The future according to Ray Kurzweil (loans, buy, sell, companies)

[Niners fan]

In the midst of the negativity, cynicism, and conspiracy theories in this business forum, I thought I would post a transcript of an interview with Ray Kurzweil. He has been accurate in previous predictions where technological progress was quantifiable.

From the interview:
"So, it is very easy to dismiss technologies when they`re at the early part of the exponential.

We are doubling the amount of solar energy every two years. We`re only seven doublings away from it meeting 100 percent of our energy needs.

You might say, do we really have enough sunlight? The answer is we have 10,000 times more than we need."


CNN.com - Transcripts

[KevK]

He is right. We will be fine as long as we have the political will to harvest the knowledge we have. The problem is that too many people have turned things like solar power into political issues instead of seriously looking at them. You know "solar power for the tree hugging liberals" you hear all the time. But I just watched a show about a small town in Kansas that was wiped off the map by a tornado and they wish they had a tree left to hug. But they are rebuilding their town and using the new technology to do it! And Greensburg is hardly a hot bed of liberalism! They have actually figured out it is profitable for them to do it!

[evilnewbie]

Ummm.... hello... I was pro-solar energy before all of you... I said solar technology was making great strides but there hasn't enough research to drive it faster... and by faster, I mean instead of 5-14 years, it will be here in 3 years... Other people have said they rather conserve oil, I say screw oil and start making better solar panels and oil can go by the way of the dinosaur...Obviously we still need petroleum products but with tech innovation, petroleum products will be a blip in the advancement of technology... I don't understand people who are too short-sighted to see the benefits, these are the same people arguing for more drilling, conserving oil, and build nuclear power plants... all of this solves nothing except making companies richer... all this tech innovation can start to fail when you socialize everything.... I could get into the short-sighted nature of politics, especially with liberals but that isn't the topic...

[sterlinggirl]

I saw a good news article the other day on a town that is letting people buy stock in a community solar farm. Just having one system cuts back on costs, simplifies installation, reduces redundancy, etc. It just makes good economic sense to do it that way.

[Humanoid]

Ummm.... hello... I was pro-solar energy before all of you...

Are you in high school?

[Philip T]

Originally Posted by Humanoid

Are you in high school?

my bet was 8th grade.

sorry e.n. but that was funny. (actually thought you were joking to start -- maybe you were?)

[evilnewbie]

I wish I was in 8th grade... I would of done things differently... unfortunately the last time I was in school was when I finished my professional degree and racked up 160k in educational loans... that was years ago... the posters above me (and below me) were hostile towards solar energy and rather we build nuclear power or drill for more oil... none of which was a solution... only impediments to future energy standards.. now that someone is suggesting that solar energy is an extremely viable alternative, they jump on the bandwagon... its strange that people would rather jump on something a celebrity of sort would talk about instead of thinking about it on their own... it just makes sense what our energy standard was going to evolve to... why wait? When you can push it through faster..

[Philip T]

Originally Posted by evilnewbie

I wish I was in 8th grade... I would of done things differently... unfortunately the last time I was in school was when I finished my professional degree and racked up 160k in educational loans... that was years ago... the posters above me (and below me) were hostile towards solar energy and rather we build nuclear power or drill for more oil... none of which was a solution... only impediments to future energy standards.. now that someone is suggesting that solar energy is an extremely viable alternative, they jump on the bandwagon... its strange that people would rather jump on something a celebrity of sort would talk about instead of thinking about it on their own... it just makes sense what our energy standard was going to evolve to... why wait? When you can push it through faster..

dunno what you are thinking. Have been building Solar Thermal for over three years, now, did some open source design so that anyone else could copy it, and on the commercial end have helped these guys >>> Ausra.com get their stuff on-line, and may help these guys >>> SCHOTT North America - SCHOTT PhotovoltaicPhotovoltaic - English - Index next week. Have seen nothing but positive feedback about all that in discussions around here.

I think you may be correct about the "celebrity" part of the guy in the interview, as he sounds a little crackpot to me, but then I am in the application end, not the sales end. I am just not too fond of purported experts overstating claims and causing disappointed expectations -- seems irresponsible. Better to undersell and over-perform.

[bchris02]

You can't make money off solar energy. Its in infinite supply - thats why politicians, the media, and corporate America are so against it.

[Philip T]

Originally Posted by sterlinggirl

I saw a good news article the other day on a town that is letting people buy stock in a community solar farm. Just having one system cuts back on costs, simplifies installation, reduces redundancy, etc. It just makes good economic sense to do it that way.

The community level thinking sounds real promising to me, as well, SG. But then again, I am sort of anti-big corporate.

For the life of me, I cannot understand why folks have become convinced that wise investing is buying stock in some large corporation to have that corporation send away their neighbors' jobs, and then turn around and charge them all more for the products those corporations sell US.

Any "profits" returned to such investors is stripped from their own community and marked down before they see a dime.

Makes much more sense to me to invest in yourself, family, friends and own community. Shared renewable energy is an excellent way to do that.