The apocalypse is coming, or so say the folks who believe the apocalypse is coming. This is nothing new, historically anyway, but this morning, my reading brought me back to 1968, when a Stanford biologist, Dr. Paul Ehrlich, wrote a book titled, “The Population Bomb.”
- Dr. Ehrlich’s opening statement was the verbal equivalent of a punch to the gut: “The battle to feed all of humanity is over.” He later went on to forecast that hundreds of millions would starve to death in the 1970s, that 65 million of them would be Americans, that crowded India was essentially doomed, that odds were fair “England will not exist in the year 2000.
My point here is that Dr. Ehrlich’s book sold in the millions, a best seller. Why not? He has a doctorate (he is still alive and unapologetic – a true believer), he taught at Stanford, and he was a biologist, a scientist who would know this stuff, right? Interestingly, Dr. Ehrlich missed something in his research. Apparently, the good doctor was not the brightest scientist in the room.
- One thing that happened on the road to doom was that the world figured out how to feed itself despite its rising numbers. No small measure of thanks belonged to Norman E. Borlaug, an American plant scientist whose breeding of high-yielding, disease-resistant crops led to the agricultural savior known as the Green Revolution.
In the world of the market, we have our Dr. Ehrlichs. They too are scientists, or they have a long history of analyzing the market. Keep your eye on the fundamentals and don’t let the education or the pedigree fool you.
- Lawmakers in Washington state this month passed a bill that opens up the electric-vehicle charging sector to a group of players who have thus far been mostly absent: power utilities.
It is about time that utilities got involved in building an infrastructure for electric cars. It is a moneymaker for the utilities, and if other states follow the lead of Washington, it will surely be a moneymaker for the car industry, as an infrastructure is all that is needed to turn a trickle into a current.
- Google Teams Up with Levi Strauss to Build Fabric Touch Panels into Clothing
Seriously? We are now talking about clothing that will manipulate small computer gadgets?
- Small gadgets such as smart watches can be frustrating to use because their tiny buttons and touch screens are tricky to operate. Google has two possible solutions for the fat finger problem: control your gadgets by subtly rubbing your finger and thumb together, or by swiping a grid of conductive yarn woven into your clothing.
Seriously? I can swipe my clothes and call a friend? This adds new meaning to the term, “butt dial.” Imagine putting your smartwatch on before you put the rest of your clothes on …
Trade in the day; invest in your life …
