Week 4 Reading Reflection

I really enjoyed this quote in the "Ethical Practices and Codes of Conduct" section:

Singly or in combination, unethical practices have a corrosive effect on free markets and free trade, which are fundamental to the survival of the free enterprise system. They subvert the laws of supply and demand, and they short-circuit competition on classical ideas of product quality, service, and price. Free markets become replaced by contrived markets. The need for constant improvement in products of services is thus removed.

I did not quite understand how effectively implemented this idea was though in today's economy. There seems to be a lot of monopolization and increasingly contrived markets nowadays, most notably in the sectors that are less obvious to public notice. This may not be true, but it feels like it, especially in the health sector.

-How can owners of large corporations more effectively influence all of their employers?
-Are there ways to have explicit rewards and punishments or something similar for unidentified situations?

I don't think that most approaches to ethical management can be categorized as simply put as they appear in the book. Styles are so deeply individualized that they have elements of many different categories listed in the book. Often, the best style is not the same from situation to situation, so it is important for managers to live in the grey and be able to move with the situation in order to react in the most beneficial way for all.

Customer Interviews No. 1

I was sitting around my dorm room trying to think about entrepreneurial idea possibilities, when my roommate decided he was hungry. He told me that he wished food could just appear in our fridge. I started pondering ways to make this possible. I decided that there could be a way to automate re-hydrating food that had been dehydrated and stored. There were some initial issues with this idea, but it seemed plausible. I then set out to find out people's opinions on the matter of foods and meal preparation. I figured that the majority of college students, often low on cash flow and free time, would be the ideal people to ask about this type of idea. I asked them how they feel about cooking, and most were only liked it for the ability to control exactly what they put into their food and body. I ultimately found out that most people considered it a good idea due to functionality, plausibility, and ease of use. They thought that hydrating food could be nice, but it would likely have an undesirable texture when re-hydrated. They all seemed willing and open to trying re-hydrated food, but many seemed doubtful that the resulting texture would be enjoyable. Most of the considered texture to be very important. I believed going into this interviewing process that this would be the feelings of most people, and I was correct. In order to actually perform this specific task of re-hydrating food on command it would definitely be more desirable to maintain some semblance of the original texture of the food. I will continue to consider ways of providing quick and effective food for people. People will always need food, and it will always be easier to press a button than to cook an entire meal. If I can find a way to tap into that, then there is a legitimate business here. Until then, it is but a dream of all poor and busy college students. It did feel good to hear random people echoing my own thoughts about my idea, though; it is very motivating.


Interview 1:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/32o9kad6zcaag4f/Interview%201.m4a?dl=0

Interview 2:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/lltncz0rznh92o7/Interview%202.m4a?dl=0

Interview 3:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ml3ofsnrh4v0rwq/Interview%203.m4a?dl=0

Interview 4:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/j63qysptp3z1ibu/Interview%204.m4a?dl=0

Interview 5:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/e9szegbwymo9g6a/Interview%205.m4a?dl=0

Top 5 World Problems

1. Overpopulation

The human population is increasing exponentially past the natural carrying capacity of the Earth, and there is no end in sight. This is made possible through amazing technological advances and other incredible industrial achievements. This is also creating horrible environmental consequences for all other living creatures on Earth as well as making living conditions increasingly cramped, most notably for the underdeveloped and underprivileged areas. This problem is a partial cause of many others this world faces, and that is why it is first on this list. 

2. Environmental Distress
The increasing human population requires more space, so we take more space and resources from other areas of the world. According to the World Wildlife Foundation, around 50,000 square miles of forest are lost every year due to repurposing for farms, ranches, and cities. Climate change also alters viability of forests because the changing climate means that biomes perform better in different areas than they have been located. Climate change is not disputable, and industrialization is a large factor. Our impact on the environment needs to be minimized so that our planet and all species can last as long as possible.

3. Renewable Energy
Nonrenewable resources are just that, nonrenewable. They cannot last forever, and, at the rate we are consuming them, we will deplete our oil supply in 14 years according to The Ecologist. Our modern world requires large amounts of energy, so we need to have an equally large research sector dedicated to finding better options for supplying those needs. There are also enormous tensions over the remaining resources and their control, so finding newer and more effective resources would decrease tensions across the world.

4. Economic Differences
The differences between post-industrial and pre-industrial countries is enormous. If there were a more uniform spread of information, agriculture, and industry within countries and across the world, then there would be less economic turmoil in the lower grossing areas. The struggles of people across the world to pay for the basic necessities of life cause problems with crime, health, and population. It is proven that post-industrial countries have much lower population growth than those still industrializing. Helping to create more uniformity would alleviate many other issues that arise when people are dissatisfied with their lives.

5. Pollution

Pollution is a compounding problem and every little bit adds up very quickly with over 7 billion people on Earth. Most everybody has heard of the Great Pacific garbage patch, but what have we heard about attempts to fix it? Issues like this one are detrimental to the environments where they are found. It is important to clean the Earth of these artificially produced products because the planet is not built to regulate such materials. This is an important issue that affects the environmental distress described earlier.

1. Renewable Energy
Energy is the most important resource in today's society, so simply applying the top minds to research newer and more efficient sources is not a very difficult task. The difficulty is that fossil fuels are so ingrained in the power structure that it is hard to change providers. If the government subsidized solar power funding for average citizens, we could create enormous changes relatively quickly. Also, nuclear energy is highly efficient and has no emissions other than the radioactive waste, which is buried safely beneath the ground.

2. Disease
Disease treatment is readily available to all developed countries and their inhabitants for many known ailments. There are diseases that have been completely eliminated from most modern areas (cold virus, malaria, small pox, and more) that are still extremely threatening to other areas. If we simply increased vaccinations and treatments for third-world countries we could make extensive progress towards successfully making an extreme change in the number of curable diseases killing people all over the world.

3. Pollution
The easiest problem to fix is the pollution we create as a species, in theory. In practice, however, it is extremely difficult to have people all on the same page taking steps toward this goal. A very simple step that we can all easily take is stopping pollution. If we took better care to stop littering and found more efficient ways to dispose of all of our garbage, a huge positive impact would result. There are also emissions problems to solve and other air pollution. This form of pollution is mostly a result of combustion of fossil fuels and could be fixed with newer energies.

4. Deforestation
This problem is easy to fix, just stop cutting down forests. The conflict is that we need more space as a species. So, we need to find better ways of generating more space. We could expand downward, which could also lead to geothermal energy, or expand upward. There are projects making strides toward generating farmland on top of urban buildings and further integrating agriculture with technological advancements. A simple idea that we can integrate with a little ingenuity.

5. Hunger
It is estimated that between 30-40% of the USA's total food production is wasted completely. Worldwide waste in industrialized countries is almost equal to the total food production in sub-Saharan Africa. These statistics, and many others, prove that there is a lot of opportunity for improvement. There are many ways to both minimize waste and feed millions of people, and we need to come together and find ways to achieve this goal. Fairly straightforward solution that requires a lot of logistical planning.

World's Biggest Problems

The biggest problems facing today's Earth are important for us all to understand. In my opinion, the ten most important, in no particular order, are:

• Hunger
• Over 10% of today's human population is undernourished. There is a big difference between hunger and malnourishment, but it is important to understand that both are horrible. Long term hunger causes a lot of problems for children especially, and there are steps that can be taken by us all. Something that France has done very successfully is cut back on food waste, and they have laws stating how companies are to discard their unused food so as to help the affected people. 
• War
• The last time there has been true peace on Earth was during the Roman Empire, after they had spent decades fighting for control of more territory. It is nearly impossible to have a world without conflict, but war is avoidable. People are too quick to blame and hate those who are different, which is a biological distrust created to survive the wilderness. The problem with that, we are no longer living exclusively in jungles always on the lookout for predators. We need to be more open-minded and accepting to avoid war, a VERY long term goal.
• Overpopulation
• The human population is growing far past the original carrying capacity of the earth for our species. That is a brilliant feat of scientific advancement to extend our livable environments, but it is also dangerous because we are forcing ourselves into more places and, eventually, we will run out. The statistics trend towards a slight decline in population in developed areas, while undeveloped areas are growing exponentially. This means that we need to help get more of the world out of the pre-industrial zones to slow our growth.
• Deforestation
• It is estimated that in about 100 years, there will be no more rainforests. Ironically, the leading cause of deforestation is the expanse of agriculture. More humans need more food, and that means more farmers need more land. Deforestation has detrimental effects on all of the world, and it even is a major cause of the increase in greenhouse gasses. We need to find more efficient ways of using the space we already have, like building-integrated architecture. 
• Global Warming
• The rate of increase is i itself increasing, and, regardless of the cause, we need to do something to at least slow it down. The Earth has natural cycles, ice ages to warm periods, but we should be cooling by now. The Earth could be fixed into cooling down, or allowed to continue its warming. If it continues trending upwards, we are likely facing a mass-extinction level event. We need to decrease fossil fuels, deforestation, pollution, and chemical use of our society and find more environmental alternatives.
• Pollution
• Air pollution affects all living animals, water pollution affects all water-drinking animals, and litter on grounds is cleaned up with the help of $11.5 billion from the US government. I'm sure you have heard about "trash island" in the Pacific Ocean, the mass of trash that is twice the size of Texas! The easiest solution is to lessen our littering and consider the ways we produce energy. Pollution is deadly, and even though a couple paper bags will just decay eventually, it still takes a long time and there are many more than two paper bags affecting us. We need to be considerate of the effects of our actions, like few people realize that one of the leading greenhouse gas producing industries is livestock. 
• Energy
•  The world is too reliant on fossil fuels and other nonrenewable resources. We need to put more money and time into research to change this. We get more energy from wood than the sun? That doesn't make sense when considering the sun has enough energy to heat our entire solar system. We, as a species, need to think about other ways of producing, storing, transporting, and using energy. We need to learn more about energy and how we can help decrease our dependence on others to light our own house economically.

• Disease
• The cold virus used to be deadly. Something so commonplace and considered more of a nuisance than a danger used to be terrifying. Malaria is a curable disease, that's why it has been eradicated from the US. We need to be more dedicated to medical research in this field and finding ways to distribute it to more people. It is not easy, but it can be done, as proven by the cold virus, malaria, tuberculosis, and many more.
• Information Economy
• The trade of information and ideas is one of the most important things we produce now in America. We are now in the information age of post-industrial development, and we need to share that with the rest of the world. If we were all on a similar level of development then there would be more similarities between us all. More advanced civilizations are better able to handle worldwide issues. 
• Ideological Differences
• The causes for so much discord is the differences we all have. It causes war, hatred, and division. People need to find a way to come together despite all of their differences if we are ever to overcome the above problems. This problem is on of the causes of all other problems' longevity. Once we come together, we are all but unstoppable.

Bugs List

Some things just really bug me, like:

• It bugs me how clothes are sized so differently

• There isn't really a universal way to check what size a "Medium" shirt is from company to company, cut to cut, and it is understandable how hard it would be to create one. I would just appreciate it if it was more universal.

• It bugs me how my watch changes time randomly

• I probably bump the switch on the side, or the watch is broken. It is probably just my clumsiness, though.

• It bugs me when the wifi sucks

• I need the internet for everything, but so does everybody else. There is only so much bandwidth to go around, so it makes sense. I still really hate when a homework assignment won't submit because of wifi.

• It bugs me how reliant I am on phone

• My phone service was cancelled a couple days ago because of a carrier switch, and the wait between phones is agonizing. The reason is I am so used to being constantly connected to whomever I wish, so I should probably try to use it less.

• It bugs me how I can't function the same without technology

• I got lost for almost two hours getting home one night because I didn't have a map on my dead phone. I should have used an actual map, but I didn't expect to have a dead phone. Also, I can't do anything for school if my laptop dies, and that's because it is easier for the university.

• It bugs me how the temperatures are so different inside and outside

• I understand that nobody wants to sit in a 90° or 40° room all day, but, when dressed for the weather, it is often uncomfortable inside.

• It bugs me when I have wet shoes

• Soggy shoes last way too long, and its because they weren't made for full submersion in puddles. I just wish they would dry out sooner.

• It bugs me when I have stinky hats

• Hats are hard to clean, so the stink builds up. I just wish I could clean them without misshaping them.

• It bugs me when I have hat hair

• Hair gets moved around with the hat shoved on top of it, but I wish my hair would stay well done even when I take the hat off 

• It bugs me when I have bed head

• I dislike having to do my hair every morning, I wish it would just stay done from the day before. It makes sense though because I do tend to roll around a lot, which obviously would dishevel some hair.

• It bugs me when I have armpit stains

• Deodorant reacts with sweat to cause yellow stains on clothes, and I don't know why nobody has tried to fix that.

• It bugs me how the important things are also distracting

• Things that are important are also often interesting, so it is easy to get too invested in details to actually complete it. Researching too much and writing too little is an example of this that happens to me often.

• It bugs me how reliant I am on others

• The human species thrives on interpersonal relationships and interactions, so it is normal to desire to be with people over being alone.

• It bugs me when I forget things

• The brain tends to get preoccupied with what it is doing at the moment and pushes other things to the back of the mind. Life would be easier if I didn't care, though.

• It bugs me when people are ignorant

• Sometimes people just don't know things, but they still try to have arguments and participate in conversations. I read that Google and the internet makes people more confident in their own knowledge even though though they don't know any more.

• It bugs me when people are inconsiderate

• Often it is hard to understand that other people have a different point of view and are more sensitive to different things. It is even harder to know what those differences are.

• It bugs me how the bus schedule isn't set

• It is because the stops vary in length of time, and sometimes stops are skipped if there is nobody using them. All of that makes the routes start and end in different intervals every time.

• It bugs me when I don't know things

• Our brains only have a certain amount of storage, and also it is just very hard for some people to understand certain types of concepts.

• It bugs me how rare true silence is

• Everything today makes noise, and blocking it all out at once is nearly impossible. I've heard that silence is the key to a lot of introspective success, but it is hard to find out.

• It bugs me when I am not being good at things

• It is very hard to accept that everybody can't be good at everything, but I just wasn't supposed to be a football player, no matter how much I know and love the game.

Introduction

Hey, so, I probably should have introduced myself a little bit first, but oh well. I'll do it now...

My name is Jackson Cole and I would consider myself from Clearwater, FL. My parents have been divorced since I was very young, and I have 2 half brothers on my dad's side and a half sister on my mom's. I moved around a lot, school to school, parent to parent. Growing up like that made me a very strong-minded and strong-willed individual. I learned how to interact with other people and myself, which was honestly invaluable.

I love art, specifically that which involves sound. Music is always playing in the background of my room or in my headphones. I literally have my headphones in 90% of the time I am out. I mostly like rap and alternative music, but I appreciate it all. I like to say that I like everything from Bach to Tupac. I am trying to get into making music now too. I played bassoon for a year in middle school, but I don't think that truly counts. I am in the process of beginning to teach myself guitar and music production. Yes, I said process of beginning, my fancy way of saying I tend to procrastinate.

I am a first year engineering student. My current major is computer engineering, but I am highly unsure of that. My goal is to go to grad school for Biomedical Engineering, but I have yet to decide the path I will take to get there. I think that I want to work with cellular controls, but I have no idea. The brain and DNA are too cool to choose. Hopefully I can fulfill my dream of starting an engineering conglomerate company with my friends, and then I could facilitate all kinds of new things! I even have some specific ideas for the Biomedical division, but those require a top secret level clearance. If you have the clearance, feel free to ask more, and if not, then just know that they are awesome. That's all a very long ways off though, so, for now, I'm more than content taking my science classes and learning about entrepreneurship.

My Entrepreneurship Story

Entrepreneurship is an important quality to have in life as a whole, not solely with regard to business. The University of Florida has an Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center that defines entrepreneurship as being the process of creating value by bringing together a unique combination of resources to exploit an opportunity. This definition is extremely broad, and I believe it to be intentionally so. I went to 3 high schools in 3 states,

and in order to succeed in such a varying environment, I had to be entrepreneurial. I had to take use any of my skills and focus them into creating a good new situation. I had to make new friends, play for new coaches, and learn from many more teaching styles. Success in any environment requires compromise, which is to say that we must tailor our skills and emphasize different aspects of ourselves to assimilate. Now, of course I am not saying that we need to be fake to fit in, I am trying to make a much broader point about entrepreneurship. We can take that attitude and focus it towards any goal in any area of our lives, and we will be on our way to achieving that goal, if not more. That also brings me to why I am in this class. I want to learn more about the mindset that Dr. Pryor talks about. I never would have considered moving across the country and trying to make friends being an entrepreneurial task, but it is. I want to be an engineer because I like science and building things, but also because I want to help people. I want to have an invention that actually alters the way people live, and I want to have my own company dedicated to achieving those ends. In order to do those things, I need to know a lot more than Newton's Laws or Differential Equations, and I am excited to learn about entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneur's Mantra

Test Post

This is simply a test of my ability to not mess everything up. I think it is going well. So far, there have been no issues. Go me!