On creativity and old dreams

A cute puppy just for you...

I've been going through the writing I did at the end of last year as writing exercises. The exercise was to wake up early and write for half an hour. I thought I'd post an extract of one of my better entries. It’s a little bit loopy - the early mornings didn't agree with me - but there are a few ideas I thought were interesting.

2/12/2013

Creativity is a strange idea. Who can tell what fathomless ideas will spring fully formed from our minds like we are giving birth to the collective’s child, or what idea we will drag kicking and screaming into the world and bully into a semblance of creativity. There are so many expressions and various turns of phrase that will allow us to reach across the gap between people and shove our ideas down their throats, but who knows which are the right ones? What do we do when we can’t express ourselves and the block is marrow-deep, with no end in sight?

I had a dream last night that I found fascinating. The elusive tendrils of my dream are fragmenting like mist in the sunlight, but I remember thinking - while I was experiencing the dream - that it would be fascinating to write about, as it was a shocking and tragic event. I also remember thinking that it was a good opportunity to remember that writing requires depth and … What’s the word. Despair? No – more like adversity. We need to deal with ideas bigger than ourselves and overcome the tragedy to come out triumphant. Every good story that I’ve gotten drawn into has been vivid and tragic. Bad things happen to the characters, and they grow stronger from the events, overcoming the adversities.

I feel that my mind is trying to help me now, with the vivid and chaotic morass of dreams in my head, but I have trouble recalling these dreams when I wake up. I aim to remember these in greater detail as I continue my project, so we will see what changes, and how I go from here. The dream this morning was enough to wake me into a panic attack, but the dream itself was not that scary. It was tragic, like a car crash might be, but I have already forgotten the details, after swearing to myself that I would remember. It was one of those dreams where you think you’re awake, and that it’s real, until you finally wake up and breathe a sigh of relief that it’s all over and that you’re still here and safe.

On Solar Roadways

I'd just like to bring something to your attention - in case you haven't already heard of it. I've only just discovered this website through social media, and I'm so impressed that I want to share it with as many people as I can reach. Please, please please don't just dismiss this. I believe with all my heart that this project can make a huge impact on our world.

It's a project called Solar Roadways - the website can probably explain it better than I can, but I'll give you a brief summary. Basically, they are solar panels with in-built processors and LED lights covered by a super-strong glass in a tile that can be laid on the road. It's a US invention, and they're trying to raise funding for the next phase of development. They've already done tests of all sorts on them to see how well they work, and they've passed all test with flying colours.

I really think this could revolutionize the way our world works. On the website, they talk about how these panels, if laid over the whole road system of the US, could produce 3 times the current power demands of the country. Imagine what we could do with that. The road signalling systems could potentially reduce accidents on the road by making the road lines easier to see. The LEDs that are part of the roads allow the possibility of turning the road into a sign - imagine driving along the road to work and you see a message on the road that warns you of an accident up ahead and directs you to a detour - reducing traffic and congestion. And because it's all linked, you could immediately see when there was an issue with a section of road and dispatch a team to simply replace the plates - no more massive roadworks. The road system could also act as a delivery system for electricity, internet (via fiber-optic cables), even provide coverage for mobile networks. We could do away with telegraph poles and city cell phone towers, and make our planet prettier. It could eventually reduce fossil fuel consumption by powering electric cars on the go. This could be the next big thing since the mobile phone.

It could be a solution to most of the ills facing the developed world. It could solve environment issues like carbon emissions, global warming, as well as provide power, better internet service, better phone coverage, better road surfaces, better road safety, and probably even help economies by creating a whole new infrastructure. I've never seen anything that could make such a huge impact on our world. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to have a project the whole community could get behind? We could be on the forefront of the next stage of a world phenomenon.