独家优惠奖金 100% 高达 1 BTC + 180 免费旋转

Thinking NEW and BIG about infrastructure

Beyond just fixing old roads, bridges and buildings

A special report from EraNova Institute, home of the Smart Green Deal™

Some business and technology leaders are asking a critical question:

They realize that infrastructure should be more than a fix-up project … more, even, than a job creator or economic stimulant.

They know we all need to think bigger, much bigger; and better, much better.

In spite of government lethargy, they’re rising to the infrastructure challenge on their own, in two steps: first, considering the need to define “infrastructure” more broadly; and second, thinking how they might implement a program that’s big and bold enough.

The key is to see the challenge clearly enough and set our sights high enough.

The Cambridge Dictionary defines infrastructure as “the basic structure of an organization or system which is necessary for its operation, esp. public water, energy, and systems for communication and transport.”

Note the key words “necessary for operation.” We’re talking about all the shared things we can’t live without or can’t maintain society without. These resources and systems fall into three categories:

There’s a temptation to go slow. To do “first things first.” To fix the potholes and pipes and then, later, maybe get around to the futuristic stuff, like anything green, digital, or space-oriented.

Some projects do, of course, demand immediate attention.

We need to fix what’s hurting or endangering people NOW.

But there’s peril in fixing yesterday’s systems and thinking that’s enough. If we stop when the old pipes or roads are back to normal, tomorrow’s systems don’t get built and our natural infrastructure languishes. As a result we fail to meet the big challenge of our time, which is preserving the planet and taking humanity to the next level.

Fortunately we don’t have to choose between fixing the conventional infrastructure and building the new futuristic infrastructure; or between either of those and protecting our natural infrastructure.

With creativity and good planning, we can do more than one thing at a time, and we can do it without breaking the bank. The key is overlap and integration.

For most upgrades or replacements of conventional infrastructure, we can incorporate environmental and futuristic features without undue cost or difficulty. In fact, ambitious projects needn’t cost more and could cost less.

Thanks to the economies of multiphase planning, multiple priorities, individually expensive, may be realized simultaneously. And other social benefits may also blossom.

For example:

Another example:

Another example:

Another example:

Another example:

Another example:

Another example:

But upgrading conventional infrastructure, even while pursuing green and future-facing goals, may not be enough. A MAJOR project or so may be required. To get our juices flowing, we need oceans to cross and mountains to climb.

What bold and beautiful new things we might create NOW — while fixing traditional infrastructure as part of the mix?

Suitable projects should match and scale and pizzazz of past projects like Hoover Dam, the coast-to-coast rail and highway systems, electrification of the nation, going to the moon, and connecting people through the Internet.

Here are five candidates, supported by organizations ranging from SpaceX and Microsoft to the UN and NASA:

1.Establish the Universal Internet. Only about 40% of the world is now connected. Finish the project. Connect everyone, even the poorest and least documented in the U.S., Africa, everywhere. And do it in a way that bonds, educates, empowers, and motivates all of humanity while controlling those who would do harm.

2. Save the planet by beating UN’s sustainable development goals. Do it by a rapid shift to renewables, in a way that benefits people of all ages and walks of life; and compensates potential losers, like coal and oil industry workers.

3. Implement AI as a public utility. Intelligent control is fast being added to industrial processes, consumer devices, and public infrastructure such as air and traffic control systems. Individual citizens need to know more about it and have easy access to its power. Let’s make sure artificial intelligence, including human intelligence augmentation, is an affordable, easy-to-use resource available to everyone.

4. Replace money with supermoney. Implement a totally electronic system of value exchange, based on the “blockchain” technology of Bitcoin. This would happen in two steps: first, make international currency exchange instantaneous (yen to dollars, pesos to pounds); and second, skip the old currencies and use the blockchain bits only. This would speed everything up, allow people to receive compensation for more things, streamline society in all dimensions. Once implemented and mature, a super-money system could prevent currency crises such as the current ones in India and Venezuela. It could also conjoin informal and formal economies, and support alternatives to cumbersome, inequitable taxation.

5. Establish a space colony. It could be a settlement on the moon or Mars, or an orbital space community. Why should this be a priority? To save earth and make it thrive, we may need to go beyond it. We are explorers and trail-blazers. There’s nothing like a new frontier to inspire us and bring out our best. Developers, many of them children, are at work on this now, as illustrated by the following National Geographic post:

(Which of the above projects would you vote for, or what others would you suggest? Please share your thoughts in Responses.)

All components of infrastructure may be impacted by anyone at these six levels:

National politics can strongly influence infrastructure policy, but need not dominate when the winning legislation is off-base. There are rich options for action at the other five levels.

For example:

Another example:

Another example:

A big, bold infrastructure initiative won’t be cheap. Cost-benefit estimates are speculative and controversial, but let’s look at it this way.

An expensive program that works will be cheaper than the alternative: doing nothing or doing too little. Failing to build a bridge, or building an inadequate one, won’t bridge the chasm of disaster.

If we want to survive and thrive, we have no choice but to:

If too much goes wrong, environmentally of socially, all bets will be off. No amount of money will turn things around. If we decide we can’t afford necessary infrastructure, we’re deciding we can’t afford a future.

It may also be necessary to build the futuristic stuff. Doing so may be the cheapest, best way to revive our spirits. That’s crucial. Without a future to believe in (to quote Bernie Sanders), all bets are off.

We can do it! If we don’t, it won’t be for lack of money, which can be redirected, or even lack of creativity, which abounds, or lack of knowledge, which can be supplied. It will be for lack of will and goodwill.

It would be a glorified expansion of this article: a website allowing participants to post, share, organize, make connection, and promote infrastructure projects of all types at all levels.

It would include:

(Please share your thoughts about this, in Responses. And if there are projects, resources, or solutions you’d like to include, please let us know.)

For related trends and opportunities, see this overview: Future Alerts … 5 supertrends.

Add a comment

What is your view?

Send

Related posts:

CoCo Kundalini Yoga

So this is the first blog I ever write, but the time has come to share my writing and vision with the world. Slowly I will open up, to deeper parts of myself and so all life around me. The world is a…

What Peppa Pig and CocoMelon Taught Me About Life

Life Lessons from Peppa Pig, CocoMelon, Wishenpoof (TV shows that I watch with my toddler) that help me in self-improvement, like modern-day parables.

Why I Choose to Work as a Nurse

My work has been influenced by things I see the coupled with my desire to help others attain and retain and maintain their health. So much so that I find myself doing it even when I am not at work…