Huge Scary Problem, Simple Cheap Solution

December 31, 2013 · Posted in innovation, problem solving 

An article in Foreign Policy claims there appears to have been “Military-Style Raid on a California Power Station”.

The second to last paragraph is a perfect example of intelligent innovation.

A shooter “could get 200 yards away with a .22 rifle and take the whole thing out,” Wellinghoff said last month at a conference sponsored by Bloomberg. His proposed defense: A metal sheet that would block the transformer from view. “If you can’t see through the fence, you can’t figure out where to shoot anymore,” Wellinghoff said. Price tag? A “couple hundred bucks.” A lot cheaper than the billions the administration has spent in the past four years beefing up cyber security of critical infrastructure in the United States and on government computer networks.

Systems break at the weakest point. Quite often that means the solution is the simplest thing.

Innovation doesn’t make any random thing better. Innovations improve the most important thing. Innovations must:

  • better satisfy the currently most under-satisfied desire
  • not reduce the satisfaction of other desires bellow the required  level
  • not over-satisfy currently satisfied desires

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