Enlighten Up

There is some good news today about the development of a ''Ideal'' Carbon Nanotube Diode.

Now don't run off for the technophobe hills just yet, because you don't need to understand what a diode is to understand the importance of this.


Here is the story:

GE Global Research Develops ''Ideal'' Carbon Nanotube Diode
August 18, 2005
Niskayuna, NY, USA

GE Global Research, the centralized research organization of the General Electric Company has announced the development of an ideal carbon nanotube diode that operates at the "theoretical limit," or best possible performance. This is a significant improvement upon the original nanotube diode device that GE developed and announced last year.

This latest breakthrough will enable even smaller and faster electronic devices with increased functionality.

In the course of its research, the GE team led by Dr. Ji Ung Lee made a related discovery when it observed a photovoltaic effect in the nanotube diode device. This is a very significant development that could lead to new approaches and breakthroughs in photovoltaic research.

"GE's success in developing the 'perfect' carbon nanotube device has not only ushered in a new era in electronics, it has potentially opened new doors in solar energy research," said Margaret Blohm, GE's advanced technology leader for nanotechnology. "The discovery of a photovoltaic effect in our nanotube device could lead to exciting breakthroughs in solar cells that make them more efficient and a more viable alternative in the mainstream energy market".

Blohm added, "Photovoltaics research is already a major component of GE's Ecomagination initiative, and this latest discovery will only further the company's quest to find alternative sources of clean, sustainable energy to benefit our customers and society at large."

Unlike traditional diodes, GE's carbon nanotube device has the ability to perform multiple functions - as a diode and two different types of transistors - which should enable it to both emit and detect light. In addition to opening new doors in photovoltaics research, GE's carbon nanotube diode device could have many applications in computing, communications, power electronics and sensors. "

This is the kind of thing that Richard Smalley, the Nobel laureate, has been saying that nanotechnology can lead to. Smalley believes that we can find solutions to our fuel problems if we just make it the priority it should be.

And there are plenty of other encouraging discoveries occurring everyday.

Labs and Industry are developing power paints that can change everything.

If we would only see what we have been given,

We would see that we have all we need in the surrounding light.

But we languish in our predicament.

We are like the child who would rather bask in his victimhood,

than grow up.

Let me see if I can say this relatively succinctly.

Humankind presently believes that we are individuals

and that we have been given certain rights,

such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Some of us think that God gave us these rights.

Some of us think otherwise.

Some of us believe that we know who this God is.

Which would be alright I guess, if everyone agreed,

but we don't.

Christ, we can't even agree on what side of the road to drive.

We as individuals believe that we are part of larger things.

We are part of our city, part of our state, and part of our nation state.

I don't know anyone who would die for their City.

I only know a few who would die for their State.

And they are mostly Texans.

But it is common knowledge that you should be willing to die

for your Country.

And many many brave young men, and now women

have done so.

If the individuals which comprise these nation states

continue to believe that they must die for their country,

instead of live happily and in peace for their mother ship,

we will continue to plunge ourselves into these countless

perditions as we struggle for the last deposits of dead fish bones,

even as our unsustainable, outdated capitalist economic model unravels.

Or, we can honor our creator, our lives, and our true home,

the earth,

and live as a family,

Free from our nations, free from our gods,

Free from our prejudices, free from our archaic mind forms.


Today, just after crossing a bridge, I got a red light.

Often, that is when I know the universe is telling me to pay attention.

In front of me was a bumper sticker.

It said.

Enlighten Up.

I couldn't see the driver.


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