Tuesday, September 22, 2009

12 Shocking Ideas That Could Change the World

Shaun Saunders sends in this thought provoking article found in Wired Magazine. It is in fact 112 Shocking Ideas that could change the world. Shocking...yeah, that's a good euphemism!

Who remember's "The Minority Report"? Three mentally challenged people used to ferret out future crimes? Well Thorkil Sonne wants to Recruit Autistics for various positions in business and government. Sonne already has founded Specialisterne (Danish for "Specialists"), an IT consultancy that hires mostly people with autism-spectrum disorders. Sonne's "specialists" have already demonstrated proof of concept finding software errors for Microsoft and Cisco.

John Arquilla want to go on a Cyberoffensive. He'd like the US military's coders to team up with network specialists abroad to form a global geek squad. Together, they could launch preemptive online strikes to head off real-world battles. Today's armed forces around the world depend on digital communications. Such an attack would cripple a countries ability to communicate with it's forces. It is suspected that some countries already use this method in secrecy, Arquilla says, do it openly in the hopes that countries would think twice about progressing with ANY attack.

Gregg Easterbrook says "Embrace Human Cloning" Do you know any clones? How many? I know several. Far from being "monstrous perversions of nature" somehow "less than human" however clones in nature are common place. Twins. Far from being unnatural cloning is the pinnacle of the natural process of passing on one's genes. As Easterbrook suggests "In vitro fertilization was once seen as depraved God-playing and is now embraced, even by many of the devoutly religious. Cloning could be a blessing for the infertile"

How about the story "With folded hands"? Well Ralph Keeney suggests that we can cheat death. How? Well Keeney suggests that most people are the agents of their own demise. "A remarkable 55 percent of deaths for people age 15 to 64 can be attributed to decisions with readily available alternatives." What does that mean exactly? Many deaths in the US are due to personal choices—things like smoking, overeating, or unsafe sex. Keeney states that we are facing an epidemic of ignorance. Keeney says that some workplaces disqualify smokers as job candidates and alcoholics are often denied liver transplants. Kenny suggests we could deploy costlier health insurance for the obese, or criminalizing texting while driving.

These and many shocking and or frightening suggestions from radicals, heretics, agitators—big thinkers with controversial, game-changing propositions. Click here for the complete Wired list

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