A definition states what a word or concept means, while a description identifies properties or qualities of things.  Both of these answer the question, “What?”

However, to fully grasp a difficult concept, we need an explanation.  An explanation answers the question, “Why?” 

As we wade through the knowledge base of science, it becomes easy to confuse definitions and descriptions with having a thorough understanding of a topic.

To better clarify this concept we need to first look at past efforts to define the world around us.  Let’s start with the creation of the dictionary and the word battles that took place two centuries ago. 

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The Precautionary Principal and the shifting onus of responsibility

The future will be neither as good as some would lead us to believe, or as bad as other would have us think. But it is the onus of responsibility that becomes the industry’s “hot potato”, with innovators squaring off against product safety experts and consumer advocates over who should bear the ultimate cost and responsibility of insuring compliance with the ever-increasing safety standards. 

With technology growing in complexity on a daily basis, it is no longer reasonable to live in a “buyer beware” society.  The Precautionary Principal, as a foundational underpinning of the sustainability movement, places the burden of protection on shoulders of those creating the products.

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“Beyond the known, lies the future”

Very often the work that I do is in groupings of eight, and you are probably wondering what the significance is of the number eight.  Have I always been tormented with an “eight” fetish?  Is this some sort of obsession like Jim Carrey in the movie “23″?  Will the world end if I somehow violate my own rules-of-eight?

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Understanding the new realities of economic development

The USPTO is hiring. In fact they are doing a lot of hiring, over 1,200 new examiners every year, and they still can’t keep up with the deluge of new patent filings.

But while the number of patent filings has grown from 90,544 in 1967 to 484,955 in 2007, a 535% workload increase in 40 years plus an equally growing backlog of patent applications waiting for examiner attention, and no more room to expand in their current offices, the agency is now looking at a different approach to solving their growing pains.

First, some personal background in this matter. In 2004 I began researching the workload problems at the USPTO and wrote a paper about what I saw as an impending crisis, predicting that they would quickly run out of office space in DC, ending the article by asking the simple question, “Why not come to Colorado?” The article ended up being printed in a local magazine, but I largely viewed this as the end of the matter.

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