Technology & Innovation — July 17, 2010

Creating a Green Economy

“The innovation economy depends on inventors. And inventors need more support.” An energy CEO proposes bridging the Green Grand Canyon: the divide between inventors’ prototypes and production.

bigthinkeditor

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

“The innovation economy depends on inventors. And inventors need more support.” An energy CEO proposes bridging the Green Grand Canyon: the divide between inventors’ prototypes and production. David Muchow, CEO of Skybuilt, a renewable energy company, points out that the Chinese patent system is at present more efficient than America’s, and partly as a result, China is ahead of American renewable energy development. He identifies three solutions to the patent problem: an eBay for inventors so that patrons can find good ideas easily, a faster patenting system, and a central meeting place—one in each state—for inventors to exchange ideas.

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Progress

The Great Progression, 2025-2050

The world isn’t ending! But we are likely at the beginning of a profound transformation.

Person examining a petri dish with tweezers, holding small colored objects, against a dark background.

Health

Are microplastics really destroying our health?

They’re in our brains, hearts, and blood — but what are they doing to us?

A statue of a thoughtful, seated philosopher on the right seems to be contemplating a calling, while a standing figure holding a lyre on the left adds harmony against the textured background.

Thinking

Everyday Philosophy: Can you have a “calling” without a caller?

If you’re an atheist with a vocation, who laid that path for you?

Close-up image of a human iris featuring vibrant blue and yellow hues with a dark pupil in the center.

The mystery at the heart of consciousness

“Is it possible that consciousness is a much more basic phenomenon in nature and is essentially pervading everything?”

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10 min

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with

Annaka Harris

Starts With A Bang

Ask Ethan: Does the CMB really “prove” the Big Bang?

Since the mid-1960s, the CMB has been identified with the Big Bang’s leftover glow. Could any alternative explanations still work?

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