Sunday, January 25, 2009

Alan Watts was a hard act to follow, but I did alright.

Each year I’m invited to lecture to our Organizational Psychology students on material from The Conscious Manager: Zen for Decision Makers. The lectures are well-received and I have fun with them.

Psychology has always big at our university; Carl Rogers, Victor Frankl, and Abraham Maslow have been faculty members here.

After my last lecture, a faculty old-timer remarked to me, “You know, long ago Alan Watts argued pretty much the same point you just did, and in this very room.”

Wow. What a rush to be a part of that tradition.

Just wanted to share the feeling with you.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Infrastructure 2.0: What will it look like?

“Web 2.0” means more interactivity, user-generated content, optimized search and cross-connections, free software, and fees for service. The term emphasizes the contrast with the first wave of web activity, called “content-push” or Web 1.0, really just an electronic form of old-style publishing, with some hyperlinks thrown in.

Tom Friedman uses “Car 2.0” to describe Better Place’s electric car cum business model in which consumers buy miles on swappable batteries recharged using clean energy.

Sustainability 1.0 was "It costs money to be green." Sustainability 2.0 is "We can make money being green."

President Obama is about to launch massive infrastructure projects for economic recovery. Governors of every state have lists of “shovel-ready” projects that will absorb billions of federal money, no problem.  But you can bet these projects are “Infrastructure 1.0.”

What will “Infrastructure 2.0” look like?

Like Car 2.0, Infra 2.0 will blend high technology with innovative business models, some involving public-private cooperation. Smart technology will be central to transforming the delivery of water, sewage, energy, telecomm, transportation, garbage disposal…

Look sharp, now, because if Obama doesn't spend the money in 2009, it won’t kick-start the economy.  If we spend it on more Infra 1.0, the economy will end up even farther behind the 8-ball, in the long run. We don’t yet know what Infra 2.0 is, but we’d better figure it out quick.

Hit the ‘comment’ button and tell me your vision of Infrastructure 2.0.