Holes

What would be the one invention that would have the biggest impact on the wellbeing of the world?

Here I am restricting the question to things you can easily imagine in the real world. For example, I can imagine my future cell phone being the size of a grain of rice and surgically implanted in my ear, powered by the electrical energy from my own body, like a potato clock. But I can’t imagine invisibility or Star Trek transporters.

I read something by futurist Paul Saffo (can’t find the link now) who said the big invention of the future would be robots that can build other robots that can build and install solar panels in the desert. We have plenty of desert land, sun, and silicon. It’s the labor that makes solar power uneconomical. So once robots can reproduce, and once they are trained to put up solar cells in the dessert, we’ll turn them loose and have unlimited energy on the cheap.

I love that idea. But I have a variation on it that might be just as good. I think the great invention of the future will be a hole digger.

That’s right, a hole digger.

Obviously we already have drilling and mining equipment. So what I’m describing is more of an evolutionary change. Our hole digging capability needs to be much better. There is lots of good shit hiding under the ground and I want it.

For example, the geothermal energy below the surface has virtually unlimited potential. There are already several power plants that get all of their energy from big holes in the ground. There would be more of them, but it’s expensive and difficult to drill so deep. We need a hole drilling robot that doesn’t know when to quit. When we invent that – and it seems entirely feasible to me – we’ll have all the energy we need just from holes in the ground.

If you drill the geothermal holes near places that could use some extra dirt, say to build a dam, or levee, or create an island, that’s a bonus. Who doesn’t love free dirt?

And what about the potential for digging caves for poor people to live in? If the caves were big enough, and well lit, and well designed, it wouldn’t feel that much different from being at the mall. Underground dwellings have lots of cost advantages: The insulation is excellent, you never have to shingle the roof, water the lawn, or paint the exterior. The biggest expense is digging the hole, and the hole digging robots of the future will solve that.

Transportation in underground cities will be easy. When roads are completely level, and there are no weather problems, even senior citizens can pedal bicycles for miles. The underground cities would ban cars and use only bikes. Imagine how healthy the citizens would be, with all the exercise and no skin cancer.

Hole diggers would solve the surface traffic problem too. We’d simply build as many tunnel roads as needed.

And hole digging robots could do the job of miners, but safer and cheaper. The cost of goods made from minerals would plunge.

Unfortunately, you will never see a NASA-like effort to design a better hole digger because it’s not a sexy project. No politician wants to base his campaign on the inspirational message of digging holes in the ground. It doesn’t have the same sizzle as reaching for the stars. Some entrepreneur will have to crack this nut. I think it will happen.

Holes. They are the future.

Comments

[tobi]

STFU (SHUT THE FOK UP) NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ramasubramaniyan]

My wish for the next world invention is to something that will get rid of all the politicians in this world...Whats the need for politicians who, around the world are only out to harm the peace loving common man..either by swindling loads of public cash..or using loads of public cash to satisy ones personal EGO as Mr. Bush has done...

[PS]

But before you go around making those holes, you'd better have a pretty damn good idea what's down there. Not like we need any more mud volcanoes like they have in Indonesia.

[yano]

yawn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dave]

An influential new invention would be the efficient, long distance, instant and volume scalable transmission of energy through space/atmosphere. If we could develop a method, using something similar in characteristics to a laser, to distribute energy from the most efficient sources, to the demand (which are almost certainly not near each other ... Saudi Arabia sends oil months in advance for our consumption) ... if we concentrate energy, in a better way than we can now and bounce it off satelites to reach further quicker, theoretically anywhere in the world. We could have the most efficent generation producing at the source, for greater economies of scale ... without the pesky NIMBA issues ... and without the transportation of oil/natural gas across oceans to be processed. Throw up some more nuclear plants in our least favorite places and transmit to the market, which may not be limited. Put tons of solar panels in the desert, (... seems to me that part of the un-econmic piece of solar is the limited market, if we were buying millions of these PV panels ... ?) Geo-thermal plants in Hawaii. Giant natural gas plants in the remote parts of Alaska and Canada with tons of NG. ... and just to blow it when there might be a small chance that someone would consider the idea something approaching barely not ridiculous and half-baked ... at some point in the future, sources of energy on other planets could be fired back to mother earth from the Juptier electromagnetic storm array or the Lunar solar network .. so I can get my daily Dilbert beamed into my brain chip computer ...

[Dalebert]

Your suggestion completely overlooks the secret race of mole people just waiting for a chance to enslave us.

[Lee the Red]

true true, holes are the future.

[Gail]

Mmmm....no less than 8 smart-alecky responses to the phrase "put up solar cells in the dessert". And you think proper spelling is overrated. Hah!

Of course, maybe you did it deliberately. But even then, you had to know the proper spelling of both words to make the joke.

So there.

[Bill Tkach]

I think we need more of the "portable hole "idea, like from Looney Tunes. A black hole, slap it on a surface, and BAM! you have a tunnel though to the other side.

Less messy, and much faster than a digger. I'm not sure how they work though. If it's some sort of matter/electricity/phase shifting device that just creates a doorway to another location, then it won't work with your underground blissful world (which would probably be full of noxious deadly gases) because there will be no tunnels.

Maybe there's some specs on the Internet.

[No Parts]

Just FYI regarding sunlight and skin cancer, new studies has found that the human body must have some amounts of sun to generate enough D-vitamin to even the odds against cancer.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=16425262&query_hl=62&itool=pubmed_DocSum

Enjoy

NP

[Sudhanshu]

Scott, I found the link for Paul Saffo's official site (assuming someone else has'nt done that yet)
http://www.saffo.com/aboutps/index.php
this dude is paid for day dreaming!

[Claire]

What about something that some humans did and can do already?
Not that difficult to imagine cos its been done before, and some people can do it now (allegedly, havent seen with my own eyes)
That is to make food from nothing!
Sort of molecular manipulation / manifestation - we got the stuff we need - carbon, hydrogen and oxygen - the building blocks for everything!
Just think - no more spending money on food, or even on preparation on food - think of the time and money saved!
Not too hard to imagine i suppose...

[Ferran]

"What would be the one invention that would have the biggest impact on the wellbeing of the world?"
Forget about holes!
This is the biggest revolution since "spicy candy" (which exists, you can find it in China only though):
THE DVD REWINDER!!
http://www.dvguru.com/2006/10/03/the-dvd-rewinder/

Ever since I know about it I wonder how can I still be living without one. I won't elaborate, you just think about it and get your own conclusions.
But they are really selling this stuff. I need to come up with something, maybe a special cup that keeps your water at ambient temperature (and automatically adjusts itself to the current ambient temperature!).

[Manual]

Baby robot: "Hi papa...Why was I born? What's our prime directive?"

Papa robot : "To poke holes"

Baby robot: "When can I poke holes?"

Papa robot: "When you're big enough"

Thus, the course of robot-history was forever changed....

[Avi]

someone said "Something I've always wanted to see invented is something that absorbs heat energy." Unfortunately, there's something called the Law of F---ing Thermodynamics stopping us.

Someone else suggested floating cities. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futurama
Bad idea. I hope you like fish sticks.

Then again, I've always wanted to get rid of The South...I would gladly give Native Americans the South, and get rid of the ugly people that live there. It could be a Quebec/Canada thing. All the ignoramus nut-heads could live on an island all to themselves, like Pearls Before Swine suggested. We would invest lots of money to build an artificial island to house them all (Dubai already does it) and it would be worth it in the long run because we would get rid of all crappy leaders to and world peace would be achieved. Then we could set our energies to developing something far greater: The Mighty Magical Burrito.

In order to have World Peace:

a. get rid of all greedy asshole bastards who have a lot of money - they are the cause of alot of problems, and must be replaced with generous, kind people with a lot of money

the other option is

b. God steps in and says "holy crap what the f--- is wrong with you guys? BAM! World Peace is here."

or

c. everyone joins a religion that believes b. they become better, more wholesome people and greedy bastards dissapear. World Peace ensues.

d. violent revolution: kill the greedy bastards. unfortunately, the one person who would be able to organize and implement such a thing would be as bad as the previous rulers. I for one welcome...

e. ignore the crappy problems in the world, go to work every day and just hope they'll get sorted out without your input or energy.

Wow, that got off-topic...

[stuart - velkairiwyth]

I believe in Japan they are now building with the idea that "down is better than up" and already have underground malls etc.

With population growth as it is, its more feasible to build a few floors underground, and have it well lit and ventilated - and it can be more luxurious than the penthouse - wobbling at the top of a sky scraper.

[Attie Naude]

You forgot about underground landfills, where the cave-people can dump their rubbish.

[Dave]

For the traffic tunnels, they could make two side by side with each sloping downward in the other direction. So you could coast downhill both ways :-)

[Mike Peter Reed]

You can't get to grips with teleportation? Could a native American Indian have understood infrared remote control channel clickers?

[Mikeachim]

It sounds idyllic.

It's about time we got this 'Mother Nature' crap under control. It'd be nice if we could enswisscheese the planet and then everything above ground could be leveled off, maybe with the help of a few cubic light-minutes of tarmac.

Jogging up hills is hard on the knees and I've never seen the point of them. (Hills, not knees). And places like the Himalayas are especially pointless. There's half a billion gravel driveways there, at least.

.....

I like your idea. And it would force terrorists to become hole-fillers, which is nicely absurd.

[Sameer]

Are stand-up robots the opposite of boring robots ?

[Sameer]

With that many underground excavations, wouldn't it be a very bored planet ?

[Hila]

In those underground cities? No skin cancer, but no vitamin D.
... just saying.

[dogbert]

Hole-y crap.

[Kevin Kunreuther]

Someone PPPPPPPLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZZZE give Scott his Nobel Prize, already. Not that he needs the money, but he can wear the medal around the house and at the pro tennis meets - "hey Liz! - oh this? er, it's nothing, just my NOBEL PRIZE!", "Serena, nice set, congratulations, oh, what this? No, no, this isn't for you, it's MY NOBEL PRIZE!"