Loosely Assembled

Portland, OR has done a great job getting itself noticed on the global stage of cities to watch. We’ve got green cred, bike cred, creativity cred, willingness to change, social justice, activism, sustainability, livability, diy, small business, self organizing cred, etc etc etc. We can learn to take bigger steps though, to really put a stake in the ground for Portland’s future as a hub for organizations that want to make the world a better place.

Portland’s Memorial Coliseum is the ideal facility for the nation’s (world’s) premiere incubator for, and center of, critical non profit activity. Think of it as Sand Hill Road for the 501c3 set. Offices, workshops, symposiums, conferences, events, rallies, classes, and more will take place in this global center for change. Interaction with the general public on a daily basis, as well as with business and movement frontiers-people will stimulate the city of Portland like nothing else.

Incubators will get a lot of attention in the coming decade as we all search and strive and hope for new ideas and new solutions for the future. New models for business focused incubators are already in the works in places like SF. Let’s take the next big step and innovate in social entrepreneurship, and not for profit work.

Jim Stogdill writes very well about a compelling theme in his article entitled Skinner Box? There’s an App for That. I would have to sum it up as being about the nature of distraction in today’s networked world, and our role in its continuation.

There are a few tantalizing snippets that I just have to share hoping to lure you into reading the whole thing, if you can focus long enough.

• A self licking ice cream cone of the mind
• We’re pre-implant so I plug into the Skinner Borg with fingers and eyes
• The very technology that makes our collective integration possible also distracts us from advancing it

(Via @timoreilly.)

Using lego bricks to illustrate ideas about a better world:

Wonderfully exciting presentation of the way in which our future is really going to change. If this video thrills you, you are aligned with the general values of NINE, that putting the brakes on is not a viable response to our new era.

Ok, the one bit that catches me as being potentially spun is the very last line about illegal downloads (can that stat even be justifiably estimated anyway?).

Thanks Garth

That’s right. Using DNA from his grave collected by nanobots, then adding all the information extracted by AI from my memories and those of other people who remember him. Plus all the mementos of his life that I’ve kept, in boxes and elsewhere, could be downloaded. He could be an avatar, or a robot or in some other form.

Cursory yet quirky interview with futurist Ray Kurzweil.

(Via New Scientist.)

IF YOU shine a laser on the floor, where does the light go? With the right preparation, some of it might pop out at the other side of the world – an effect that could be exploited to transmit secret messages through the ground.

(Via New Scientist.)

A robot scientist that can generate its own hypotheses and run experiments to test them has made its first real scientific discoveries.

via NewScientist

Super efficient when it comes to electricity use and heating/cooling technology.

(Via Remodeling Amory Lovins’ home | Yahoo! Green.)