The Dean Kamen Water Purifier

[Corey]

Thought you might get a kick out of this Intrigued:
http://www.time.com/time/2003/inventions/invwater.html

I wonder why this never became big?
http://www.time.com/time/2003/inventions/invpowersuit.html

I'd like to date a gal who wears one of these. She could *really* keep me in line. Anyways what happens if when you need to lift the suit? Seems like you might pull your back just trying to get the thing on and off. :o

http://i.timeinc.net/time/2003/inventions/images/invpowersuit.jpg

[Intrigued]

Thanks Corey. :yes

His comment in the last sentence, "Sometimes when you want to change the world, it helps to be a little naive."

aka. be open minded. ;-)

[Intrigued]

That powersuit... I saw a video of a kid that was (is still?) working in I believe it was a basement lab over at M.I.T. on something like this. But his was pretty much all machine! Very neat stuff!

[Intrigued]

Here is what I am going on about:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1610190,00.asp

vids:

http://bleex.me.berkeley.edu/bleex.htm

[Corey]

If I were an inventor I would definitely listen to Kamen, he's the real thing. If you search on Google there's a killer 1 hour video webcast of a Kamen speech out there somewhere. I think it might have been for Harvard's Cyberposium back in 2003 or something. It was a very popular speech, definitely worth tracking down from an inventor interest standpoint. :yes

[Intrigued]

Ya, he's done alot in the invention arena, that's for sure!

[Corey]

Yes I agree but further than that he's a guy who seems to have an extraordinarily keen sense of insight. I find that rare. Woz is a good example of a brilliant inventor who has almost no insight at all and really couldn't care less. Kamen is a guy who seems to have an incredible capacity for understanding, "what's going on" on multiple simultaneous levels in a very objective way. He's one of very few people I've seen who has that level of savvy. Most often people with that much savvy just quit the game because they see all the pitfalls before they even start, but Kamen has managed to maintain his childlike enthusiasm in the face of a lot of stuff that would make most folks cynical. :yes

Additionally Kamen is one of very few people who regularly use their press time to talk about "helping the world". To me, for as long as there are problems without solutions, that is the only way to live. So I admire him personally also. Here's a billionaire (or close) who goes to bed at night wondering how he can help people. :yes :yes :yes :yes :yes

[Intrigued]

I would not mind (heck, I'd love it I'm sure!) riding shotgun along side of him for a week!

:yes

[Corey]

Here's his speech, #6:

http://www.vodium.com/mediapod/cyberposium/