Human beings are built to solve problems.
It’s our nature to do so. Further, when lots of us are working on a solution to the same problem, it can get solved very quickly.
Here’s an example of that in action. There’s an online game called “foldit”
The team behind the site creates games that solve hard science problems. Their flagship game enables players to figure out how to “fold” proteins, an extremely difficult problem that scientists working on cures to infectious diseases need solved.
Here’s what the game looks like:
The reason this game is interesting to me and to you, is that foldit has discovered that human beings can come up with better and more elegant solutions than the most powerful computer systems.
For some people, a very difficult problem isn’t a problem at all, it’s just something fun to work on.
That’s part of what’s going on today in resilience.
We’re not only relearning the skills and methods our grandparents used to produce food, energy, water, and products locally, we’re pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.
We’re not alone in this. Through the Internet, we can leverage innovation and insight from all around the world.
Somewhere, someone has figured out or is in the process of figuring out how to do more locally. To harvest water easily. To produce safe, high quality food in tight spaces. To build a thriving local economy that powers the community forward.
In short, the methods we need to produce local abundance.
It may even be you. You might have a solution you want to share.
You might even want to work on doing this full time.
If you do.. turn your ideas into products, like this Danish company did:
Or presell it on Kickstarter like this team from Indiana did with their gardening project.
We are creative enough to pull this off. We can do this.
Join the future. Get resilient.
PS: Here’s a quick note on how a protein is folded can radically impact how it interacts with our bodies. For example, a prion (prions create mad cow disease) is simply a common protein folded in a strange way. When the prion comes into contact with proteins in our brain, it twists and folds them (using itself as a template) into a prion.
PPS: Novel proteins are also one of the reasons why genetically modified (GMO) foods are considered dangerous. Although the evidence is still not statistically proven (remember how long it took with smoking?), many believe the novel proteins in GMO foods are tied to the recent epidemic in severe allergies. It’s claimed our bodies can’t process these new proteins and become overly sensitive in response.
PPPS: Although the team at foldit have noble goals, the team running this game system isn’t paying the people solving these complex problems for them and their customers. This is why I’m hesitant to laud them.