This is the third in an on going series of interviews with some of the leading scientists and thinkers on the subject of energy.  The first two are here and here.  Regular readers of this blog know that I believe that facing and solving the multiple issues concerning energy is the single most pressing problem that we face as a species.  There is a lot of media coverage about energy, alternative energy and global warming, but what has been missing is the knowledge and point of view of scientists, at least in the main stream media.  What do the best and brightest think about energy and the future?  Please continue to come to www.evolutionshift.com and find out. 

This interview is with a wonderful renaissance man, Fabrizio Pinto.  Fabrizio is a rare breed, a scientist who is a CEO.  The company he runs is the Interstellar Technologies Corporation.  When I met him at the energy conference sponsored by the Foundation for the Future, I was struck by two things.  First, he was a scientist who was an entrepreneurial CEO, and second that he was working in an area of energy science I had never heard of, Zero Point Energy (ZPE).  In the current global energy crisis, there are a lot of known forms of energy alternatives to fossil fuels.  There has also always been discussion of some new form of energy to be discovered that might have the ability to transform the way we power our societies. …

In the last year I have written often about disintermediation. It is a force that is affecting numerous industries. Residential real estate, as I have written here, is one of those businesses. Any business that has historically inserted itself between buyer and seller and has also kept market information to itself is a business that sooner or later will have to redefine itself in this Internet age. As mentioned in this column, both the stock brokerage and travel agent business have been substantially changed due to the disintermediating power of the Internet. I predicted last year that residential real estate would soon be facing a similar situation unless it adapted quickly.

The recommendation here has been for residential real estate agents to either lower their commission from the standard 6% or add services and create new value to keep their commission at that level. I want to be very clear: I am not arguing against the status quo of this industry, I am just saying that the trend is obvious and relentless and that it should be fully faced. The old days are over. Agents that do not believe this do so at their peril.

It has been no surprise to me to see numerous articles recently about the dramatic increase in discount real estate brokerages and the growing ‘For Sale By Owner (FSBO)’ trend. In a soft real estate market, brokers are no longer gatekeepers of listings but instead …

We have all heard the phrase “Life Imitates Art”. It points to the fact that artists are often in that space between imagination and the current society in which they live.  While most members of society are busy doing, working, acquiring and toeing the line of social norms, artists are often detached from such behavior. In this space of detachment they take a look around and ahead and, through their creative process, come up with art works that challenge society to look at things differently.

This challenge often provokes a negative response, as society often does not want to face itself, particularly if the image is less than flattering.  At other times, the artist’s vision is embraced because it is a thematic call to action that resonates with a leading part of society.  When this occurs, the artist is providing a valuable gift, as it can both show us a view of the future and deliver a powerful emotional message that shifts the consciousness of the person experiencing the art.  This thinking was prompted by two separate experiences this past week.

There is a new, massive public art exhibit currently on display along Chicago’s lake front.  The name of the exhibit is “Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet”.  It is comprised of 124 globes, all five feet in diameter, that each present a way to fight global warming.  In addition to these globes, there will be 200 mini-globes placed around the city during the summer, all with this same theme …

Last Friday, June 15, 2007, a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere was lifted out of its’ underground vault near Tulsa Oklahoma.  It had been buried on June 15, 1957 to both commemorate the 50th anniversary of Oklahoma becoming a state, and to serve as a time capsule for the  100th anniversary in 2007.  This led me to immediately think about what might be put into the ground today that would be unearthed in 2057.

First however, some interesting facts about the unearthed Plymouth. The car had been buried in a structure that was built to withstand a nuclear blast.  When the car was unearthed, it was discovered that this structure was no barrier to ground water, which had seeped in and converted the dirt around the car into mud, making it look like a victim of a flood.  This of course made me think about all the nuclear fall-out shelters that were being built in the late 1950s and early 1960s when a nuclear war with the Soviet Union was a real perceived threat. An ever present threat far greater in scope than the terrorist events we are fearful of today. Well, since radiation moves quickly into water, it looks like the shelters that were going to save the survivors of a nuclear holocaust wouldn’t have done much good.  This suggests that our general perception of our ability to protect against bad events can be woefully over confident.

The time capsule aspect of the Plymouth was of obvious interest.  The car had been buried …