Fundamental Needs — Gordon Brander

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The goal of this note is to focus on spaces where a technological driving force intersects with a fundamental need. Scenario planning is a good way to find these intersections. Cards: Treadle pump, Drip irrigation Cards: Cinderblocks Books: Energy Transitions Rather than "work" or "a job", I think the fundamental need is the ability to create solutions. This perspective tilts toward access to tools as the starting point to solving a problem. The invention of agriculture about 20,000 years ago was an early fundamental technological advance. Pastoralism and sedentary agriculture lead to dramatic increases in population density. Writing (3200 BC) provided humanity with external memory and allowed us to begin the exponential accrual of ideas that brought us to now. Dramatic advances happened between 1860—1920 with vaccines, antibiotics, electric grids, widely deployed indoor plumbing, the flush toilet, steam and water turbines, internal combustion engines, the Haber process, synthetic fert

Fundamental needs are universal constraints. My bet is: If a technology addresses a fundamental need, universal adoption is guaranteed. The only questions are "how fast" and "who will build it". Any tech that addresses a fundamental need will be a driving force of societal change in the long term. Amara's Law The goal of this note is to focus on spaces where a technological driving force intersects with a fundamental need. Scenario planning is a good way to find these intersections. The List Food Water Shelter Energy Learning (and teaching) Creating (vs "work") Family Safety…

Fundamental Needs — Gordon Brander

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