My creativity wasn’t in quarantine this year that’s for sure. Here’s a quick recap of my greatest ideas of the year:
Hyper-Local Weather: Current weather reports are too general. It may be 78 degrees today but what is the actual temperature you are experiencing right now while hiking through a shaded canyon? Knowing the exact temperate you are feeling at all times would be super helpful.
LAYAR: Don’t want to get cat-fished on a date? Then you need LAYAR, the “Look Are You a Robot” dating protection service that runs background checks on your potential dates so that you don’t have to cyber stalk them yourselves.
Serendipity: What if people’s phones could talk to one another without us even prompting them? They could then alert us when we we’re near a driver who isn’t paying attention to the road or notify us when we’re nearby someone with similar interests helping us to form new connections serendipitously.
Real Life Sound Machine: Sound machines are great but they would be even greater if they incorporated some of my favorite real world sounds such as ice being scooped, popcorn being eaten through a brown paper bag, newspaper pages crinkling, dirt being crunched by a hiker, and a keyboard being feverishly pecked away at by a novelist late at night. Or is that just me?
Story Generating Game: What I’m imagining is a video game simulator, a virtual Mad Libs of sorts, that through some combination of user input and computer generated randomness would allow players to craft stories and then watch them play out. No actual game play required although I suppose that could/should be possible as well.
Social Wills: I don’t have a will and don’t even know how to start one. Not to mention the fact that the entire process creeps me out to begin with. But what if the act of will making was a social process? One that let you document your life, journal your thoughts, track your bucket list, record your burial wishes, and send a final video message to loved ones, etc. while also involving your friends and family as well so that they can comment on your shared memories, upload their own commentary, and claim your possessions through a silent auction process.
The B Team: Inspired by the A-Team and the current COVID-19 crisis, the B team (B for best) would be a global organization that operates outside of federal governments and mobilizes to respond to natural disasters and humanitarian crisis’s like global pandemics.
Idea Laboratory: Similar to Thomas Edison’s famed Menlo Park laboratory I want to create an Idea Laboratory filled with equipment that anyone can use to create and ideate. What I’m imagining is a hybrid co-working space/think tank/tech incubator/innovation laboratory that gives access to tools (3-D printers, genome sequences, supercomputers, etc.) to anyone that wants them while also creating a platform for establish scientists to publish their findings and bounce ideas off other like minded individuals as well as form and launch startup companies.
Universal Commencement Speech: This year’s virtual commencement address to all graduates should become a regular occurrence. Instead of being limited to the one speaker that your alma mater gets you’d be exposed to some of the greatest minds of our generation all in one fell swoop.
Baseball: The Gathering: Similar to Magic: The Gathering, Baseball: The Gathering would be a strategy board game that imbues players with various abilities and strategy options based on the physical attributes and skill sets the baseball players in their collection have.
The Narrow Web: There’s the World Wide Web and then there’s the Narrow Web. The World Wide Web is familiar to everyone, filled with places like Google, YouTube, Facebook, Amazon, Twitter, etc. The Narrow Web on the other hand is only known to a handful of trendy people and early adopters. Filled with apps and services that no one has ever heard of before or that are still in Beta. If you don’t know what a Step Chicken is don’t worry. You’re not alone.
Ban Fireworks: They’re loud, annoying, bother our dogs, cause forest fires, and can be weaponized. Is there a reason we still use them on the Fourth of July?
Paywall Aggregator: Instead of media companies hiding content behind annoying paywalls there should be a paywall aggregator that combines of bunch of different news services and media companies into a single bundle, a Netflix for News, for a single monthly price.
Sync Followers: If you’re active on social media you may follow different people on different platforms and have different followers yourself across your social media sphere of influence. That’s why there should be an easy way to sync all those followers so that you don’t have to re-search for everyone every time you join a new service and so that those who are you interested in you always see all of your posts regardless of which platform they’re on.
NBA Style Bubbles: If it worked for the NBA why not for the rest of society? Let’s create mini self sufficient cities that we all live in together for the duration of the quarantine. No one in or out once we get started.
Anonymous Liking: Have you ever gotten burned deep liking something on social media? Anonymous liking may be the solution. A way for you to show appreciation for something you like, no matter how weird or pervy it is, without the person finding out about it, and without you getting judged for it.
Sons of Destiny: The Sons of Destiny would be like one of those American Legion Posts or Elk Lodge fraternal orders but with a nerdy twist. A place for people to get together and discuss the latest innovations or just play board games with friends. Guest speakers could get brought on. Open mic nights could be hosted. Through it all an intellectual hot spot would ferment. Like the old coffee houses in Vienna where the greatest minds of the time would get together to discuss new ideas and debate current events. Inspired by the Sons of Anarchy it’s a biker club without the bikes.
Baseball Card Bingo: Fantasy baseball meets YouTube in this new twist on an old game. The basic premise is that you watch someone open packs of baseball cards on YouTube and once your entire team or selection of players is represented in the packs you win! Allows you to play “fantasy baseball” without the need for real games occurring which is something that we may not always have during the pandemic era that we find ourselves in.
Professional Voters: I don’t say this lightly but not everyone should vote. The vast majority of people just aren’t educated about the issues and only vote according to party lines or for superficial popularity contest reasons. In today’s day and age of fake news, Facebook, and Echo Chambers it is especially dangerous to just let everyone vote. Professional voters who make it their living to study politics and follow policy would be well informed and far better suited to handle our elections. Especially when it comes to local positions and judges who usually aren’t known at all to the general public.
Election Night Selection Show: Is there a reason we watch election results in real time as they slowly trickle in? Especially when not every result is going to be known on Election Day or even days later. Forget that. Have an Election Day. Count all the mail in and absentee ballots. Double and triple check everything manually. Certify your results. And then weeks later have an epic Election Night selection show where you announce the winners in grand fashion.
Powerball Voting: Want more people to vote? Have a Powerball drawing on Election Day with a huge payout with only those who voted eligible to win.
Pick Cabinets Sooner: Why are we only finding out now who President Elect Biden’s cabinet picks are? Cabinets picks should be known ahead of time, before the General Election, or even the primary elections, as those selections may influence who you want to vote for.
Start Starfleet Now: The fact that we can’t yet travel through space shouldn’t stop us from having a Starfleet that explores the Universe, builds futuristic technologies, and trains future astronauts from right here on Earth.
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