myrhvold IV

=<div>sil vly libtards:</div><div>
</div><div>the Global Lab: Inequality, Technology, and the Experimental Movement</div>By Adam Fejerskov<div>
</div><div><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=v591EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA78">https://books.google.com/books?id=v591EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA78</a></div><div>
</div><div>----</div><div>Hall of Justice pals at Bellevue-based <a href="http://www.intellectualventures.com/">Intellectual Ventures</a>. (Motto: If you thought of it, we already patented it.)</div><div>=
tedtalk

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Myhrvold

Myhrvold was born in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle,Washington" title="Seattle, Washington" class="mw-redirect">Seattle, Washington</a>. He attended <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirman_School" title="Mirman School" class="mw-redirect">Mirman School</a>,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Myhrvold#cite_note-4">[4]</a> and began college at age 14.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Myhrvold#cite_note-5">[5]</a> He studied <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematics" title="Mathematics">mathematics</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geophysics" title="Geophysics">geophysics</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_physics" title="Space physics">space physics</a> at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UCLA" title="UCLA" class="mw-redirect">UCLA</a> (BSc, Masters). He was awarded a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hertz_Foundation" title="Hertz Foundation">Hertz Foundation</a> Fellowship for graduate study and studied at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princeton_University" title="Princeton University">Princeton University</a>, where he earned a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master%27s_degree" title="Master's degree">master's degree</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_economics" title="Mathematical economics">mathematical economics</a> and completed a PhD in theoretical and mathematical physics.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Myhrvold#cite_note-6">[6]</a> He also attended <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Monica_College" title="Santa Monica College">Santa Monica College</a>. For one year, he held a postdoctoral fellowship at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Cambridge" title="University of Cambridge">University of Cambridge</a> working under <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Hawking" title="Stephen Hawking">Stephen Hawking</a> (along with a number of other students).
...
Myhrvold left Cambridge to co-found a computer startup in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakland,California" title="Oakland, California">Oakland, California</a>. The company, Dynamical Systems Research Inc., sought to produce Mondrian, a clone of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM" title="IBM">IBM</a>'s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TopView" title="TopView" class="mw-redirect">TopView</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_multitasking" title="Computer multitasking">multitasking</a> environment for DOS. Microsoft purchased DSR in 1986 for $1.5M.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Myhrvold#cite_note-7">[7]</a> Myhrvold worked at Microsoft for 13 years. At Microsoft he founded <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Research" title="Microsoft Research">Microsoft Research</a> in 1991.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Myhrvold#cite_note-8">[8]</a>

<h3>Intellectual ventures</h3>

After Microsoft, in 2000 Myhrvold co-founded <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_Ventures" title="Intellectual Ventures">Intellectual Ventures</a>,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Myhrvold#cite_note-9">[9]</a> a patent portfolio developer and broker in the areas of technology and energy, which has acquired over 30,000 patents.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Myhrvold#cite_note-10">[10]</a>

Myhrvold allegedly owns approximately 40% of Intellectual Ventures

Management Company, generating $20M-$40M annually in "management fees"

for Myhrvold. Intellectual Ventures exploits the market for inventions

and patents, buying patents from inventors under the assumption the

patents will be more valuable in the future. IV also files patents

through the work of a team of on-site inventors and thousands of other

inventors within their network who respond to IV-created "Requests for

Invention", although nothing from these labs has reached commercial use.

It also buys patents from companies and inventors. In certain, limited,

circumstances, IV reduces these inventions to practice. However, in

most cases, IV's "inventions" are limited to the descriptions cited in

their patent applications. IV then licenses the patents in

patent-portfolios (bundles). IV purports to be assisting in the creation

of a market for patent-backed securities.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Myhrvold#cite_note-11">[11]</a> The business practices of Intellectual Ventures have caused controversy and the company has been widely criticized for being a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_troll" title="Patent troll">patent troll</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Myhrvold#cite_note-12">[12]</a>

Myhrvold has publicly defended his firm's practices, arguing that they

foster innovation by serving as a marketplace for intellectual property.

He noted in 2012 that many of the largest companies in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Valley" title="Silicon Valley">Silicon Valley</a>, including <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft" title="Microsoft">Microsoft</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc." title="Apple Inc.">Apple</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook" title="Facebook">Facebook</a>, have also bought large patent portfolios to 'further their strategic game'.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Myhrvold#cite_note-13">[13]</a>

<h3>Nuclear power</h3>

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TerraPower" title="TerraPower">TerraPower</a>, a subsidiary of Intellectual Ventures, aims to develop a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_reactor" title="Nuclear reactor">nuclear reactor</a> that is "safe and cheap" as part of Bill Gates' strategy to reach the goal of zero carbon emissions globally by 2050.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Myhrvold#cite_note-14">[14]</a> Gates unveiled this plan at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TED_%28conference%29" title="TED (conference)">TED</a> 2010. The plant will run on natural or depleted <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium" title="Uranium">uranium</a> with the potential for 30 years without refuelling.

<h3>Science</h3>

Myhrvold is a prize-winning nature and wildlife photographer and a

member of the USA Science and engineering Festival's Advisory Board. He

has also been involved with paleontological research on expeditions with

the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_the_Rockies" title="Museum of the Rockies">Museum of the Rockies</a>. His work has appeared in scientific journals including <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science%28journal%29" title="Science (journal)">Science</a>,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Myhrvold#cite_note-15">[15]</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature%28journal%29" title="Nature (journal)">Nature</a>,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Myhrvold#cite_note-16">[16]</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleobiology%28journal%29" title="Paleobiology (journal)">Paleobiology</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Myhrvold#cite_note-17">[17]</a> (With <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_J.Currie" title="Philip J. Currie">Philip J. Currie</a>), <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLOS_ONE" title="PLOS ONE">PLOS ONE</a>,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Myhrvold#cite_note-18">[18]</a> and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_Review" title="Physical Review">Physical Review</a>,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Myhrvold#cite_note-19">[19]</a> as well as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortune%28magazine%29" title="Fortune (magazine)">Fortune</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time%28magazine%29" title="Time (magazine)">Time</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_American" title="Scientific American">Scientific American</a>,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Myhrvold#cite_note-20">[20]</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Geographic_Traveler" title="National Geographic Traveler">National Geographic Traveler</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slate%28magazine%29" title="Slate (magazine)">Slate</a>. He and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Rinearson" title="Peter Rinearson">Peter Rinearson</a> helped <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates" title="Bill Gates">Bill Gates</a> write <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_Ahead%28Bill_Gates_book%29" title="The Road Ahead (Bill Gates book)">The Road Ahead</a>,

a book about the future that reached No. 1 on the New York Times

bestseller list in 1995 and 1996. Myhrvold has contributed $1 million to

the nonprofit <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SETI" title="SETI" class="mw-redirect">SETI</a> Institute in Mountain View, CA, for the development of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_Telescope_Array" title="Allen Telescope Array">Allen Telescope Array</a>, which was envisioned to be the most powerful instrument for SETI.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Myhrvold#cite_note-21">[21]</a>

After the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_Museum%28London%29" title="Science Museum (London)" class="mw-redirect">Science Museum</a> in London successfully built the computing section of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Babbage" title="Charles Babbage">Charles Babbage</a>'s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Difference_Engine" title="Difference Engine" class="mw-redirect">Difference Engine</a> #2 in 1991, Myhrvold funded the construction of the output section, which performs both <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printing" title="Printing">printing</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereotype%28printing%29" title="Stereotype (printing)">stereotyping</a>

of calculated results. He also commissioned the construction of a

second complete Difference Engine #2 for himself, which has been on

display at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_History_Museum" title="Computer History Museum">Computer History Museum</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_View,_California" title="Mountain View, California">Mountain View, California</a>, since May 10, 2008.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Myhrvold#cite_note-22">[22]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Myhrvold#cite_note-chm-23">[23]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Myhrvold#cite_note-24">[24]</a>

<h3>Cooking</h3>

In addition to his business and scientific interests, he is an

amateur chef. Myhrvold's early culinary training was as an observer and

unpaid apprentice at Rover's, one of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle,_Washington" title="Seattle, Washington" class="mw-redirect">Seattle's</a> leading restaurants, with Chef <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thierry_Rautureau" title="Thierry Rautureau">Thierry Rautureau</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Myhrvold#cite_note-25">[25]</a> Myhrvold is the principal author of a culinary text entitled <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modernist_Cuisine" title="Modernist Cuisine">Modernist Cuisine</a>, released in March 2011, on the application of scientific research principles and new techniques and technology to cooking.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Myhrvold#cite_note-26">[26]</a> He has also won first place at the Memphis barbecue championship and appeared as a guest judge on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Chef" title="Top Chef">Top Chef</a>.

<h3>Advocacy</h3>

On December 20, 2009, Myhrvold appeared on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNN" title="CNN">CNN</a>'s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fareed_Zakaria_GPS" title="Fareed Zakaria GPS">Fareed Zakaria GPS</a> and discussed his patented idea to eliminate <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming" title="Global warming">global warming</a>/<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change" title="Climate change">climate change</a> using <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoengineering" title="Geoengineering">geoengineering</a>. It involves using hoses suspended from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium" title="Helium">helium</a> balloons 25 kilometers (16 mi) above the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth" title="Earth">Earth</a>. The hoses would be placed near the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Pole" title="North Pole">North Pole</a> and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pole" title="South Pole">South Pole</a> and emit <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfur_dioxide" title="Sulfur dioxide">sulfur dioxide</a>,

which is known to scatter light. Myhrvold estimated that such a

configuration could "easily dim the sun by one percent, and even do it

in a way that wouldn't be visible."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Myhrvold#cite_note-27">[27]</a> An evaluation of the potential negative impact of releasing large amounts of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfur_dioxide" title="Sulfur dioxide">sulfur dioxide</a> (SO2) into the atmosphere, which, when combined with water moisture ( H2O ) can produce <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfuric_acid" title="Sulfuric acid">sulfuric acid</a> ( H2SO4 ) is needed. Significant environmental efforts aimed at scrubbing SO2 from automobile exhausts and coal-burning power plants over since the 1970s have been largely successful in eliminating <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_rain" title="Acid rain">acid rain</a> as an environmental pollutant.

<h3>Affiliations and awards</h3>

Myhrvold is a member of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_Science_and_Engineering_Festival" title="USA Science and Engineering Festival">USA Science and Engineering Festival</a>'s Advisory Board.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Myhrvold#cite_note-28">[28]</a> In 2010, he was named by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Policy" title="Foreign Policy">Foreign Policy</a> magazine to its list of top 100 global thinkers.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Myhrvold#cite_note-29">[29]</a>
--

The two Steves knew exactly what they were doing when they sat down to

pen the final chapter of their sequel to their 2005 bestseller <a href="http://freakonomicsbook.com/freakonomics/about-freakonomics/" style="">Freakonomics</a>. In the now infamous chapter in the newly released <a href="http://freakonomicsbook.com/superfreakonomics/about-superfreakonomics/">SuperFreakonomics</a>,

Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner manage to downplay the global warming

threat, compare climate change believers to religious fanatics, and

accept at face value the assertion by some pointy-headed geeks that they

can save the world on the cheap.

No surprise, SuperFreakonomics set off a firestorm of criticism and angry rebuke. To <a href="http://grist.org/article/2009-10-13-new-book-superfreakonomics-pushes-global-cooling-myths/">quote Joe Romm</a>,

“the Superfreaks frame this chapter mostly as their (misguided) view of

the science versus the views of that famous non-scientist Al Gore (as

opposed to the views of all of the scientists who disagree with the crap

they are peddling). That straw man approach gives them the ‘high’

ground.”

The Steves feigned surprise Monday night before a crowd of 300

gathered at Seattle’s Town Hall. Why would anyone get upset about that

chapter? We’re not denying the climate change problem, they averred, nor

are we saying nothing should be done about it.

To the contrary, the Steves told the audience, when they suggested

that the costs of capping carbon emissions are greater than the costs of

potential geoengineering solutions, they’re just being good, objective

scientists. No, make that economists — the only truth tellers among the

social scientists, who get treated like pariahs because they make

morally agnostic observations about humanity, they said. Dismal science,

indeed.

The truth is, there’s plenty to object to in SuperFreakonomics.

The whole tone of the climate chapter understates the threat and

overstates the potential for technology to save the day. Some examples:

<ul><li>Leading off the chapter with the “global cooling” hysteria of the

1970s, which sends a not-so-subtle signal that scientists are wrong lots

of the time — so they might be wrong again on global warming (pp.

165-66).</li><li>Citing one economist’s analysis that there’s only a 5 percent chance

of the worst-case climate scenarios happening — so why invest billions

to fix an unlikely threat? (p. 169)</li><li>Making the “global warming as religion” comparison, as if climate science were just another meaningless sectarian rift (p. 170).</li><li>Worried about sea level rise? Relax. The climate models all

disagree, and the rise that will actually happen won’t be all that bad

(pp. 185-86).</li><li>Worried about a bunch of U.N. bureaucrats coming up with a draconian

solution? Don’t. Even if they do, world governments will behave like

“rational actors” and do whatever is in their short-term best interest.

China and India ain’t gonna put their development on hold (pp. 202-03).</li><li>You’re still worried about the devastating effects of global

warming? Stop losing sleep. There are these smart dudes with Microsoft

riches working to solve the climate problem, MacGyver style (pp.

176-96).</li></ul>

That’s a pretty simplistic review of the first part of the global

warming chapter. But it’s no more simplistic than the authors’ breezy

survey of climate science and unquestioning regurgitation of the wild

geoengineering ideas being offered up Nathan Myrhvold and his Hall of

Justice pals at Bellevue-based <a href="http://www.intellectualventures.com/">Intellectual Ventures</a>. (Motto: If you thought of it, we already patented it.)

This point bears a bit more scrutiny. Freakonomics and its

sequel contain lots of counterintuitive observations based on measurable

data. The global warming chapter stands out because, well, it doesn’t

rest on data. Myrhvold says he and his pals can float a “garden hose to

the sky” to pump sulfur 18 miles high into the stratosphere, all for $20

million in upfront costs and $10 million annually to keep it running.

Uh huh.

And the IV brainiacs have super boats in mind that would spray ocean

water into the air to feed the formation of clouds, blocking more

sunlight from hitting the surface and being absorbed as heat. Sounds

great, but how many boats? What do they cost?

Dubner event hinted salaciously that IV has solutions to ocean acidification in the works. Details, please!

These are fascinating ideas. But they’re just that — ideas based on

some pretty big leaps of faith, i.e. that these things can be

engineered, that someone will fund them, and, moreover, that the

solutions will actually do enough to cool the planet.

As Grist’s very own <a href="http://grist.org/article/2009-10-16-why-richard-branson-and-superfreakonomics-are-wrong-in-pictures/">David Roberts wrote a few weeks back</a>,

“Lesson: the problems humanity faces are systemic and interrelated. The

idea that sucking CO2 out of the atmosphere will save us is akin to the

hope that a math equation can be solved by erasing one of the numbers.”

OK, enough. The real point here is get beyond the bad in SuperFreakonomics and focus on two messages that deserve greater discussion in the world of climate wonkery.

First, Levitt and Dubner do what economists do best, and that’s note

that emissions from burning fossil fuels are a negative externality —

fancy economist speak for the fact that we don’t really pay the full

cost of relying on coal, oil, and gas. Power plants and their customers

around the world generally don’t pay anything now to deal with the

environmental impact of CO2 emissions and other bad stuff — heavy metals

in the emissions and ash, health effects of particulate pollution, etc.

And it’s an open question whether an international carbon-cap system

based on trading credits and buying offsets can genuinely cut carbon

emissions enough to reduce global warming that’s already predicted to

happen. At the end of the day, no matter what is decided at Copenhagen,

it’s still in too many people’s economic interests to keep burning

fossil fuels. It’s also right for Levitt and Dubner to note that cutting

carbon emissions won’t address methane from livestock or nitrous oxide

from fertilizer.

Second, and just as significant, Levitt and Dubner are doing a real

service by talking about geoengineering and stressing that technology

and innovation are going to be a part of saving our asses — it won’t be

done through complex cap-and-trade schemes alone. As fancical and

unproven as the ideas proffered by Myrhvold and company are, eggheads

everywhere should be encouraged to think about them and figure out ways

to execute them. We might just need some wacky tech solutions to fend

off the worst effects of global warming while we transition the global

economy toward clean, renewable energy.

So, read the book. Take the Steves’ dismissive tone with a grain of

salt, but think hard about how we insert geoengineering into the climate

discussion, and heed their warning about the limits of public policy to

steer people away from the old ways of doing things.

More on the super-freaking-hullabaloo …

<ul><li>Levitt’s <a href="http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/global-warming-in-superfreakonomics-the-anatomy-of-a-smear/">lengthy defense</a> of the global warming chapter.</li><li>Joe Romm’s <a href="http://climateprogress.org/category/economics/">lengthier dissection</a> of it.</li><li>Boston Globe writer <a href="http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/11/01/the_freakonomics_duo_tackles_climate_changeand_discovers_the_limits_of_cleverness/">Drake Bennett’s take</a>.</li></ul>

Video: Stephen Dubner on SuperFreakonomics:

Video: Intellectual Ventures video on “garden hose to the sky”:
==
</div>