Development and Recession: Looking Back To See The Future

Tonight is Friday and while I sit here occupying my time with readings, movies and Youtube, many of you are probably outdoors enjoying the beautiful weather with the company of friends. While outside, I hope you get a chance to look up at the amazing moon, while it isn't a full moon tonight, it is still clear enough to give you a sense of awe at first glance.

A few weeks ago, major news outlets introduced many Canadians to the Hyperloop, a sky train that essentially utilizes magnets and air flow to travel fast, safe and comfortably. Thought of by the current CEO and billionaire of SpaceX, that company that is currently helping NASA get it's stuff into space, the idea seems to have been accepted warmly and people are lauding Elon Musk as more of a genius, interesting name aside.

Click on the picture to visit the SpaceX site and read more on Hyperloop

What intrigues me the most of the Hyperloop idea is not the genius behind it, but the fact that it is not really a new idea at all. In the 1970's, similar models were proposed using magnets and air flow to not only facilitate future methods of travel, but also combat the dependence of fossil fuels, which Hyperloop also champions. A system that essentially powers itself and allows you to traverse from point A to point B in much less time than conventional methods.The biggest issue in the past however, is that the technology that would allow for a powerful enough magnet system did not exist, so costs would have been many times more than the 6 Billion projected for Hyperloop.Hyperloop opens a much larger debate that needs to be discussed within Canada and the United States now more than ever.

With economic recession still looming and unemployment continuing to be a major issue, we as a society need to begin drafting ways of avoiding this continuous loop of good economic times, bad economic times that continues to plague the average person and destroy any long term employment security.

Switch back to the image of the moon in tonight's clear sky, while the moon is always there reminding us of the frontier that still awaits our conquering, I cannot help but look back to the Cold War space races. A time of great uncertainty that also introduced humanity to a new age, space and the hard work and technology required to get there. I honestly believe that the Cold War shows us a prime example of government led initiatives that not only encompassed the hard working ethic of our society, but the creativity and imagination that came along with that ethic. A time where people truly dreamed of doing something and went forward to get it done.

It seems like in today's society, the only real creativity we are witnessing, comes from consumer culture in the form of gadgets private companies are selling us, all of which utilize previous government sponsored technology projects. Your Apple Ipod may seem cool, but without military grants and public money, the technology would not have existed for Steve Jobs to utilize.

I would push further by arguing with confidence that this drive to reach the unknown frontier, conquer an unknown place and answer more questions is not only a large part of human nature, but an important solution to recession and economic depression.

Do you know what modern day Canada and the United States currently suffers from more than economic woe? The ignorance of thinking that all the big work is done, we believe that while our countries are mapped from sea to shining sea, that nothing else exists to explore, nothing else is required to reach the unknown. The "we have been there and done that" mentality is causing us to not only step aside and let third world countries potentially surpass us, but also create more problems than solve.

Harper chatting with his northern development adviser Ralph the glove.

For example, Stephen Harper is currently touring Northern Canada to promote job growth and opportunity...in mining resources. Yup, that is really going to do us a lot of good, let us take our Aboriginal groups, train them to dig up oil and minerals and essentially further destroy the beauty of the land they cherish traditionally and then all the while smile for the cameras. The current direction our country in does not spell out economic development or security for anyone other than big business and China, because they are the only ones paying for the resources. What do you we do when they run out though? How do we avoid "Dutch Disease"?

Our present day economy in a single picture.

The answer is simple, we need to look back at projects that were born from the imaginations of our fathers and grandfathers and make them a reality. While the technology did not make all of the dreams of the past a reality, today's world is a much different place and technology has a renewed spot in it.

Aside from the Canadarm, we really haven't seen any truly Canadian inventions that created jobs and raised us above the rest since the Avro Arrow, which unfortunately was scrapped due to a Conservative government and a push by the Americans for missiles.

Did you know: That northern projects were created to build living accommodations for Aboriginals, these projects were essentially giant bio domes that would not only house people, but also provide amenities like malls, restaurants and entertainment. The idea was to power them with nuclear reactors.

Looking at the conditions that our Aboriginal brothers live in today, these never to become reality projects would have changed the face of the Aboriginal debate. Also, would most likely have created more education, employment and well being for the people of the North than simply relying on resource extraction.

If both Canada and the United States wants to once again become an example to the world, we need to start opening our eyes, pulling our heads out of the sand and start dreaming. No longer do we have to build the biggest tower to be number one, but more importantly, if we accept the need to rid ourselves of corrupt banksters, powerful oil companies and incompetent politicians, we essentially open up the necessary grounds to do the implausible and shock the world.

Brothers until the end!

Further, I say build the Hyperloop in Canada if California is to blind to see it!

If we are going to enter into a new era of the future and stay competitive against countries that triple our population in manpower, we need to start adopting new forms of infrastructure that can remain independent and flexible for a new generation of employment, only then can we relax with the security of knowing that our society can continue on with employment and prosperity, because we do not do anything, if we allow recessions to come and go more rapidly and allow China and Asia to build everything for us, Canada and the United States are going to empty their stashes of resources and become third world countries in the future.

I want to finish off with one final thing and that is to understand the importance to incoporate creativity and free thinking into your life. You may feel that your living someone else's agenda or schedule and you may be right, but it does not have to be this way. You can find freedom to employ yourself in something you are good at and enjoy and noone can stop you, in fact it is so important that individuals adopt this kind of thinking, because if we are to see any significant change in direction of our country, we need to first start aiming ourselves in that direction, before we can have our government follow.

Until Next Time!