Five technologies Puerto Rico should be up to its eyeballs in:
1) Wireless broadband: With a population density of over 1,100 people per square mile and a need for a robust Internet backbone, this one's a no-brainer. Which, thanks to The Fools, means it isn't even close to being a reality.
2) Voice-over-IP (VoIP): Verizon treats its local clients like poo. If any company in Puerto Rico deserves to be shredded into confetti by chaotic change, it's this sorry white elephant (still partially owned by the government. Huzzah.)
3) Open source software: If the percentage of people who pirate Microsquish's sorry-ass offerings simply moved to open source software, We'd (a) reduce piracy to neo-con orgasmic delight levels (not entirely a good thing, but The Jenius is making a separate point here, so tag along), (b) improve productivity as blue screens of death and snail-like tech support are drastically reduced and (c) open up Our infrastructure to the wave of the future, rather than wallowing in the swampy past.
4) Microbanks: We are a consumer-crazed, yet cash-rich nation. Our gray economy nearly matches (and some say exceeds) the "regular" economy. One way to get that money into circulation and make an impact is by targeting loans with microbanks. It's a Third World solution for what is really a Third World drive-train under a Second World chassis. We need to upgrade the drive-train. And the chassis.
5) Alternative energy sources: We have solar, oceanic and even heat-engine technology to reduce Our dependence on oil. Unless We find a way to reduce that dependence, We may find Ourselves without enough energy to power Our economy.
And now...Five technologies Puerto Rico can dominate:
1) Social networking software: It's funky, but clunky, so it fizzles. The most touchie-feelie people on the planet (and this is a GOOD thing, folks) are a natural for making this work. It'd be like Viernes Social for everybody...every day.
2) Artificial intelligence: Don't gawp. AI is not about the programming, but about the feeling behind the intelligence. We can do that like We can breathe. Damn right We should be doing it.
3) Distance learning: Our educational system ranks up there with two-cans-and-a-string compares to the Internet. But We have a strong core of teaching professionals who have learned how to foment learning using a holistic perspective and limited tools. Isn't that what distance learning tries to overcome? Let's get on this, shall We?
4) Content management systems: See numbers 1, 2 and 3. Content management is about communication, searchability and usability. It doesn't matter if We tackle this from one direction or another, We can be the Stradivari of CMS.
5) Smart agents: You want a starting point? Here's one. The Internet is an ecosystem that grows at a faster rate than mammalian embryos. This astonishing growth leaves unexplored and uncharted regions larger than the known territories. (Even adding up Google and Yahoo!'s webcrawling archives without considering overlap yields less than 40% of all the estimated web pages of the Internet.) Who better to explore this vast unknown than insanely curious connectors of people's interests?
The Jenius Has Spoken.
2 comments:
Knowing that people such as you roam this little island fills me with hope.
My thoughts:
wireless broadband: Agree. I heard this story about a guy in San Francisco. He got a fat pipe into his condo apartment, then hooked them up to some off-the-shelf switches and together with available open-source software became the ISP for his condo and those nearby using wireless tech. On the other hand I don't know if there are any legal gotchas should someone try widespread wireless in the island. Also "the establishment" (Verizon in this case) will oppose this.
wireless broadband: Mostly agree. The guy in the story above also provided VoIP and standard telephony services. Again the establishment or legal gotchas will not allow it.
F/OSS: You know I'm 100% supportive of this. The antagonist-establishment this time is Microsoft and Oracle.
Microbanks: Agree. This is a great idea but I know exactly 2 persons that support it (you, me). Banco Popular would be the establishment, but I don't think they are agile enough or maybe they won't care for it. The possibility of legal gotchas on this one is greater however.
alternative energy sources: I have no knowledge of this. I think there's some mayor education effort to be made in order to make this successful. Nuclear Power for instance is embraced in France, people actually want it!. Just try to do that here.
While I do sound negative-ish, but all of the above should be done and done well. What I wanted is to point out there are certain Goliaths that impede each of the above ideas, and whoever tries to bring them forward should have the proper stone in his or her sling. Just like the proverbial David...
(end of rant)
I agree on wireless broadband. It's not surprising the Verizon is fighting many towns here on this. I'm glad some competitors (smaller guys such as Earthlink) are getting ahead of them,
On Open Source, I think some education is what's needed here. The more informed folks are, the more likely they will embrace it. Hopefully, PR could someday be like MA in the area of the govt. in embracing Open Source.
I totally agree on alternative energy. PR is relying too much on fossil-fueled generation. Every house should at least have a water solar heater. There are so many things that can be done down in PR in this area, which would provide the Island so many benefits, including climate change, saving resources, improvements in the economy, etc. Places like Orocovis should have wind plants (just need to work on the transmission). Not to boast, but I know a bit about this (google me - Edgar Mercado renewable energy).
Anibal, not to be disagreeing with you too much lately, but I disagree on nuclear. As a matter of fact, when France went through a heat wave, all those nuclear plants had to be shut down because of serious issues with trying to cool them down. Thousands died that year from the heat wave. Nuclear was embraced in the past there, but things are different now with that incident.
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