After many years of blogging, and consistent with my desire to move toward retirement, we have ended the Insights blog. Thanks to Doug Bedell for his years of blog support.

Continuity of Desires, If Not Means

Posted on February 1, 2010
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The Romans could never have imagined, nearly 2,000 years ago, that one day one of their gadgets would be featured on Twitter. But there it is – tweets and retweets on “The World’s Oldest Swiss Army Knife” have been frequent of late.

The gadget in question, which looks for all the world like an early prototype Swiss Army Knife as turned out, say, around the dawn of the 20th century, is a Roman eating tool, circa 200 A.D., with a fork, spoon, toothpick and a few other dining implements, all of which could be folded away.

Thus we have an example of continuity, not so much of a given implement, but of human interest in terms of functions – like eating – and  a desire to make them easier or more convenient to handle. That’s the origin of technological progress, then and now.

Felt need stirs ingenuity and breeds technological advance.  And our needs, seemingly, haven’t been so different over the centuries. (Though the Romans probably couldn’t have envisioned the ability to watch images move in a box.) As knowledge has piled up, we’ve gotten a lot more able to satisfy our yearnings – for better or worse.

On the same Gizmodo Web page is another example of continuity – a job-hunter’s resumé. Only this job-hunter was Leonardo da Vinci.

Leonardo needed a resumé? Apparently so. “Most illustrious Lord…,” he began (we wouldn’t sound so fawning today), “I shall endeavor, without prejudice to any one else, to explain myself to your Excellency…”  The painter of the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper went on (in handwriting, of course) to describe a virtual arsenal he had developed – with implements and attack-resistant vessels for use on land or sea, starting with “extremely light and strong bridges, adapted to be most easily carried…”

We trust the Duke of Milan, the lord Da Vinci was trying to impress, hired him. The Duke, of course, would have been well-served. Would that we could do as well building up a storehouse of contemporary technology, but for peaceful uses, of course. – Doug Bedell

‘High-Speed’ Trains Coming for the U.S., Finally

Posted on January 28, 2010
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We’ve been enjoying Wired’s spread on bullet trains finally (emphasis added) coming to the U.S. Yes, the historical tablet accompanying the Wired pieces shows that Japan introduced a 130 mph train in 1964, France a 161.6 mph one in 1981, China a 267 mph train in 2004 and France, again, a big-wheeled train capable of 357 mph in 2007.

We’ve long needed a fast, low-hassle alternative to airline travel. We’ve be waiting so long, on fact, one might think the airlines have been responsible for railroad planning and promotion. (At the current speeds they do travel, though, AMTRAK’s trains aren’t bad. We went coast-to-coast and back on a couple last year. Very pleasant, and no pat-downs.)

The St. Petersburg Times story reporting on President O’Bama’s visit to Tampa today to announce $1.25 billion in federal funding for a high-speed rail line there advises on the byplay between the President, Vice President Joe Biden and the Florida crowds, but doesn’t say how fast the “high-speed” trains are expected  to run. That’s part of the problem – our personality-based, politically powered culture tends to shun specifics of technology – even big-time concepts like high-speed rail get shunted aside in the clamor.

Wired says the Tampa-Orlando trains are supposed to run at  180  m.p.h. We hope they do. – Doug Bedell

Wired illustration by Paul Rogers

China’s Shadow Behind a U.S. Electric Car

Posted on January 22, 2010
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We’ve been waiting for electric cars to start making an appearance on U.S. highways – not hybrids but full-out electric models. Chevrolet’s much-anticipated Volt is now scheduled for launching in November. It will run 40 miles on an electric charge and, says Chevy, “uses a range-extending gas generator that produces enough energy to power it for hundreds of miles on a single tank of gas.” What that’s referring to, explains Wikipedia’s article on the Volt, is “a small 4-cylinder gasoline internal combustion engine (that) creates electricity on-board using a 53 kW (71 hp) generator to extend the Volt’s range to more than 300 miles (483 km).”

Volts are scheduled for only 10,000 cars in 2011 – their introductory year – and maybe 60,000 in 2012. And the price is estimated to be near $40,000, before any federal tax credits applicable by then. So that’s low output and a high price, for starters anyway, on a U.S. electric car.

We were nonetheless encouraged by a Wall Street Journal blog post in December on a joint-venture between A123 Systems, a Massachusetts-based battery company, and SAIC (Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation), “China’s biggest auto-maker by volume which already has a couple (electric cars) in the pipeline.”

A123, a maker of  lithium ion batteries, seemed to have lost its electric car prospects when Chrysler  dropped its plans for one. So the Chinese deal has given the U.S. company a boost, and least for now.

But the Journal notes there are other  interests aiming for electric cars – “local (U.S.) rivals backed by Warren Buffet, playing the same game.” The technology is either so vexing to producers, or perplexing to car buyers, that lots of folks seem to be wishing there wasn’t a need for it. But there is.

Even so, oil prices are probably going to have to rise again, and stay higher, for us to get serious about getting electric cars on U.S. roads. As in so many other areas, though, the Chinese may provide a push. – Doug Bedell

The Chevrolet Volt



Diving Deep to View Creatures that Vanish Before Your Eyes

Posted on January 19, 2010
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Picture yourself in total darkness, with streaks of flourescent light darting across the dark or suggestive of bigger, slower moving  creatures.  In this instance,  you’ll be deep in the ocean, fortunate to have David Gallo as your guide on a deep-sea dive.

Gallo was trained as a geologist but he’s an acclaimed oceanographer now. On this TED.com video he narrates – at a screen in a lecture hall – a dive  into regions where undersea creatures have an amazing capability to camouflage themselves to hide from predators like barracudas.  Changing color and texture, the wiley creatures fade into plant or rock clusters in a manner that makes them disappear before your eyes. The audience in Gallo’s lecture hall gasps and applauds – it can’t help but respond in wonder.

The florescence is explained as “bioluminescence,” a term that almost does justice to the softly glowing appearance of these dwellers in the deep. Photographed with Dr. Edith Witter’s undersea camera, there are fish with pulsating eyes and pinwheel bodies – a truly  astonishing display of solitary ocean creatures. You realize that they have no idea of what they’re missing in an “atmosphere” of water, and you wonder, what may we be missing in our own airy environment.

Go on this all too brief tour with Gallo, it’s a marvel of undersea photography and knowledgeable narration. If your life or business revolves around high-tech, watching this video should make you humble: whatever you do, it pales in comparison to nature’s technology.

Gallo works as an undersea explorer, sometimes in partnership with Titanic-hunter Robert Ballard, and travels on behalf of the Woods Hole laboratories to explain how the oceans are being mapped in “unprecedented clarity and detail.” – Doug Bedell

David Gallo

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