Play around. Test new doors. Open them and see what lies on the other side.
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BE ADVENTUROUS A lot of these suggestions will seem self-evident to readers. There’s only one explanation for that. They are. But despite the obvious, we live in a World which can at times seem starved for new ideas. Being adventurous demands creativity in order solve complex problems that inevitably arise when you venture off the beaten path. Another ideating characteristic that stems directly from being adventurous, taking risks, and throwing yourself into the unknown, is exposure. Ideas are all about combining exposure with experience. The arithmetic is simple. The more you expose yourself to, the better the library of experience you can tap into when ideating to create something new, something unforgettable. Get out there. I’ve learned more from my trips abroad to places like Europe, Asia, New Zealand, and South America than I ever did staying at home. The Discovery Channel can be great, but nothing compares to the real thing.
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BE HUMBLE Being humble may seem counterintuitive when you want to turn inspired thoughts into innovative actions. So let me explain. Vanity and arrogance can deter you’re ability to come up with new ideasHumility helps ideate. It keeps you from blosking out things based on pride and prejudices. If ideating has an enemy, it’s prejudice. Passing judgments on things, people and places without having all the information. The prejudice of pride is an idea inhibitor, not an idea incubator.
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BE AMBITIOUS Mark McGuinness from Lateral Action wrote a great article titled, Are You Ambitious Enough?, on the 99% blog, which is a great place to learn how to turns ideas into actions. Here’s an introductory excerpt describing the premise of the article. “These days, “ambition” is a dirty word. People who are “ambitious” are viewed as either selfish or unrealistic. (“That sounds a bit ambitious” is code for “you are going to fail.”) Yet it wasn’t always this way. The poet James Fenton points out that 500 years ago in Renaissance Florence, artists had no qualms about admitting their ambitions.” Ambition spurs competition, which in turn leads to innovation. Don’t be afraid to let the world know what you want to achieve, and put up a fight against those who say you simply can’t do it. It will be hard. It will test your every nerve. It will require strength of character and discipline of mind, but it will always take you somewhere you needed to go.
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THE 1st IDEA “First ideas are much like first loves. “ | CURTIS BRANSFORD | When we first think of an idea we are convinced is great, we tend to fall in love with it right away. We become obsessed with that original conceptualization of it. When others give us feedback suggesting it may not work, we brush them off and push forward headstrong. Writers tend to tdo this a lot when drafting a novel. The truth is the first idea is just a starting point. It is a launch pad from which to develop other ideas that may prove to be stronger and work better. It’s not important to remember that the 1st idea is not the endpoint, it’s only the beginning. This is something I have to remind meyself of in my design work. Nine times out of ten, where you started will look nothing like where you end up. That applies to every single one of the buildings I’ve worked on.
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THE 10th IDEA By the time you reach the 10th idea stemming from the 1st one, is when the magic starts to happen. By this time you have thought about, opened yourself to multiple directions. You have gotten a glimpse of what is working and what isn’t working. When you reach the 10th idea, you may start to see if it really has staying power or not. Remember that the 10th idea is not the end. It is only the end of the beginning. Turning this idea into reality will require determination, ambition, hard work, and discipline. And, yes, of course 10 is just an arbitrary number to illustrate the point. The one that works may be number 20, or 30, or 1,000. Thomas Edison was said to have tried thousands of filaments before stumbling onto the one that worked.
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WHAT MAKES AN IDEA GOOD?
Here’s the simple litmus test defined by Belsky: “Does your community care? Everyone has a “community” of constituents—customers, users, readers, clients, etc. Share your ideas liberally. If your community engages with them (either for or against them), then you know you’re onto something. If they don’t look twice you know that you either need to reconsider the idea or rethink how you communicate it.”
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MAKING IDEAS HAPPEN
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COMMUNITY Ideas aren’t about conceptual frameworks. They’re about execution. Great ideas aren’t about abstract conjectures, they’re about practical applications. Ideas may be about individuals, but making them happen is all about community. It will take a community of believers to carry it out, but more importantly, it will take a community period to feel the benfits of its succesful execution. Ideas are powerful and their legacy longlasting when they focus on the value they provide to the community. The more people are affected by it, the more powerful it is. But a community isn’t always made up of a billion people. A community can be just ten or twenty or a hundred. A community can just be 2. In fact, focusing on the needs of the community around you is a good way to effectively target what will benefit the greater community at large. It’s a great place to start.
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INSPIRATION vs. INNOVATION When it comes to ideas, and turning vision to action a clear distinction must be made between inspiration and innovation. Good ideas inspire . Great days innovate. Good ideas make for great dinner conversations. Great ideas change the way we live alltogether. Inspiration is fleeting. Innovation lasts forever. When brainstorming a new service, product, or other practical application of a conceptual framework focus onaction rather than effect. If you work deliberately, the effects will be felt far and wide.
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IDEAS AS NETWORKS Steven Johnson just gave an instructive TedTalk on where the best ideas come from. His argument is rooted in history and compelling. You can watch the video here. He challenges our conventional thinking of ideas as flashes of light that strike without notice. Instead he argues that great ideas work more as networks. He describes new ideas as “a new network of neurons firing in sync with each other inside your brain. It’s a new configuration that has never formed before. He goes on to ask how do we get our brains into environments where these new networks are likely to form? How can we optimize environmental conditions that lead to certain patterns of behavior conducive to generating new ideas? We tend to think about ideas as singular entities generated from a singular moment of genius, but more often than not there put together from the spare parts we find in our immediate vicinity. What can you come up with using the parts you already have?
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THE MOSAIC OF IDEAS Given where we are, and how far we’ve come, the ideas we come up with in our time are rarely new. These days great ideas result more often from repackaging and restitching. We take a series of concepts already inexistence and stitch them together to create something new. What ideas have you come up against that challenged your thinking? How can you build upon something already in existence. Many times what makes a difference in our culture isn’t something we haven’t seen before. It’s more likely to be something we know that has been packaged in a certain way. Don’t focus on trying to do something no one has ever seen before. Put your energy into things that may already exist. In today’s world, great ideas aren’t about reinventing the wheel. They are about coming up with new ways to make the wheel work more efficiently and effectively. Ideating is not always about building new networks. It’s about make existing networks work better.
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WHERE THE BEST IDEAS COME FROM It’s no mystery where the best ideas come from, which makes it surprising that we don’t see that much more of them coming into play. Inevitably, the best ideas come from necessity. They arise from our most basic needs and are aimed at fulfilling them. As you navigate the list of the 35 most revolutionary ideas in the next chapter, you will notice that each and every one of them save three, fall into one of five different necessity driven markets. And those three all fall into the same category themselves, which is Health, which is not necessarily a need as we can live for quite ahile without actually being healthy. “Necessity is the mother of invention.” Knowing this is crucial because it gives a strong foundation from which to build. Understand what your needs are and act on them, and the revolutionary ideas that will affect all of us will be just around the corner. Here are the 5 categories responsible for the best ideas of our time and in our history.
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FOOD AND WATER The quest to gain greater access to and increase production and distribution of nutritional sources has led to some of the most important innovations throughout our History. Since everything we do is based on the ability to maintain our health through a proper diet, it’s the first on our list. As you’ll see, perhaps the most revolutionary idea ever, not the least reason for which is its simplicity, is related to our ability to grow food. Agriculture itself is instrumental to our ability to survive thrive and live in places, which were previously uninhabitable. The Agricultural Revolution is one of three most fundamental transition points in our collective history alongside the Industrial Revolution and the Internet Revolution. Thinking about where we get, how we make and distribute our food is a springboard for revolutionary ideas that contribute to our overall evolution.
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TRANSPORTATION What is our next instinctual reaction, once we’ve stuffed our bellies with all of the grains, fruits, vegetables and meats we can handle? After a nap, of course, we’re likely to want to move around. Whether it’s in search of our next meal, to go see family and friends, or to perform exercises and other physical activities, our need to get up and about is so powerful, the best way we’ve come up with to punish law breakers is to restrict their movement as much as possible. Some of the most dynamic inventions of the human mind are built on the foundation of moving from point A to point B easier, faster, and more readily available to large numbers of citizens. From our own two feet, we jumped onto the backs of horses, then traded them in for wagons, finally settling upon cars and trains with the invention of the engine. As if that weren’t enough, finally we took to the skies allowing us to get to anywhere we needed to go.
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COMMUNICATION Ok, so now we’re full, and we can move around. Eating is incredibly satisfying and necessary, and getting to where we need to go is great. However that doesn’t make for a very purposeful existence. What are we supposed to do once we get there? Being alive and being mobile aren’t very helpful if we have nothing to live for and no one to interact with. Interaction with the greater community is what gives our lives meaning. It gives us something to look forward to other than a good meal and a way to explore faraway places. As humans, we need to feel like we belong, which means we need to engage. To all the animals out there, I love you, but I certainly don’t want to be you. Sorry guys. And this is where communication comes in. The ability to communicate with one another is an essential tool that brings our species together. More and more the great ideas that are changing our lives fall into this category as technologies become more sophisticated and channels of communication widen and quicken around the globe.
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ENERGY As our transportation and communication needs and systems increase in complexity, we are continually tasked to find new ways to power them. In our time, developing new sources of energy generation is paramount for two reasons. The first is the steady increase in population numbers in many countries around the World. The second is the growing need for sustainable renewable resources that counteract the negative effects of polution and hazardous waste. We’ve traveled so far down the road of integration and mobility that there’s no going back. We’ve past the point of no return. As populations grow and urban centers continue to expand outward, new technologies will bridge the gap between where we are, where we want to go, and who we are able to interact with. The field of energy production and districbution will be the leading category responsible for some of the bigest ideas of the twenty-first century. You’d be wise to start thinking about what you can do.
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SHELTER Perhaps the one thing we like more than moving around, is having a place to come home to, and lay our heads down. But having proper shelter proves to be far more necessary than that. It protects us from the elements that result from extremely unpredictable climactic conditions. We have all seen the dire consequences that result from a lack of proper shelter. Three recent examples that come to mind are the devastation caused by Katrina in the Gulf Coast, the homelessness stemming from the earthquake in Haiti, and the utter destruction generated by the tsunami in the South Pacific. Thinking of new ways to protect man from the uncertainties of his environment is a great way to innovate with new ideas. Finding ways to do it cleanly simply, and sustainbably will inspire some of the greatest paradigm shifts related to how we live our lives. This is the category where I have spent the bulk of my ideaing with the work I have done as an architect for the last 8 years.
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35 REVOLUTIONARY IDEAS THAT CHANGED HOW WE LIVE
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Every few generations, an idea comes along that changes everything. Most of the ones that do don’t just pop-up out of thin air one day. They usually result from years, and even decades, of research development and excrutiatingly hard work. Nevertheless, once they burst onto the scene, they affect everyone. Their impact is felt far and wide, and the very nature of how we live suddenly seems to shift into a new paradigm. Though it takes a whole host of factors such as manpower, R&D, financial backing, venture capital, and previous technologies to make them happen. As you’ll see, more often than not, the strength of the idea lied within the power of one person’s mind. It’s implementation rested on the foundation of his will to carry it out. That is the power you yourself carry within you. It’s time to use it. Here are 35 ideas to get you started.
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THE PLOUGH “The Plough is a tool used in farming for initial cultivation of soil in preparation for sowing seed or planting. It represents one of the major advances in agriculture. The primary purpose of ploughing is to turn over the upper layer of the soil, bringing fresh nutrients to the surface, while burying weeds and the remains of previous crops, allowing them to break down. It also aerates the soil, and allows it to hold moisture better. “ The plough is perhaps the most unassuming and understated of all revolutionary inventions that have brought about a dramatic shift in how we live. Invented over 10,000 years ago, it has been one of the basic instruments for most of recorded history, and represents one of the major advances in how we produce our food. The plow was one of the first and most important tools in developing the human desire for land ownership, a staple of the American Dream even to this day.
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THE PRINTING PRESS A by-product of Johannes Gutenberg’s previous work as a professional goldsmith in the 15th century, the printing press is regarded by many as the most important invention of the last 1,000 years. In many ways, the most fundamental of which is the power to spread knowledge cheaply and quickly, Gutenberg’s invention is directly responsible for the modern lifestyle we enjoy today. Because of his innovation, books, magazines, newpapers, and all other forms of printed publications could be mass produced and thereby sold for much less to the general public educating an entirely new class of future innovators and thinkers. His idea transformed the way each and every one of us accesses the information we use to make decisions about how we live. It transformed education, built the foundation for literature, and made the history of our World accessible to all. Few ideas have influenced the way we live more profoundly.
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BLACK POWDER For better or worse, gunpowder, also known as black powder, is one invention that has certainly affected the way we settle disputes between one another. It’s first thought to have originated in China, but the date and location of it’s introduction is still disputed by historians. It is said to have been first referred to in the Western World by the Spanish in 1250 AD. It’s development completely revolutionized the way nation states waged and fought wars. As a direct result of its application, the very nature of strategic warfare underwent a complete overhaul. The old model of face to face engagement was no longer viable as automatic weapons became readily available. Guns are such a fundamental agent of change, the right to own them is one of the constitutional staples of American culture. That right is considered a fundamental human right. In some way or another we’ve all been touched by the barrel of a gun.
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THE RAIL ROAD Prior to the invention of the internal combustion engine, which led to production of the modern day automobile, the railroad network made it possible to travel great distances at speeds never before seen. Not only was high-speed travel made possible, but the list of possible destinations also increased substantially. Before tracks were laid, people had to stick to traveling along major waterways or move slowly across the landscape on horseback. It is said the railroad was one of the two (the telegraph being the other) major innovations responsible for the Northern victory during the Civil War. Lincoln was famous for using the newly laid rail network to transport troops and supplies quicker than his Southern counterparts. Because of two steel rails and one wooden plank coonecting them each of us has been able to travel farther and see more than we ever had before. I still love travelling by train.
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PENICILLIN “Penicillin (sometimes abbreviated PCN or pen) is a group of antibiotics derived from Penicillium fungi. Penicillin antibiotics are historically significant because they are the first drugs that were effective against many previously serious diseases such as syphilis and Staphylococcus infections. Penicillins are still widely used today, though many types of bacteria are now resistant. All penicillins are Beta-lactam antibiotics and are used in the treatment of bacterial infections caused by susceptible, usually Gram-positive, organisms.� Because of this concoction millions of us have fought back disease and lived longer and healthier lives.
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THE LIGHT BULB “In addressing the question of who invented the incandescent lamp, historians Robert Friedel and Paul Israel list 22 inventors of incandescent lamps prior to Joseph Wilson Swan and Thomas Edison. They conclude that Edison’s version was able to outstrip the others because of a combination of three factors: an effective incandescent material, a higher vacuum than others were able to achieve (by use of the Sprengel pump) and a high resistance that made power distribution from a centralized source economically viable.” The light bulb is probably the most recognizable idea executed in history. In fact the image itself directly corresponds to the act of having an idea. The light bulb brought light into the darkness and paved the way for revolutionary developments in the mass production of electricity. Leaving the house at night suddenly became much more
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THE STEAM ENGINE A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The idea of using boiling water to produce mechanical motion has a long history, going back about 2,000 years. Early devices were not practical power producers, but more advanced designs producing usable power have become a major source of mechanical power over the last 300 years, enabling the Industrial Revolution, beginning with applications for mine water removal using vacuum engines Significantly, this power source would later be applied to prime movers, mobile devices such as steam tractors and railway locomotives. Modern steam turbines generate about 80% of the electric power in the world using a variety of heat source. | Wikipedia |
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THE INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the combustion of a fuel (normally a fossil fuel) occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber. In an internal combustion engine the expansion of the high-temperature and -pressure gases produced by combustion applies direct force to some component of the engine, such as pistons, turbine blades, or a nozzle. This force moves the component over a distance, generating useful mechanical energy. The internal combustion engine is the driving force behind everything man made that moves. It is the one fundamental idea that changed how we travel from place to place. Because of its invention our ability to travel farther faster has been greatly enhanced.
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ALCOHOL “Ethanol in alcoholic beverages has been consumed by humans since prehistoric times for a variety of hygienic, dietary, medicinal, religious, and recreational reasons. The consumption of large doses of ethanol causes drunkenness (intoxication), which may lead to a hangover as its effects wear off. Depending upon the dose and the regularity of its consumption, ethanol can cause acute respiratory failure or death.” Like Gunpowder, Alcohol is one of those ideas that has been a double-edged sword. It’s ability to impair our judgment has wreaked havoc on our society for centuries, but many of us would be hard pressed to live without it. It relaxes us. It breaks down our defenses, but it also makes us do things we may live to regret. We either love it or we hate it, but we can’t deny it has a strong influence on how we live.
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LANGUAGE Language is one of the most fascinating things we have developed as a civilization. It’s one of the greatest examples of the depth of our capacity to receive, process, and understand information. The beauty of languages lies in their simplicity. Their power lies in our ability to translate simple symbols into complex ideas, concept, and emotions. I have been so impressed by the power of language that I spent the better part of my high school years learning as many as I could. I eventually got up to 5: Spanish, English, French, Italian, German. Learning a language, or two or three can exponentially grow the pool of people you can interact with on this planet.
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THE AEROPLANE As a frequent flyer, I know firsthand the awesome power of air travel. These days, many of us have experienced the sensation of soaring through the air at high-altitudes. Much like the railroad, the airplane made long distance, specifically across vast oceans, not only possible but much quicker and relatively affordable to the common man. Whereas people used to have to spend weeks, and even months, aboard slow-moving ships susceptible to bad weather and prolonged discomfort, the airplane takes us from one side of the world to the other in just over 15 hours (the estimated flight time from New York City to Hong Kong, China. I once flew from New York City to Auckland connecting in Hong Kong and the flight time (not including layover) topped out at 28 hrs. Amazing!
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THE COMPUTER The development of the computer in the 1970s was important for many reasons. It allowed us to communicate more quickly and effectively with others. Regardless, its power and influence increases exponentially with every day. “A computer is a programmable machine that receives input, stores and manipulates data//information, and provides output in a useful format. While a computer can, in theory, be made out of almost anything (see misconceptions section), and mechanical examples of computers have existed through much of recorded human history, the first electronic computers were developed in the mid-20th century (1940–1945). Modern computers based on integrated circuits are millions to billions of times more capable than the early machines, and occupy a fraction of the space. Simple computers are small enough to fit into mobile devices, and can be powered by a small battery. Personal computers in their various forms are icons of the Information Age and are what most people think of as “computers”.”
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THE INTERNET “The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) to serve billions of users worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks, of local to global scope, that are linked by a broad array of electronic and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries a vast range of information resources and services, such as the inter-linked hypertext documents of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the infrastructure to support electronic mail.� Most traditional communications media including telephone, music, film, and television are being reshaped or redefined by the Internet. Newspaper, book and other print publishing are having to adapt to Web sites and blogs.
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THE ASSEMBLY LINE “An assembly line is a manufacturing process in which parts (usually interchangeable parts) are added to a product in a sequential manner using optimally planned logistics to create a finished product much faster than with handcrafting-type methods. The assembly line developed by Ford Motor Company between 1908 and 1915 made assembly lines famous in the following decade through the social ramifications of mass production, such as the affordability of the Ford Model T and the introduction of high wages for Ford workers. Henry Ford was the first to master the assembly line and was able to improve other aspects of industry by doing so (such as reducing labor hours required to produce a single vehicle, and increased production numbers and parts).� A by-product of the Industrial Revolution the assembly line is the single most important idea in bringing massive amounts of products to market.
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THE TELEGRAPH Before long distance telephone services were readily available or affordable, telegram services were very popular and the only way to convey information speedily over very long distances. Telegrams were often used to confirm business dealings and were commonly used to create binding legal documents for business dealings. Abraham Lincoln was said to obsessively monitor incoming telegraphs while managing the strategy for Union forces during the Civil War. It, along with the railroad, is credited as one of the two biggest factors which led to the victory of the North. Many of us have never seen one, but generations ago, they were the sle technology available to bring us all together.
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THE TELEPHONE “The “phone”, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sound, most commonly the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other. It is one of the most common appliances in the developed world, and has long been considered indispensable to businesses, households and governments.” I’m not sure this one requires any further explanation. We all have one.
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THE AUTOMOBILE “An automobile, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor. Most definitions of the term specify that automobiles are designed to run primarily on roads, to have seating for one to eight people, to typically have four wheels, and to be constructed principally for the transport of people rather than goods. However, the term automobile is far from precise, because there are many types of vehicles that do similar tasks. There are approximately 600 million passenger cars worldwide (roughly one car per eleven people). Around the world, there were about 806 million cars and light trucks on the road in 2007; they burn over 1 billion mÂł (260 billion US gallons) of petrol/gasoline and diesel fuel yearly. The numbers are increasing rapidly, especially in China and India. “ Again, most of us have one, and all of us have ridden in one at one point or another.
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PARTICLE ACCELERATOR “A particle acceleratoris a device that uses electromagnetic fields to propel charged particles to high speeds and to contain them in well-defined beams. An ordinary CRT television set is a simple form of accelerator. There are two basic types: electrostatic and oscillating field. In the early 20th century, cyclotrons were commonly referred to as atom smashers. Despite the fact that modern colliders actually propel subatomic particles—atoms themselves now being relatively simple to disassemble without an accelerator—the term persists in popular usage when referring to particle accelerators in general.”
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STEEL “Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Though steel had been produced by various inefficient methods long before the Renaissance, its use became more common after more-efficient production methods were devised in the 17th century. With the invention of the Bessemer process in the mid-19th century, steel became an inexpensive massproduced material. Further refinements in the process, such as basic oxygen steelmaking, further lowered the cost of production while increasing the quality of the metal. Today, steel is one of the most common materials in the world, with more than 1.3 billion tons produced annually. It is a major component in buildings, infrastructure, tools, ships, automobiles, machines, appliances, and weapons.�
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CONCRETE “Concrete is a construction material composed of cement (commonly Portland cement) and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate (generally a coarse aggregate made of gravels or crushed rocks such as limestone, or granite, plus a fine aggregate such as sand), water, and chemical admixtures. Concrete solidifies and hardens after mixing with water and placement due to a chemical process known as hydration. The water reacts with the cement, which bonds the other components together, eventually creating a stone-like material. Concrete is used to make pavements, pipe, architectural structures, foundations, motorways/roads, bridges/overpasses, parking structures, brick/ block walls and footings for gates, fences and poles. Concrete powers a US$35 billion industry, employing more than two million workers in the United States alone.[citation needed] More than 55,000 miles (89,000 km) of highways in the United States are paved with this material. Reinforced concrete, prestressed concrete and precast concrete are the most widely used types of concrete functional extensions in modern days.�
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THE SAIL “The earliest known depictions of sails are from ancient Egypt around 3200 BCE, where reed boats used sails to travel upstream against the River Nile’s current. Ancient Sumerians were using square rigged sailing boats at about the same time, and it is believed they established sea trading routes as far away as the Indus valley. Greeks and Phoenicians began trading by ship by around 1,200 BCE. Square sails mounted on yardarms perpendicular to the boat’s hull are very good for downwind sailing; they dominated in the ancient Mediterranean and spread to Northern Europe, and were independently invented in China and Ecuador.” The sail is simple in construction but complex in application. Incredible how a one single piece of fabric placed in a strategic way to harness wind could lead to cross-continental travel. The discovery of the New World stands as one of its crowning achievements.
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DOUBLE ENTRY BOOKEEPING “The double-entry bookkeeping system was codified in the 15th century and refers to a set of rules for recording financial information in a financial accounting system in which every transaction or event changes at least two different accounts. In modern accounting this is done using debits and credits within the accounting equation: Equity = Assets - Liabilities. The accounting equation serves as a kind of error-detection system: if at any point the sum of debits does not equal the corresponding sum of credits, an error has occurred.� Perhaps not as evident as most of the other ideas, single entry bookeeping has changed the way we think about, and manage our finances.
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THE STOCK EXCHANGE “A stock exchange is an entity which provides “trading” facilities for stock brokers and traders, to trade stocks and other securities. Stock exchanges also provide facilities for the issue and redemption of securities as well as other financial instruments and capital events including the payment of income and dividends. The securities traded on a stock exchange include shares issued by companies, unit trusts, derivatives, pooled investment products and bonds. To be able to trade a security on a certain stock exchange, it has to be listed there. Usually there is a central location at least for recordkeeping, but trade is less and less linked to such a physical place, as modern markets are electronic networks, which gives them advantages of increased speed and reduced cost of transactions. Trade on an exchange is by members only. The initial offering of stocks and bonds to investors is by definition done in the primary market and subsequent trading is done in the secondary market. A stock exchange is often the most important component of a stock market. Supply and demand in stock markets is driven by various factors which, as in all free markets, affect the price of stocks.”
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THE POTTER’S WHEEL “It is not known when the potter’s wheel first came into use, but dates between about 8000 BC to about 1400 BC have been suggested. Many modern scholars suggest that it was first developed in Mesopotamia, although southeast Europe, Egypt and China have all been claimed as possible places of origin. A stone potter’s wheel found at the Mesopotamian city of Ur in modern-day Iraq has been dated to about 3129 BC, but fragments of wheelthrown pottery of an even earlier date have been recovered in the same area. By the end of the Neolithic period, the use of the potter’s wheel had become widespread. Pottery could now be made in greater numbers with the aid of a machine, a first step towards world industrialization. The introduction of a slow-turning wheel increased the speed and efficiency of hand-powered pottery production.” The potter’s wheel was the first iteration of the wheel that has facilitated most of the mechanical devices in use today.
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PUBLIC BANKS We have all seen how influential public banks are to society with the events that took place during this last recession. As institutions the revolutionized how we control, safeguard, and distribute money. As the only official currency we have at our disposal, that gives banks an incredible amount of power over our lives. From getting a loan to a buy a new home to putting something away for a rainy day, public banks determine ho wmuch of our money we spend and get to keep. The World Bank, and the IMF control how developed nations distribute loans to underdeveloped countries who need assistance. The Fed is arguable one of the most powerful institutions in the World. They shape our monetary policy and even determine the interest rates we pay on the things we buy. When their power is abused, as they have been over the last few years, they have the ability to bring our enitre global economy to its knees.
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ANESTHETIC “An anesthetic (or anaesthetic, see spelling differences) is a drug that causes anesthesia—reversible loss of sensation. They contrast with analgesics(painkiller), which relieve pain without eliminating sensation. These drugs are generally administered to facilitate surgery. A wide variety of drugs are used in modern anesthetic practice. Many are rarely used outside of anesthesia, although others are used commonly by all disciplines. Anesthetics are categorized in to two classes: general anesthetics, which cause a reversible loss of consciousness, and local anesthetics, which cause a reversible loss of sensation for a limited region of the body while maintaining consciousness. Combinations of anesthetics are sometimes used for their synergistic and additive therapeutic effects, however, adverse effects may also be increased.�
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INTERNAL PLUMBING “Plumbing (from the Latin plumbum for lead, as pipes were once made from lead) is the skilled trade of working with pipes, tubing and plumbing fixtures for drinking water systems and the drainage of waste. A plumber is someone who installs or repairs piping systems, plumbing fixtures and equipment such as water heaters. The plumbing industry is a basic and substantial part of every developed economy due to the need for clean water, and proper collection and transport of wastes. Plumbing also refers to a system of pipes and fixtures installed in a building for the distribution of potable water and the removal of waterborne wastes. Plumbing is usually distinguished from water and sewage systems, in that a plumbing system serves one building, while water and sewage systems serve a group of buildings or a city.� Ok, we all know what plumbing is and why it has made such a difference in our lives.
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THE AQUEDUCT “An aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel (conduit) constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose. In a more restricted use, aqueduct (occasionally water bridge) applies to any bridge or viaduct that transports water—instead of a path, road or railway— across a gap. Large navigable aqueducts are used as transport links for boats or ships. Aqueducts must span a crossing at the same level as the watercourses on each side. Although particularly associated with the Romans, aqueducts were devised much earlier in Greece and the Near East and Indian subcontinent, where peoples such as the Egyptians and Harappans built sophisticated irrigation systems. Roman-style aqueducts were used as early as the 7th century BC In modern times, the largest aqueducts of all have been built in the United States to supply the country’s biggest cities.”
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THE CAMERA “A camera is a device that records/stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura (Latin for “dark chamber”), an early mechanism for projecting images. The modern camera evolved from the camera obscura.” The camera has revolutionized the way we tell the stories of our lives, and compose the mosaic of our civilization. It’s importance in shaping the way we see the World, and ourselves cannot be understated. The power of the still image has influenced every aspect of our lives. Because of the camera we have the ability to always cpture the moments that take our breath away.
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THE PATENT “A patent is not a right to practice or use the invention. Rather, a patent provides the right to exclude othersn from making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing the patented invention for the term of the patent, which is usually 20 years from the filing date subject to the payment of maintenance fees. A patent is, in effect, a limited property right that the government offers to inventors in exchange for their agreement to share the details of their inventions with the public.� Patents not only changed the way inventor’s do business, it opened the doors to new products that have changed the lives of consumers.
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COOKING “Cooking is the process of preparing food by applying heat. Cooks select and combine ingredients using a wide range of tools and methods. In the process, the flavor, texture, appearance, and chemical properties of the ingredients can change. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely across the world, reflecting unique environmental, economic, and cultural traditions. Cooks themselves also vary widely in skill and training. Preparing food with heat or fire is an activity unique to humans, and some scientists believe the advent of cooking played an important role in human evolution. Most anthropologists believe that cooking fires first developed around 250,000 years ago.� There are very many methods of cooking, most of which have been known since antiquity. These include baking, roasting, sauteing, stewing, frying, grilling, barbecuing, smoking, boiling, steaming and braising.
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THE TANK Tanks were developed and first used in combat by the British during World War I as a means to break the deadlock of trench warfare. They were first deployed in the Battle of Somme. If you’ve seen old footage photographs, or films about earlier military conflicts such the Civil War, I’m sure you were struck as I was by the traditional face-offs between enemies. It just didn’t make sense to stand face to face and just mow each other down like sheep. Though tanks changed the very nature of how armies fight wars. A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility and tactical offensive and defensive capabilities. Firepower is normally provided by a large-calibre main gun in a rotating turret and secondary machine guns, while heavy armour and all-terrain mobility provide protection for the tank and its crew, allowing it to perform all primary tasks of the armoured troops on the battlefield.
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THE ELEVATOR “An elevator (or lift) is a vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods between floors (levels, decks) of a building, vessel or other structure. Elevators are generally powered by electric motors that either drive traction cables and counterweight systems like a hoist, or pump hydraulic fluid to raise a cylindrical piston like a jack. The modern elevator was first introduced , but its first mention was in the texts of Roman Architect Vitruvius in reference to Archimedes. The they have been around in many shapes and forms, the power of this idea is felt most in contemporary cities where their use allows for higher and higher buildings which shape the skyline, and provide ample shelter for concentrated masses of people. Most of us have ridden one in our lifetime. On March 23, 1857 the first Otis passenger elevator was installed at 488 Broadway in New York City.�
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GLASS The history of creating glass can be traced back to 3500 BCE in Mesopotamia. “Glass plays an essential role in design, science and industry. The optical and physical properties of glass make it suitable for applications related to optics, optoelectronics, reinforcement fiber, and the making of essential laboratory equipment. But honestly, we all know why glass plays such a pivotal role in our lives.� Could you imagine living and working in buildings wih no windows. The transparency of glass connects us with nature. The strength of it protects keeps the riff-raff out.
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THE SOLAR PANEL What makes solar panels such a good idea? I’m sure that much is obvious by now. By using photovoltaic cells to trap heat from the sun’s rays, we can then harness energy from that heat to create a clean source of power for some of our needs. What makes solar panels not a good idea? That’s a little tougher. Solar panels will eventually be revolutionary sources to heat a large portion of our homes and shelters. For the time being, the technology is not optimized and the amount of energy produced by one panel is so small that homes require large surface areas where many panels can be laid out. Another problem with solar panels is price. They are so expensive to produce at the moment, that they are even more expensive to buy making them unattractive to many homebuilders and owners. They’ll catch up eventually, and will become household names if not requirements.
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All of these ideas have been explored for some time, and most of us have already felt their impact. Several of them are already changing everything, but they will continue to do so for many years to come. Others are going to do so very soon. Hydrogen fuel cells are already being used in several model vehicles. It’s true impact won’t be felt far and wide until it becomes the standard, and it will.
5 IDEAS POISED TO CHANGE THE FUTURE
Twitter documented the revolution in Iran during their last election cycle. Stories of freedom, suppression, and murder were broadcast live through its channels when traditional reporting systems were blocked out. Twitter will become the number one source of free marketing in the future. A strong message reverberates through its users like wildfire. It has the power to spread love, and also the power to kill, as in the recent suicide of the NYU student. The ideas included here are not new. They were built on concepts that have existed before them. These ideas show how important it can be to rethink how you use the tools that you already have at your disposal.
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TWITTER I bet some of you are smirking right now. Twitter ... pfft ... please. Seriously? Some of you may have forgotten, others may not have even been aware, But in June 2009 Twitter was the main source of contact with the victims and protesters responsible for the uprising during the last election cycle in Iran. Twitter is revolutionary, yes, come join me there. Without Twitter hundreds of stories and cries for help would have gone unnoticed, unreported, untold. That is its power. Messages of both love and hate have a tendency to spread like wildfire on Twitter. No one, not even an absolutist suppressive regie is imune from its power. It is becoming the voice of the people. One individual, one tweet at a time, Twitter forces us to pay attention. Its power is so strong that Sarah Palin can tweet her support for a candidate, and that candidate goes on to one an underdog victory as happened recently in the Delaware primaries. A college freshman publishes a tweet about his roomate, and the roomate commits suicide soon thereafter. That means something.
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FACEBOOK Facebook is much more powerful than people think. I am in touch with people I certainly would have never seen or heard from again were it not for its profiles. I once fell in love with a girl from Turkey as a boy and we were separated by circumstance. We didn’t even really speak the same language but the connection was powerful. We lost touch at age sixteen. Twelve years later, Facebook brought us back together again. After exchanging messages for a few months I went to visit her in Istanbul. Though the love was gone, the connection was powerful. It was as if nothing had changed, and yet everything had changed. The experience was unforgettable. Certain people are just meant to be a part of your life. Facebook allows that to happen. It can be used for good or evil, but with 1 in 12 people logged in, no one can deny the power of its influence.
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BLOGGING PLATFORMS I personally know of hundreds of people that are making their fortune online through blogging. Blogging is tearing down the traditional barriers of how we do business one brick at a time. My blog, Simply Optimal, has been read in every continent in the World and almost in every country with the exception of Cuba, and several countries in Africa. Through platforms such as tumblr., Wordpress, and Blogger people are getting their message out to new readers in faraway places everyday. People are creaating valuable content that can be shared with millions. Blogs are becoming universities. They are becoming mini-encyclopedias of information that teach people the tools they need to make a difference. They are transforming the way we find, digest and use information. Want to learn how to cook delectable meals at home on a budget? Check out Jules Clancy’s stonesoup, and you’ll have everything you need.
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SPACE TOURISM Space tourism is tourism in which participants pay for flights into space. As of 2010, orbital space tourism opportunities are limited and expensive, with only the Russian Space Agency providing transport. The price for a flight brokered by Space Adventures to the International Space Station aboard a Soyuz spacecraft is US$ 20–35 million. The space tourists usually sign contracts with third parties to conduct certain research while in orbit. This helps to minimize their own expenses. Infrastructure for a suborbital space tourism industry is being developed through the construction of spaceports in numerous locations, including California, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Florida, Virginia, Alaska, Wisconsin, Esrange in Sweden as well as the United Arab Emirates.[not verified in body] Some use the term “personal spaceflight” as in the case of the Personal Spaceflight Federation. A number of startup companies have sprung up in recent years, hoping to create a space tourism industry. For a list of such companies, and the spacecraft they are currently building, see list of space tourism companies.
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HYDROGEN FUEL Hydrogen (H2) is being aggressively explored as a fuel for passenger vehicles. It can be used in fuel cells to power electric motors or burned in internal combustion engines (ICEs). It is an environmentally friendly fuel that has the potential to dramatically reduce our dependence on foreign oil, but several significant challenges must be overcome before it can be widely used. Fuel Cost & Availability. Hydrogen is currently expensive to produce and is only available at a handful of locations, mostly in California. Vehicle Cost & Availability. Fuel cell vehicles are currently far too expensive for most consumers to afford, and they are only available to a few demonstration fleets. Onboard Fuel Storage. Hydrogen contains much less energy than gasoline or diesel on a per-volume basis. Technology is improving, but the onboard hydrogen storage systems do not yet meet size, wieght, and cost goals for commercialization.
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Alot of these ideas may seem like very big deals conceived by geniuses and executed by large teams of professionals that were well-funded. The fact of the matter is that most of them were intially conjured up as basic solutions to very simple problems by individuals.
CONCLUSION
What made them so revolutionary and popular on a mass scale was that the problems they were solving were ones everybody had, and not just a select few. Everybody wanted to know how to travel farther and faster. Everybody needed accessibility to fresh water, and everyone needs to communicate with friends, colleagues, and loved ones. Edison toiled away at inventing the light bulb out of the basic idea of bringing people out of the darkness of night. That’s it. Simple. Only after one man in one room spent days, months, and years of his life toiling away at his idea did the World come together to embrace the possibilities, and apply massive resources to its research and development. What you do in this World is up to you. Are you up for the challenge?
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YOUR IDEA
What revolutionary idea will you come up with? Whatever it is, I hope you have the courage to see it through. You never know where it might lead, and how it might change they way we live in the future. I need you to ideate. The World needs you to ideate.
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When an idea is a good one. When it has the power to change the World, especially for the better, it should be free. Everyone should have access to it. The idea of this book, meant to inspire readers to venture out and discover their own would not have any value if it were not easily accessible by anyone. That is why IDEATE! is free and uncopyrighted.
THE UNCOPYRIGHT
That means you can use any of the information contained within this report in any way you choose. Post it as an article on your blog. Send it out to everyone you know, and if you must claim credit (highly unrecommended) well go right ahead. It doesn’t matter because what’s important is the idea, not the author. It’s more important that as many people as possible read this than that I get credit for writing it. Just don’t spam folks that aren’t interested, and don’t use it under an improper context. Not everyone is ready to Ideate.
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This guide is meant as an educational resource, not as written law. It is meant to be informative, but not definitive.
DISCLAIMER
Though I made the list of the ideas included in this book based on my own research and intuitions about what has made a real difference in how we have evolved as a society, some of the more technical information about specific ideas was taken from their definitions on Wikipedia. The importance of the ideas included in this text are purely a matter of opinion. They are open to conjecture and disagreement. I wholeheartedly welcome dialogue, discussion, and commentary on the merits of the list, as well as its shortcomings. Send me an e-mail at gianpaolo@ simplyoptimal.org and share your thoughts with me. I’d love to know what you think, and where you think I excelled or fell short. That being said, I stand by my work.
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In and of themselves, ideas don’t matter. If they aren’t shared, explored, developed, and carried out, they might as well not even exist. The best way to spread the power of an idea is to share it. I’d love it if you would help me spread the idea behind this book by sharing it with all of your friends, colleagues, and family. Let’s put our communication skills to work and use the tools dicussed in these pages to inspire as many people as we can to start having and developing the ideas that will shape our world in the future.
SHARE AND ENJOY
If you’re into social media, use the different networks to get the word out. If you’re on Twitter, tweet it. If you’re a Stumbler, stumble it. If you’re a Digger, digg it. Share it on Facebook. If you’re not into any of that hoopla, a simple e-mail will to those you think will enjoy it will do. Remember, it’s absolutely free. Once you’re done, go ahead and get your Ideating on. Life is short, and we haven’t a moment to lose. Thanks folk! Onwards and upwards,
Gianpaolo Pietri
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