New Form of Life, Discovery Published Creative Commons
The Economist reports a new form of life was discovered, very interesting. The actual scientific article is released with a Creative Commons license, awesome.
Economists summary
http://www.economist.com/node/18437900?story_id=18437900
Actual scientific article
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0018011
Ham boning robot, Abundance Report
Meat cutting is a dangerous, physically stressful, and tedious job. Replacing human meat cutters with robots is all around better if the humans have an income.
The representative repeatedly says the robots can cut oddly shaped soft objects. He is making clear that cutting ham is not the only use. The robot can cut a wide variety of foods but also non-food. They’ve likely chosen ham boning as their first task because the size makes it easier than smaller or more delicate food like fish and improving ham processing is higher value than vegetables. Defining the goal properly and finding the best entry to the market is very important for innovation success.
The makers of the Hamdas robotic meat cutting machine, Mayekawa, also make many environmentally friendly energy saving innovations. They are looking at the full range of interconnected innovations. They are using what Predictive Innovation® calls a Future Map. Each of their innovations builds on part of the other thus making each one less expensive and less risky to develop and higher value.
Many of the comments to the video bring up the concern jobs being eliminated. How can human meat cutters have an income when the job of cutting meat is done by machines? The common answer of making or repairing robots is fatally flawed. Repairing robots will not require as many people as the jobs the robots replace. The best way for meat cutters to have an income when robots are doing the work is to own robots. This way the people are still meat cutters, they just aren’t doing the physical work.
Another alternative for displaced workers is to do something else that robots makes possible. This unfortunately will likely displace other workers. Automation replaces people in any task that is done more than once. The solution is to focus on things that can’t be replicated. Personal experiences are one thing that can’t be duplicated. Satisfying those desires will be large growth area over time. In the short term, anything that helps individuals and small groups own the machines that makes things will be a crucial part of making the transition from economics to abundance.
Spray on skin, world changing innovation
Heal a huge wound in a couple days by using spray on skin. This is amazing for burn victims but think about it applied to all injuries.
Perhaps this could be used with surgeries to replace the tissues removed plus heal the entry point. Perhaps less meaningful but more profitable it could be used instead of face lifts.
This uses adult stem cells, another example the more than 1000 successful treatments using adult stem cells. A great case of “Profitably satisfying an unmet desire” profiting everyone involved.