Latest news with #BenFranklin
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
How We Solve the Climate Crisis
I spend a lot of time on the Internet; it's become my second home in the 20 years I've communicated science online. And recently I came across an image that stuck with me: a cartoon of a sad, crying Earth covered in cut-down trees that says, 'No intelligent species would destroy their own environment.' I think this cartoon and the ideas it represents are both wrong and destructive. I don't want my son, who is eight years old, to believe that humans are dumb and evil—both because that's a pretty big bummer and because it's obviously untrue. But I often find myself quite lonely in having that perspective, and I'm wondering if, perhaps, there are other folks out there who feel the same as I do. Humans didn't cause climate change by being stupid; they caused it by being extremely smart. We started burning coal to solve problems. We did it to grow more food, to heat and light our homes, to power refrigerators, to connect the world in a way that made the past few centuries of scientific advancement possible. We are here precisely because of our intelligence—and yes, the greed and selfishness of people in the fossil fuel industry who have certainly slowed our transition away from fossil fuels. [Sign up for Today in Science, a free daily newsletter] But we are problem-solving machines, and we will solve this problem too. Our intelligence is geared toward survival. We want to provide a good life for ourselves and our children. The results have been staggering. In the U.S. in 1895 one quarter of people died before age five. Today, it's under 6 percent, and we will keep striving until it hits zero. Imagine the essays Ben Franklin or Mark Twain would write about this level of advancement. How would they keep tears from their eyes if they saw what we've achieved? So much of that achievement has been based on energy, and the fossil fuels we've burned to generate it, whether coal, natural gas or oil. We've learned that this harms both the environment and people, and to our credit we aren't always bad at addressing this. It was not long ago that London could be so clogged with coal smoke that you had to clean it off the windows every day. When rivers catch on fire, the U.S. changes its policies. When rain becomes acidic, the world changes its policies. When harms are done locally, we tend to be pretty good at cleaning things up. But with climate change caused by carbon dioxide emissions, we're facing a much harder problem. That's for two reasons. First, on a psychological level, the effects of greenhouse gases on the climate are often invisible to us. Weather is always messy, and climate works on such big and long scales that it's hard to detect, communicate and respond to what's happening. And second, unlike the sulfur and nitrogen pollution that caused acid rain, or the chlorofluorocarbons that threatened to wear a hole in the ozone layer, carbon dioxide is not an unintended byproduct; it is the goal of burning fossil fuels. If you burn fossil fuels as cleanly as possible, all you get is carbon dioxide and water vapor. Responding to climate change means we must reduce the amount of CO2 that burning fossil fuels creates. It requires us to completely reimagine how we power our planet. Here's where I feel hope: we have already done this, and we know it is possible. In the U.K. CO2 emissions are now at their lowest levels since 1879 following a shift from coal to renewable energy! This is possible; we can see it being done. And it's the responsibility of the biggest polluters, the countries like the U.S. who have benefitted most from burning fossil fuels, to make those changes happen. And here is where I think we should absolutely feel some shame at our species. Humans are greedy. Humans are shortsighted. Humans will tell stories to make themselves believe that the things that they already want to do (like delaying climate action) are the right things to do. This is our nature, and I do think we could have done a better job at overcoming it. I am frustrated by the amount of time we've spent arguing instead of acting. I am frustrated by the extent to which we will not accept any inconvenience or sacrifice in exchange for making the world more livable for people in other places in the world, and even for our own children. It's worth acknowledging that this amount of foresight is unique to humans. It requires a great deal of intelligence, and, frankly, it's remarkable to me that we're able to do it at all. We are not like trees, which caused a mass extinction of their own when they evolved on land; we know that our actions today are threatening up to a million species worldwide. This is both an indictment of our failure to act sooner, and a reason to believe we can succeed if we dedicate ourselves to this fight. I don't want my son growing up thinking that his species is in some way evil. I want him thinking humans are problem solvers, and that solving problems always creates new ones. Whatever strategies we take to fix global warming will create more new problems, too. Renewable technologies like solar panels and wind turbines, for example, use way more land than coal-fired power plants, contributing to their own environmental impact. They're the best solution in many places right now, but maybe in the future we will replace them with better ways of generating energy, like advanced geothermal, more nuclear fission or maybe even nuclear fusion. The people of the future will be mad at us for the flawed work that we did, just like we're kind of mad at all the people who tried to make the world a better place by burning a bunch of coal. And that's all right. Humans are not evil. We solve problems, and when we do, we create new problems. And I think that, ultimately, this is a pretty normal story for intelligent species. One day, if we ever make contact with another species like our own, I bet they'll have a lot of stories about how they did the same thing—and how they found their way through. This is an opinion and analysis article, and the views expressed by the author or authors are not necessarily those of Scientific American.
Scientific American
5 days ago
- Science
- Scientific American
Human Intelligence Created the Climate Crisis—But It's Also the Solution
I spend a lot of time on the Internet; it's become my second home in the 20 years I've communicated science online. And recently I came across an image that stuck with me: a cartoon of a sad, crying Earth covered in cut-down trees that says, 'No intelligent species would destroy their own environment.' I think this cartoon and the ideas it represents are both wrong and destructive. I don't want my son, who is eight years old, to believe that humans are dumb and evil—both because that's a pretty big bummer and because it's obviously untrue. But I often find myself quite lonely in having that perspective, and I'm wondering if, perhaps, there are other folks out there who feel the same as I do. Humans didn't cause climate change by being stupid; they caused it by being extremely smart. We started burning coal to solve problems. We did it to grow more food, to heat and light our homes, to power refrigerators, to connect the world in a way that made the past few centuries of scientific advancement possible. We are here precisely because of our intelligence—and yes, the greed and selfishness of people in the fossil fuel industry who have certainly slowed our transition away from fossil fuels. On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. But we are problem-solving machines, and we will solve this problem too. Our intelligence is geared toward survival. We want to provide a good life for ourselves and our children. The results have been staggering. In the U.S. in 1895 one quarter of people died before age five. Today, it's under 6 percent, and we will keep striving until it hits zero. Imagine the essays Ben Franklin or Mark Twain would write about this level of advancement. How would they keep tears from their eyes if they saw what we've achieved? So much of that achievement has been based on energy, and the fossil fuels we've burned to generate it, whether coal, natural gas or oil. We've learned that this harms both the environment and people, and to our credit we aren't always bad at addressing this. It was not long ago that London could be so clogged with coal smoke that you had to clean it off the windows every day. When rivers catch on fire, the U.S. changes its policies. When rain becomes acidic, the world changes its policies. When harms are done locally, we tend to be pretty good at cleaning things up. But with climate change caused by carbon dioxide emissions, we're facing a much harder problem. That's for two reasons. First, on a psychological level, the effects of greenhouse gases on the climate are often invisible to us. Weather is always messy, and climate works on such big and long scales that it's hard to detect, communicate and respond to what's happening. And second, unlike the sulfur and nitrogen pollution that caused acid rain, or the chlorofluorocarbons that threatened to wear a hole in the ozone layer, carbon dioxide is not an unintended byproduct; it is the goal of burning fossil fuels. If you burn fossil fuels as cleanly as possible, all you get is carbon dioxide and water vapor. Responding to climate change means we must reduce the amount of CO 2 that burning fossil fuels creates. It requires us to completely reimagine how we power our planet. Here's where I feel hope: we have already done this, and we know it is possible. In the U.K. CO 2 emissions are now at their lowest levels since 1879 following a shift from coal to renewable energy! This is possible; we can see it being done. And it's the responsibility of the biggest polluters, the countries like the U.S. who have benefitted most from burning fossil fuels, to make those changes happen. And here is where I think we should absolutely feel some shame at our species. Humans are greedy. Humans are shortsighted. Humans will tell stories to make themselves believe that the things that they already want to do (like delaying climate action) are the right things to do. This is our nature, and I do think we could have done a better job at overcoming it. I am frustrated by the amount of time we've spent arguing instead of acting. I am frustrated by the extent to which we will not accept any inconvenience or sacrifice in exchange for making the world more livable for people in other places in the world, and even for our own children. It's worth acknowledging that this amount of foresight is unique to humans. It requires a great deal of intelligence, and, frankly, it's remarkable to me that we're able to do it at all. We are not like trees, which caused a mass extinction of their own when they evolved on land; we know that our actions today are threatening up to a million species worldwide. This is both an indictment of our failure to act sooner, and a reason to believe we can succeed if we dedicate ourselves to this fight. I don't want my son growing up thinking that his species is in some way evil. I want him thinking humans are problem solvers, and that solving problems always creates new ones. Whatever strategies we take to fix global warming will create more new problems, too. Renewable technologies like solar panels and wind turbines, for example, use way more land than coal-fired power plants, contributing to their own environmental impact. They're the best solution in many places right now, but maybe in the future we will replace them with better ways of generating energy, like advanced geothermal, more nuclear fission or maybe even nuclear fusion. The people of the future will be mad at us for the flawed work that we did, just like we're kind of mad at all the people who tried to make the world a better place by burning a bunch of coal. And that's all right. Humans are not evil. We solve problems, and when we do, we create new problems. And I think that, ultimately, this is a pretty normal story for intelligent species. One day, if we ever make contact with another species like our own, I bet they'll have a lot of stories about how they did the same thing—and how they found their way through.
Boston Globe
29-05-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
New England companies are sparking an industrial revolution. Here's how to harness it.
Advertisement In my new book, I explore how the industrialists of the mid-18th century provided a road map for making improvements to human life. Ben Franklin, for example, even listed industry as one of his famous 13 virtues, defining it in part as a sustained effort toward useful goals. Such effort was integral to the first Industrial Revolution. It took James Watt, whose improvements to the steam engine are credited with sparking the revolution, some two decades of improvements and modifications for his product to achieve what is known today as a 'product-market fit.' And for every figure like Watt who had a 'eureka' moment, there was someone like his business partner Matthew Boulton, a metal manufacturer who helped Watt with capital, know-how, and access to tools and skilled workers. Advertisement The early industrialists knew that what is today called 'process innovation,' making things better, leads to 'product innovation,' making better things. In other words, actually making something teaches you how to invent the next thing. In reality, The situation facing industry is far more complex than it was 250 years ago, of course. The mass production of the 20th century is giving way to new means of production and new forms of work. Digital technologies allow companies to spread manufacturing across geographical locations, to increase productivity. Supply chain disruptions, global tensions, trade wars, and a changing climate are showing how fragile our industrial systems can be. Artificial intelligence's intense demand on Apple's famous tagline shows our preoccupation with product improvement over process improvement. For too long we have been told that all work in developed countries should be 'knowledge work,' entirely divorced from making things. In industry after industry, from solar panels to semiconductor chips and electric cars, American inventions have been scaled elsewhere. This removes us from the cutting edge. But companies in our own backyard are forging a different path. Aerospace manufacturer Advertisement I often visit such cutting-edge companies and see digital-first design and production flows, and young people of all education levels working with their hands. Graduates of vocational schools are designing new production lines. This dovetails with a surge in interest in trades; the number of students enrolled in The point is that young Americans — new industrialists — are devoting themselves to making things for the common good. Politicians of both parties have enacted policies to encourage the growth of US industry. The specific actions, whether But no government policy will be effective if young people from all walks of life do not take up the mantle of building and maintaining our world. The country needs this generation of builders who are excited about working with their hands, about the satisfactions of building the world, and who see that work as building our communities. David A. Mindell is a professor at MIT and author of The New Lunar Society: An Enlightenment Guide to the Next Industrial Revolution (MIT Press, 2025) and cofounder of an investment firm focused on industrial transformation. He is a founding member of MIT's Send comments to magazine@ Advertisement
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Blind Tiger receives investment of nearly $200K thanks to PA program
One local startup company received recognition and a generous investment on Tuesday afternoon. Blind Tiger Spirit Free Cocktails was recognized during a check presentation courtesy of Ben Franklin Technology Partners. Blind Tiger was chosen for its reshaping of consumer markets and their innovation and impact. Ben Franklin Technology Partners invests in innovative startups and established companies to drive economic growth and job creation throughout the region. Hungry customers fill Erie Mexican restaurants for Cinco de Mayo The investment was a total of $190,000 to help the company continue on its growth path. 'This is great for us because I have really been a team of one, with some outside counterparts supporting us along the way. So I am going to add at least two full-time positions with this investment in the hope that this, obviously, to build a bigger team and provide opportunities and jobs,' said Rebecca Styn, founder of Blind Tiger. Blind Tiger makes an alcohol free beverage rooted in the allure of the prohibition era speakeasies. They can be found on more than 1300 retail shelves worldwide. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJET/WFXP/
Forbes
03-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Create Business Growth By Eliminating Performative Action
The more you act on things that create momentum, the more feedback you get. That feedback, even when it stings, is your unfair advantage. There's a beautiful quote by Ben Franklin that goes, 'Well done is better than well said.' Ben knew what he was talking about. He also invented bifocals and the lightning rod. You know what he didn't do? Sit on a plane watching a movie while the world passed him by. Years ago, after years of trying to recruit him, I hired a sharp executive from the insurance world. This was a smart guy who should have been a doctor but didn't choose that path, definitely someone I wanted on my team. So we hop on a plane to head to a big meeting, and 30 minutes in, I glance over to see him watching a movie. On a Tuesday afternoon. At 40,000 feet. You'd think he just found out they made Titanic 2: Jack's Back or something. Now, I didn't lose my cool (outwardly), but inside I was burning. What does he think we are doing here? This wasn't vacation. This wasn't the red-eye to Vegas after a product launch. This was Tuesday. A workday. How does travel not stress him out as much as it does me? I'm not stressed because of mass transit and flight delays, but because it is inefficient. If I am traveling, I can't always work on the things that I need to in order to grow the company. On that flight, we were at work. And I couldn't reconcile wasting that time—company time—on anything other than, well, work. It's not about being a workaholic. It's about understanding that leadership, and entrepreneurship in particular, is a constant balancing act between time, productivity, and cost. That's the triangle. And if one side is way out of proportion—like racking up airline points while catching up on Top Gun: Maverick—you're failing to create momentum on what's important. I've seen it all, and I bet you have too; high-paid execs scrolling through social media in their modern business casual attire. Wrinkle-free five-pocket workout pants. Lace-up low-cut kicks. Moisture-wicking fabric polo with an exclusive golf course billboard on the left chest. Quarter zip sweater ready to roll. Or even worse, employees bouncing between low-priority 'busy tasks' like they're trying to win a medal in hamster-wheel Olympics, and meetings that feel more like group therapy than strategic sessions. They're moving, sure. But they're not going anywhere. Here's the hard truth: Motion is not the same as progress. You can look busy, act busy, even talk busy—but unless you're taking meaningful action, it doesn't matter. That's the problem with 'acting like acting.' It's all show, no substance. And in business, that's a recipe for stalled growth, missed goals, and erosion of trust within your team. Real productivity means getting real results. It means building momentum that leads to the next step, the next breakthrough, the next deal. That doesn't mean being perfect. It means being proactive. Let's go back to the very early days of our company when our marketing strategy was… well, let's call it "reactive." Need revenue? Then we need leads. Send an email blast. Want visibility? Throw out a press release. Was there a master plan? Not exactly. But doing something—anything—was still better than doing nothing. Taking action, even messy action, builds experience. It gives you data to evaluate, processes to refine, and opportunities to seize. You get better simply by doing. You can't steer a parked car—and you certainly can't scale a business from the couch. The more you act on things that create momentum, the more feedback you get. That feedback, even when it stings, is your unfair advantage. Because while everyone else is waiting for the perfect conditions or the ideal strategy, you're out there testing, failing, learning, and adapting. That's how real businesses grow. Of course, not all action is created equal. If you're navigating a $200 million acquisition, now is not the time to wing it. When the stakes are that high, we stretch our time side of the triangle. We slow things down, dig in, analyze, and listen—especially to the customer's perspective. Because no matter how exciting the deal is, it has to lead to growth, and that takes revenue. Otherwise, you've just built a very expensive monument to distraction. Taking action doesn't mean being reckless. It means being intentional. It means knowing when to move fast and when to be deliberate. But it always means moving. One of the greatest byproducts of a culture of action is the ripple effect it creates. Your team watches what you do more than they listen to what you say. If they see you prioritizing meaningful, results-driven action—even when it's inconvenient or hard—they'll follow suit. On the flip side, if they see you phoning it in, dragging out decisions, or prioritizing comfort over contribution? Don't be surprised when they start doing the same. Momentum is contagious. So is apathy. We call it 'playing office' when someone is acting like they are acting. We see you. We know what you are really doing. Taking action makes you better because it keeps you better. It drives productivity, accelerates growth, sharpens decision-making, and strengthens your culture. But most importantly, it builds trust—between you and your customers, your team, your partners, and yourself. Here's what I've learned over the years: In business, there are very few perfect and obvious decisions. But indecision? That's where businesses go to die. So stop watching from the sidelines. Close the movie. Put down the phone. Get off the hamster wheel. Take action—even if it's imperfect, even if it's uncomfortable, even if it's just the next small step. Because the only thing worse than taking the wrong action is taking no action at all.
