WARNING: the danger of innovation

WARNING
The danger of innovation

Before we all start searching the web for green innovations, I would like to give you all a warning. Green innovations should be encouraged, but in the current rush of new and green technology, scientists will invent practically anything. A warning is in place: not every invention is a good one.

Inventors sometimes skip the third role of the Walt Disney Strategy in the process of brainstorming: they forget to be critical, and to question their own inventions. In this blog entry, I will describe how some green inventions went completely wrong, and how they can even damage the environment!


I present to you: the human-powered floating gym! Looks smart, huh? The efforts made by the people working out inside generate electricity, so that the floating gym can transport them to their work or school. This would be the perfect solution to the traffic jams and to the increasing amount of obese citizens in New York. You combine transportation and working out. But when you think twice, you realize that a method of transport that keeps you fit already exists. It’s called a bike.

Secondly, here’s an example of an ambitious green innovation that brings along a lot of unintended consequences: biofuels. Again, an American invention. Logical, since the United States would love to be less independent from the Middle East when it comes to oil. But the fabrication of biofuels has cost tragic collateral damage: entire forests have been cut down. It has even caused a food crisis.


Let’s conclude with this wonderful invention: a satellite that beams electricity from space. Japan is already heavily investing in this new source of green energy. Personally, I’m not a fan of sending junk into space. But if this makes it possible to send limitless clean energy to earth, maybe it’s worth considering? There’s one problem: the beam could theoretically miss the receiver and fry, say, a neighborhood…

I’m not saying all of these ideas should simply be thrown overboard. As we’ve seen during our first class, all ideas are welcome. However, we should think twice about the use of an invention, and it’s possible side effects. Something to remember during our search!