Big Ideas!
- Posted by: GOOD
- on December 3, 2007 at 5:01 pm
When President Kennedy said in 1961 that America would land a man on the moon by the end of the decade, NASA had just barely sent its first astronaut into the lower strata of space. After years of failure, the moon seemed far beyond reach. And yet, eight years later, Neil Armstrong took his first lunar steps.
It’s hard to imagine a recent U.S. administration making such a bold pledge (let alone succeeding), but countless people, organizations, and companies are working to come up with the next big idea that will reshape our world. Though many will fail, it is the striving and struggling to make real the seemingly impossible—”Pushing the outside of the envelope,” as NASA’s first astronauts liked to say—that leads us to watershed events. Constantly reaching slightly beyond our grasp is what steers us to the best ideas, and leaves us ready to face the yet-unknown challenges of tomorrow.
Welcome to the wonderful world of things to come, conveniently arranged in alphabetical order. We’ll be adding to this list every day until it’s complete.
A: ARK, LUNAR
B: BABY BONDS
D: DELOREAN REVIVAL plus the Big Ideas Graveyard
E: ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LIFE plus Big Thinker: WENDY KOPP
F: FAMOUS PEOPLE SELL MAGAZINES plus Big Thinker: DANNY DeVITO
G: GUM, EASILY REMOVABLE plus Big Thinker: MARIO BATALI
H: HUMAN TERRAIN SYSTEM plus Big Thinker: SAMANTHA POWER
H: HUMONGOUS CHURCH
Meet Joel Osteen, America’s most popular pastor.
I: IBRAHIM INDEX OF AFRICAN GOVERNANCEJ: JERUSALEM, DIVISION OF
L: LARGE HADRON COLLIDER and more Literally Big Ideas
M: MUSEUM OF NATURE plus Big Thinker: JELLY HELM
N: NUCLEAR ENERGY GOES GREEN plus Big Thinker: LAWRENCE LESSIG
O: OFFSETS, CARBON
Separating fact from fiction in the world of buying and selling hypothetical gas.
P: PAPER SAVING plus Big Thinker: CAMERON SINCLAIRQ: QUANTUM HIPPIES
R: RUSSIAN DEMOCRACY
Former chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov talks to GOOD about his bid for the Kremlin.
S: SECESSION
Christopher Ketcham explores the possibility of modern secession in Vermont.
T: TED EFFECTU: USEFUL VOID
V: VERICHIP
W: WHALE HUNT
In a remote Alaskan town, Jonathan Harris chronicles an Inupiat whale hunt in 3,214 photos.
X: X PRIZE plus Big Thinker: PETER DIAMANDISY: YOUPORN
DISCUSSION: 5 Comments
This is cool. I’m excited to see the process and the end result. Very cool.
The memeticians love Big Ideas!
We’re featuring this article in our Hypertext Bazaar – 12.13.07.
Can’t wait to see the list grow.
This is us: memeticians.com
We’re huge fans, as is indicated by our numerous links to GOOD.
Keep it real,
tjc
Filed under G – Grocio – the next generation of Grocery shopping. Comparison shopping automatically via the Internet or even TXTing – based on location (Zip Code). Gives users the best price for their entire grocery list, even does the calculations for if they are willing to go to more than one store to get the very best deal. It’s like Pricegrabber for groceries, and it does the entire list at once, not just one item at a time. It could save shoppers tons of money by giving them the actual total cost of everything, and not just the loss-leader get-you-in-the-door sale prices that they can find in the paper.
Like a nightingale
coming back in the
dark I hear a
glimmer escaping
in the twigs of
a quietness, and
finally a martin,
smiling and tender.
Francesco Sinibaldi
Romantic America,
when a rosaceous
sunset lightens
the world near a
frail little brook,
and where everything
shines like a
diamond in the
heart of a forest ;
the north wind
is blowing, the light
of a fine day
invents an emotion,
and I love you
America….
Francesco Sinibaldi