Friday, March 25, 2022

BILLIONAIRES

How does anything magnificently monumental happen?  More recently, wars inspired the USA to change the world with two incredible accomplishments:  The Manhattan Project and the Apollo Project.  The former was to beat Hitler build an atomic bomb, leading to victory in World War II, and latter to bankrupt the Soviet Union to end the Cold War.

The first one listed above, the Transcontinental Railroad, was built by three private companies over public lands provided by government grants and financed by state and federal subsidy bonds.  The leader of the organization was Leland Stanford, who went on to found Stanford University.  Hoover Dam was financed by a $140 million mortgage loan from the U.S. Treasury, and was finally paid off in 1987.  President Herbert Hoover pushed the bill in Congress during the great depression.  He was in the Pioneer Class of 1891 at Stanford, and that tower is named for him.  

However, he makes all the lists for worst presidents of U.S.  Here he is #9 and Donald Trump is #2.  With Trump at the bottom are usually Andrew Johnson and James Buchanan. Incidentally, by far, Trump has been the richest president, and only billionaire, with Washington #2, Jefferson #3 and Hoover #8.

In this 21st century we are now threatened by global warming, and it will take the combined efforts of the entire world to overcome this problem.  While there has been some progress, the danger is perhaps too subtle that we will probably need something fearsome like tens of millions one hot summer dying to catalyze any real solution.  One suggestion is The Venus Syndrome to throw a two-by-four clout into the fray.

Billionaires seem to be romantically spurred by outer space, in particular the colonization of Mars.  It's their money, and as indicated in THE ULTIMATE EVOLUTION OF LIFE, perhaps they are rightfully being foresightful.

To many, it is premature to spend so much money today to do what we might need to do some time in the future, like a millennium from now.  We have urgent current needs on Planet Earth today, and the Blue Revolution offers an opportunity to accomplish so many things for the benefit of both our economy and environment, while creating commodities for profit.  Watch a Blue Revolution Hawaii sponsored TEDx talk of a few months ago.

Simply:

  • A thousand meters deep in the ocean is a FREE cold water resource capable of providing electricity, freshwater, hydrogen, range of sustainable bioproducts, exciting living habitats and the potential for both remediating climate warming and preventing the formation of hurricanes.
  • Envisioned is a simple two-step process leading to perhaps a thousand nations at sea someday:
    • $150 million to build and operate the Pacific International Ocean Station to develop the science, technology and pre-commercialization of enterprises for next generation fisheries, marine biomass plantations and assortment of sustainable options.
    • By 2050, $150 billion to build the first ocean city to host the 2050 World Ocean Expo.
But the big question is how to get to even step one.  Governments and companies are just not capable of investing such sums.  The one answer is a billionaire or two or more.

Since Blue Revolution Hawaii formed a dozen years ago, we determined that the optimal, and maybe only, pathway was through an inspired billionaire.  The individual who suggested this strategy was Guy Toyama, who unfortunately passed away a decade ago at the age of 42.  From my remembrance:

Guy's legacy might well be Blue Revolution Hawaii and the Pacific International Ocean Station.  A couple of years ago, we were having lunch in Kona when he mentioned how billionaire Gordon Moore had provided funds to initiate the Thirty Meter Telescope Project.  As Guy had an office at Keahole Point at the entrance of the NELHA, why not the Blue Revolution with support from a billionaire?  Thus was born Blue Revolution Hawaii, which proposed the Pacific International Ocean Station.  Guy created the presentation for PIOS, which I presented at the Seasteading Institute's conference in San Francisco.  

  • China and the U.S. together have 55% of the world's known billionaires.
  • China as 1133 to the U.S.'s 716, with a growth rate three times that of America.
  • China has three cities with the most billionaires.  New York City is #4.
  • 60-70% of all female billionaires in the World are from China.
  • However, the American billionaires control 32% of all combine wealth, compared to China's 27%.
  • The total market cap of Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet are equivalent to the top 500 most valuable non-state controlled companies in China.

Forbes annually ranks billionaires.  Curently:

  • #1    Elon Musk  $266 B  U.S.
  • #2    Jeff Bezos  $191 B  U.S.
  • #3    Bernard Arnault  $172 B  France
  • #4    Bill Gates  $135 B  U.S.
  • #5    Warren Buffett  $126 B  U.S.
  • #6 - #9 from the U.S.
  • #10  Mukesh Ambani  $96 B  India
  • #16  Zhong Shanshan  $71 B  China
  • #27  Zhang Yiming  $50 B  China
  • #100  Li Xiting  $17 B  Singapore
  • #200  Stefano Pessina  $10 B  Monaco
  • #300  Stewart and Lynda Resnick  $8 B  U.S.
  • #400  Philippe Laffont  $7 B  U.S.
  • #500  Huang Yi  $6 B  Hong Kong
  • #600  Marc Rowan  $5 B  U.S.
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Wednesday, December 15, 2021

BLUE REVOLUTION HAWAII TEDx EVENT

On Dec 11 we had a successful TEDx Countdown webcast of talks by 8 leading experts on the potential
of open ocean aquaculture for expanding world food supply while reducing Global Warming emissions. The recorded Talks have been uploaded to TEDx for review and may be selected in a month or so for TED's Library of Talks. In the meantime, here are the individual talks:

Pat Takahashi: https://vimeo.com/657074946/8f1aa884f8

Neil Sims: https://vimeo.com/657075206/1e77736f9c

Luis A. Vega: https://vimeo.com/657075716/7c7b3490b0

William A. Spencer: https://vimeo.com/657076364/ec505c1150

Mathew Goldsborough: https://vimeo.com/657076743/156650f706

Shaun Moss: https://vimeo.com/657077047/48d398f963

Dawn Lippert: https://vimeo.com/657077455/95b82612b2

Tetsuzan Benny Ron: https://vimeo.com/657077865/22e3a3e458

Additionally click on the Blue Revolution Hawaii website to:

  • Visit the  Nature Conservancy advocacy of the Blue Revolution for Sustainable Aquaculture Production.
  • Watch the BRH video for the Pacific International Ocean Station.
  • Details about the eight speakers, including chairman:
Leighton Chong, intellectual property attorney, Chairman of TEDx Event

Pat Takahashi,  PhD, Professor of Engineering and Director of Renewable Energy at University of Hawaii

“The Time for the Blue Revolution Is Now”


Neil Sims, MSc (Zool, UNSW), Founder/CEO, Ocean Era Inc, Kona, Hawai’i

“To the Blue Horizon – Our Oceans as a Salve for Our Ailing Earth”


Luis A. Vega, PhD, Renewable Energy Consultant, formerly at UH/HNEI

“OTEC Carbon-Free & Renewable Power for Ocean Farming & Beyond”


William A. Spencer, Founder Hawaii Oceanic Technology, Inc., Mariculture Evolution Group

“Automated Open Ocean Fish Farming Platform”


Mathew Goldsborough, Chief Technology Officer, Forever Oceans

"Oceans of Data: Technology, Transparency & Future of Open-Ocean Fish Farms"


Shaun Moss, PhD, Executive Director, Oceanic Institute, HPU

"Improving Production Efficiencies in Aquaculture Through Selective Breeding"


Dawn Lippert, Exec Director Elemental Excelerator, Chair Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative AB

“Building Community Intelligence” (first presented at TEDx 2021 Countdown Summit, Edinburgh)


Tetsuzan Benny Ron, Ph.D., Aquaculture Specialist, Blue Revolution Hawaii, AquacultureHub

“Integrated Multitrophic Aquaculture (IMTA) for Ocean Farming Systems”


Special thanks also to Amnon Ron, chief operating officer of CME Congresses in Israel, for providing superior technical assistance.
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Sunday, December 5, 2021

BLUE REVOLUTION HAWAII WILL HOST A TEDx EVENT

Blue Revolution Hawaii, spearheaded by Leighton Chong, has been feverishly at work to produce a TEDx event with a Blue Revolution theme for world-wide showing on VIMEO on Saturday, December 11, 2021 at 9AM (Hawaii time).  Click on the following to watch the entire program:

1.  Patrick Takahashi                                           9:00 AM HST“The Time for the Blue Revolution Is Now” 2.  Neil Sims                                                        9:20 AM HST“To the Blue Horizon – Our Oceans as a Salve for Our Ailing Earth” 3.  Luis A. Vega                                                   9:40 AM HST“OTEC Carbon-Free & Renewable Power for Ocean Farming & Beyond” 4.  William A. Spencer                                       10:00 AM HST“Automated Open Ocean Fish Farming Platform” 5.  Mathew Goldsborough                                  10:20 AM HST"Oceans of Data: Technology, Transparency & Future of Open-Ocean Fish Farms" 6.  Shaun Moss                                                 10:40 AM HST"Improving Production Efficiencies in Aquaculture Through Selective Breeding" 7.  Dawn Lippert                                                11:00 AM HST“Building Community Intelligence" (first presented at the TEDx Countdown Summit, Edinburgh) 8.  Tetsuzan Benny Ron                                    11:20 AM HST“Integrated Multitrophic Aquaculture (IMTA) for Ocean Farming Systems”                                                               [END:  11:40 AM HST] 
We welcome your viewing of the FREE Binge-Watch Series webcast!
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Monday, June 28, 2021

THE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY OF THE BLUE REVOLUTION

The following graphics come from a presentation made at the Le Meridien Hotel in San Francisco for a gathering of the Seasteading Institute:

PREAMBLE:   Floating in space is the International Space Station, a $150 billion adventure which appears to be in the process of being abandoned.  For one percent the cost, say $1.5 billion, the Pacific International Ocean Station is being planned to serve as a grazing plantship powered by OTEC for a global partnership to advance the development of sustainable ocean resources in harmony with the marine environment.  Certainly marine biomass plantations and next generation plantations, but also opportunities for innovative business practices, exciting new living habitats and maybe even a Disney at Sea.






These powerpoint slides are explained in the presentation mentioned above.  On further analysis, it was deemed possible to design, build and operate the technology portion of the Pacific International Ocean Station for $150 million.  The higher initial cost included activities such as Disney-at-Sea and the Blue Revolution Hawaii headquarters to be placed on the current site of the former Hawaiian Electric Company powerplant next to the Aloha Tower complex, which can still be considered.

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