Thomas P.M. Barnett :: Weblog

Build better fairy dust, suffer fewer bad actors

Scientific advances today are accomplished at the intersections of various fields, according to Frans Johansson's brilliant book, "The Medici Effect." Breakthroughs come when disparate disciplines collide in new ways. This innovation is readily seen in nanotechnology, or the creation and use of materials -- even machines -- at the atomic or molecular scale. While the "sexiest" nanotechnology focuses on new applications, many possibilities exist to vastly improve existing techniques and procedures.

I got a lesson on one such potential use recently at Oak Ridge National Lab, which -- by design - -is sort of a "Medici effect" all its own, meaning the lab steers scientists from various fields into multidisciplinary efforts to solve vexing problems. Being a strategy consultant to Oak Ridge, I'm like a kid in a candy shop when it comes to receiving briefings from lab scientists because -- no matter the project -- it's easy to imagine real-world applications ranging far beyond the subject at hand.

As an expert on globalization, I focus a lot on transparency, with my analytic mantra being, "connectivity drives code." By that I mean, the more you engage the larger world (connectivity), the more you become subject to rules (code).

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