Second Chances

This is not related aging or the future but it is a furthuring of the discussion in class today. The issue at hand is the employment of Michael Vick by the Philadelphia Eagles. We spent a great deal of time last class exploring the issue of second chances, and how it will impact managerial decisions. Vick has paid his debt to society but some members of the footballing community do not believe that he should be employed as a footballer making millions of dollars. While an athlete being given a second chance might not have as much an impact as hiring a drug offender at a high school the potential for disaster is just as real.

The management team of the Eagles made a sizeable bet. They bet that the negatives that Vick will bring to the team in the form of potential protests, backlash from animal activists and potential loss of advertising will be offset by the pure athleticism that Vick has been known for. It is their hope that Vick will give them the Super Bowl. As a manager if faced with the same dilemma I hope I am able to give that person a second chance and hopefully avoid any blowback from that decision.

Climate Change

I work at the Cane Run power plant in Shively. The generating units use fossil fuel (coal) to produce electricity. The burning of coal produces a large amount of greenhouse gases putting coal plants in the crosshairs of environmentalists. At my current job I am responsible for monitoring plant emissions so it is important that I am knowledgeable about the bills that are being proposed by congress. Currently there is a bill in congress that has committed the US to reducing greenhouse gases to near Kyoto Protocol (the UN Framework on Climate Change) levels by 2030 and beyond. The Europeans are not happy with the bill as they believe it does not go far enough. Coal producers and consumers are concerned that it will kill their industries.

There is no doubt that my industry will be affected by this bill. Power Plants will have to improve their emissions control equipment most to the order of tens of millions of dollars per operating plant. It will be a costly venture, but one I would argue is needed. The argument against emission cuts is that it will make a lot of the older coal plants obsolete and that the technology available is not advanced enough to produce the cuts that the bill proposes. My take is that the technology is lagging not because the technology is beyond our capacity it's because the will isn't there. Like the movie Field of Dreams I believe that if you build it they will come. If it is legislated investment and thus the right technology will become available.

Ageing the Silent Killer

While watching a video that extolled the concept of "The Longevity Revolution" I was struck by their framing of the aging issue. The narrator said that they viewed ageing as a disease. That in itself was a profound statement as most people don't think of the aging process as a disease. However, by framing it in this manner you automatically put ageing in a category of known diseases, and the level of scientific research used to mitigate its impact on the public at large. I would expect that if most people considered aging as a disease that killed millions of us yearly they would be pushing the scientific community to find a cure, delay the onset of the disease or diminish its effects. If scientist are able to find a cure for ageing it would significantly change the future. Not only would people live longer, they would be young for a longer period of time. Science would have indeed found the "Holy Grail" in a test tube.

Looking Forward to The Sunset.

As I read paper after paper examining the role of senior citizens in America I get a sense that the quality of life does not have to diminish with old age. If you watch the television any time of day you will see advertisements the seniors sitting in tubs watching the sunset and thanking science for Cialis and Viagra. These depictions generally portray a life of fun and quite glamour for the elderly upon retirement. While I look forward to sitting in a hot tub atop a hill and watch the sunset I fear that my nirvana is a long way off. Dismissing the concept of the Longevity Revolution the current financial uncertainty and the lack of a viable safety net as baby boomers use up social security funds will likely force me to work well into my golden years.

There is a chance that congress will address the potential insolvency of social security, but I will not bet my daily dose of Cialis on it. In fact I am sure I will not be able to retire when the moment is right.

20/20 Vision

While flipping through the channel today I saw a program that examined the merging of the brains memory and live experience with a computer. The goal of the technology was to add to the brains recall by inserting a contact lens like device in the eye that is able to relay radio waves to a centrally located computer that stores our recall. The contact lens would be able to use facial recognition technology to transmit data to a computer that is then processed and sent back to the contact lens with relevant data about the individual with whom you have had some previous contact before. This data will be displayed in a viewing window peripheral to the natural line of sight of the individual. This technology reduces the chances of getting a less than warm response when staring at someone trying to remember where you met them before. The technology is in its infancy so the lens is only able to show 1 pixel of data. As the technology is improved upon the user will have an image that is made up of thousands of pixels.

There are obvious practical uses of the technology and it would definitely enhance life as we know it. Based on what I saw in the report the ability to produce a sharper clearer picture of the data viewing window is about ten years away. The technology can be used in the future as a portable media player devise, MP3 players would go the way of vinyl.

Future Delayed

I have not spent as much time talking about the future has I have done in the past two weeks. Of course with all the talk of the future we have placed little emphasis on the political and religious reality that impact our lives and the course and speed chartered for the future.

The debate on stem cell research is an indication of the power of political and religious forces in suppressing scientific study. The debate centered on the definition of when life begins. For the most part the debate was intellectually dishonest, and the reality of the benefits were cast aside of a more religious politically motivated stance. As long as there is political hay to be made from scientific obstruction to play to a particular religious base then there will be suppression of science.

America is one of the few countries where religion is married to politics. Europe has long shed this cloak and is for the most part areligious. China, who will become a leader in world economics and scientific discovery, has a large atheist population. In essence America's major competitors will be free to explore the scientific discoveries that will shape our future. While private institutions will still be free to make significant breakthrough in scientific discoveries American’s will be the last to see the benefits.

How close is the Science of Singularity

As we delved into the issue of Singularity in class today I began to wonder how valid some of the assumptions made by the author were. Were the authors estimates correct or had the author been caught up by the promise of the science and had accelerated the possibility of its eventuality.

To answer this question one should revisit 1989. When I look back twenty years ago I realize that much has not changed. The basic structure of my life has not been altered in any drastic manner. Sure, now I have easy access to computers and the internet. However, beyond the advent of the information age there has been little change for humans as they go about their daily lives. It is therefore my belief that the merger of nanotechnology, genetics and AI will dramatically change the way we live our lives but I am convinced that the merger of the sciences are at least two generations away and not 20-25 years as is the authors contention.

Sigularity

As I read Ray Kurzweil's paper on his coined term Singularity. I went through the various emotions that envelope humans when they are presented with the potential of future technology. I went through a roller coaster ride of awe, dread, and acceptance. Each passage elicited these emotions at various levels. I must admit that I would look forward to the era of nanothenological AI. While I see the limitless possibilities of the technology I see the monster within. I am skeptical that there will be public access to the technology.

I believe that the technology will not see public consumption for many years if at all. When the eventual marrying of nanotechnology and biological life forms is realized it will be viewed as a state secret and will be guarded as such. It would therefore be used by the military. If it is disseminated to the public in any manner it will be only accessible to the super rich. They will invariable dine on the benefits of the technology and could potentially create a populating of humans and AI enhanced humans. As the author suggests we should ease our way into this projected reality. The perils are starker than at any time in our technological growth as a species. Scientific progress is indeed exponential and I we completely understand how to harness the possibilities of nanotechnology the multiplier will be unfathomable.

Iran

Today the Obama administration accepted Ahmadinejad as the duly elected leader of Iran. It's an admition that was made grudgingly I am sure. They are caught between their own rhetoric of diplomacy and the reality of the chaotic election results and protests that followed. I am sure the decision to acknowledge the reality on the ground will be met with disdain by all.

As America looks to the future there is a real need to solve the Iran issue. The solidarity shown by many Americans to the revolt displayed after the election results were announced has dismantled the boogeyman persona painted of common Iranians. I would love a future where America resumes real diplomatic ties with Iran. An Iranian solution will prevent our kids from fighting old battles that have come to define our relationship with each other. It's a moral imperative, the future requires it if we want to have our kids.

The Aging Workforce, A Utility's Perspective

I am reminded daily at work how inexperienced I am. Experience breeds wisdom. The average years of experience at my plant is 18 years, the average age of the worker is about 49 years old. I have 6 years experience working at my current Job. I don't expect these numbers to change, neither do the Plant Managers. Most employees started working at the plant in their late teens and have seen a variety of plant specific issues during their tenure. They can remember a specific event and what was done to arrive at a solution. Occasionally these guys report to me and I am expected to find solutions to complex issues, at these times I readily rely on their expertise. Most utilities like LG&E embrace their aging workforce. More often than not they provide real life experience that can not be found in an OEM manual.


These people are getting older, there will be unmanageable disruptions and a significant brain drain when they eventually take retirement. At LG&E we are slowly integrating a younger workforce that will work closely with these older employees to mitigate the expected impact of their retirement. However, that's in the future at this moment we celebrate their presence and draw from their experience to guide us to a more reasoned solution to the problem of the day.

Technology and The Climate

I just got home after spending 16 hours at work, why? A thunderstorm of some force caused water to enter a 4 KV breaker short circuit a motor control center and removed a 520 MW facility from the local grid. We had failsafe devices, generator relay protection, and redundant feeds all installed with the sole purpose of protecting the units and various auxiliary equipment that might be impact by an upset system condition.

We invested millions in utility mandated standard protective equipment; however, they could not protect the generating facility from Mother Nature. This just shows that technology has its limits. We can dictate where it takes us and use it for our benefit. The environment is another matter. We have no control over the climate. The natural resources we utilize, and the effect that humans have on our environment has an impact on the climate. We should therefore strive to lessen our impact, and become stewards of the environment.

I Want My News Back

As I watch the course being plotted for the proposed health care reform being touted by the current administration I wonder what's missing. Why is it that the President of the US gets a low grade for the handling of the the reform proposal but yet when the respondents are told what the actual proposal is the same respondents that initially gave the President a low mark are actually in favor of it. So I ask myself where is the disconnect. Invariably the answer is the media and a total lack of interest by the common man in the politics that govern our lives.

With the passing of Walter Cronkite a certain nostalgia descended on the media and the extolled his grace, impartiality, and straight forwardness in the way he covered the news. Since I was not around to see Mr. Cronkite in action, I feel robbed of a kind of genius that is totally lacking in the newsrooms of media giants that have been entrusted with informing us, the masses.

I hope for a future where the newsrooms are no longer profit centers, where there are actual reporters on the beat, where opinion is not passed on as news, where the news is neither recycled nor suspended because an icon died, got married or flashed a little skin, a future where the masses are engaged in constructive discourse. I want to be educated and informed, not cajoled or talked down to. The media was granted a licence to perform a public good and collectively they have failed the American people. To get the kind of future that is needed we have to make our voices heard and make it know that we are mad about our present. It's our airwaves and damn it we should demand it back.

True Blood

I have recently become a fan of the HBO show True Blood, it's a fascinating show about vampires and the discrimination they face as they try to assimilate into society. While the existence of vampires might be somewhat far fetch, I wonder what it would be like if we discovered a different life form that desired to co-exist with humans. The immigration discussions in class yesterday identified a few misconceptions that are prevalent in our political discourse. That begs the question, would we as humans band together and deny them the right to co-exist with us or would we still maintain our deep seated distrust of even the very humans that are more like us than they are different?

I believe that the human condition is such that we are predisposed to highlight and shun our differences more than we are willing and able to accept them. So while another life form will be rejected outright by all and sundry we will still have issues accepting other humans.

The Almight Corporation

I was intrigued by one of the scenarios mentioned in class today, and it got me to play the scenario in my head. The case was presented by Jeff pride and it painted a picture of a scenario where the corporation replaced the government. The implications are obviously profound, how would the population react, how would the diversity of the skills of the populous serve the corporations’ needs, would the citizenry go willingly and accept the obvious political upheavals that would have resulted from such a c-change. This would mean that the constitution would have to be shelved and the corporation’s charter would be the law that would govern the population.

I personally don’t think such a scenario is plausible as even though we live in a society where multinational corporations hold sway in our political system they cannot be seen as pulling the strings in essence they can only be the guys behind the curtain their power and control can only be latent.