If God didn't exist, would we have invented Him/Her?

Distinguishing between what is real and what is not is always a challenging exercise. Most of us can remember sights, sounds and feelings that we have had in the past (nostalgia can be a beautiful feeling!), and almost all of us have had dreams. Yet how can we tell the difference between the memory or the dream and the real world around us?

What if you were to dream, and in that dream you were to pick a flower, and when you awoke that flower lay across your chest?

Modern science is getting better at modelling our profound experiences. If you stimulate our serotonin system (our neurotransmitter usually associated with feeling 'good') in a particular way, you can induce a deeply powerful mystical experience in some people, to such an extent that two months later most of them still regard it as one of the most spiritually significant experiences in their lives.

Is that God working through the magic mushrooms?
Does God work through hypnosis, mass hysteria and disindividuation?
Or is that humanity playing God?

Mathematics and sex???

Mathematics can be used in many ways, one of the more creative being to show that your odds for having a successful relationship increase if you get with at least 12 people!

While some of my friends might continue to be fixated (and not without cause) on finding that one right person and settling down to the happily-ever-after life, it would seem that such an approach is not necessarily as effective overall.

There are many relationship models. I'm currently playing with a 3-factor model, based around the labels of Mind, Body and Spirit, within the context that I give the shorthand of Love.

• Mind
  Parties need to share attitudes, interests and a framework through which greater appreciation can be developed. Attitudes should not be identical, lest one party be redundant; nor should interests, lest they lose their sense of identity; though closer frameworks of discussion can prove valuable.
  
  
• Body
  Couples should be physically attracted, and have shared lifestyle and activities. Physical attraction is an essential component for a great relationship; shared lifestyle and activities give both the context to relate and share life experiences, and indicate shared values and interests. Shared lifestyle would include geography and living conditions; Shared activities would include travelling and typical time priorities.
  
  
• Spirit
  Currently, I would identify three elements to spiritual connection: Life purpose, Spirituality and religion, and Connection. A shared sense of life purpose gives couples a powerful bond of understanding and conduct, and includes not just our seldom known external goals and objectives, but also compatibility between our view on the nature of life itself. Spirituality focuses more on more practical implementations of that world view, such as religious affiliations and practices. Connection refers to a deep sense of understanding and appreciation for the other person, a state of being where some individuals sense how another is thinking or feeling in a given moment, and perhaps where two people feel that they have been guided to be together.
  
  
• Love
  Love is the framework within which great relationships is possible. This includes concepts like a shared vision for the future, growth-motivated individuals who are letting go of their past, motivated to support and nurture each other, and giving unconditional love.

Thank you, Lyma, for your inspiration.

Peter Beattie at the Brisbane Institute

On Tuesday evening I had the privilege of seeing Queensland's Premier speak on his vision for my home state. It was inspiring and thought provoking, and reminded me of why he has managed to survive for so long.

Amongst many interesting comments was the following on the topic of groups (I think it is quoted quite closely): "The strength, calibre and character of the people determines the quality of the outcomes." With the State election called earlier that day this sentiment takes on even greater meaning...

After listening to Queensland's Premier spend a substantial portion of his microphone time talking about the importance of personal responsibility, I am left amazed at the ideological convergence of our political parties.

He made a number of interesting assertions and suggestions:

• Queensland is likely to enjoyed continued massive population growth, placing pressure in infrastructure (health, education and the environment) and our methods of value creation.
• Queensland should strive to become a regional hub for aviation, biotechnology and sustainable development.
• We are particularly well-placed to develop and then export technology in clean coal production and processing.
• China and India will compete with us directly in a range of industries. We need to lift our place in the value chain through innovation. Numeracy and literacy are necessary, but we also need innovation.
• We should provide infrastructure and policies that support personal responsibility. In this context, on the health front we have dealt with smoking well and the next target needs to be obesity.
• Building standards will need to change to allow for the reduced frequency but increased intensity of rainfall.

The Brisbane Institute is led by Ray Weekes, an inspiring leader and insightful speaker. Their efforts to build a community of thinkers in Brisbane town is remarkable.

We must not replace meritocracy with mediocrity

As I watch the National Press Club address by Julie Bishop, I am inspired with her launch of National Science week.

Any individual, organisation or nation relies upon a limited array of key assets and competencies to build and maintain its competitive advantage. Like a business as explained by John Kay, these typically take the form of Architecture, Reputation, Innovation and Strategic Assets. I would add to these the gift of foresight gained through close connection and understanding of the environment. An individual needs to be connected, to build their personal branding and reputation, to be flexible and innovative and ready to learn, and may also possess a range of strategic assets that might yield short-term superordinary results. Likewise for nations.


Individual teachers inspire individual students. Great teachers - particularly those who are passionate and uplifting - impact directly upon the lives of thousands and indirectly upon millions, and are one of the most crucial predictors of outstanding outcomes. I'm not sure whether great teachers are necessary and they are certainly not sufficient for excellence in their students, but almost every great mind that I've come across has had at least one and often more profoundly powerful influencers in their life.

Science is one of the few areas where Australia has a history of superior performance (we have the highest per-capita rate of Nobel Prize Laureattes). How can we use that?

Excellence is a challenge... yet it is the only way for us to move forward.

Cutting comebacks

When I was younger, my mother would encourage me to use my wit to respond to bullies. As it turned out, none of my wit was necessary after I decked a kid who was twice my size in front of the teacher when I was seven, and gave another kid a black eye the following year - he said that I'd never hit him - big mistake! But I love cool comebacks and biting turns of phrase.

After seeing that Weird Al has decided to tell the legal freaks to rack off and releasing his parody of James Blunt's You're Beautiful (You're Pitiful), I had a look at some of his other recent work... in just one song, Genius in France, here are a few interesting ones... at least to me!

• a moronic little freak... an annoying pipsqueak with an unfortunate physique... if I was any dumber, they'd have to water me twice a week
• got too much chlorine in my gene pool
• about as sharp as a bowling ball

Disarming wit is a powerful tool... though probably not quite as important as charm...

Nine months: $320m profit???

News Corporation bought Intermix Media, the parent company of Myspace.com for $580m nine months ago as their attempt to not lose their lead in news in the modern era. While there were many who criticised at the time, Google has agreed to pay $900m to advertise on that site and others in the News Corp stable. Now, $320m isn't bad for nine month's work...

Of course this relies upon Myspace.com continuing to meet traffic targets... which in turn is continguent upon Digg and others not hijacking this Web 2.0 world...

More really cool stuff in the news

As I said a few days ago, I really love Tom Peters' Wire Service... there's just so much cool stuff happening in the world, it's tough trying to keep on top of everything, but this is a great help. Just posted to the site in the past 24 hours or so are the following articles that I think are really cool...

• Moguls of New Media in the Wall Street Journal - how ordinary people are building HUGE networks across the new media, and what that means for all of us...
• Business model innovation is the toughest type, as Kodak is discovering in Business Week...
• Why 'Social media' - where we talk about what's hot and what's not ourselves rather than being the passive recipients of information from the 'media' - is a far more powerful form of communication than the old media that we're used to, with a story on yelp.com...
• FastCompany's thoughts on blogging and women taken from the BlogHer06...
• How to build congruence in a company branding (hell for ANYTHING - from a Church to a community group) we need to build that brand from the inside...
• The Nike Stanford Business School... Nike's founder has just dumped $105m for a new campus! With many of my friends having or doing MBAs, while others criticise them, here's another reminder that there might just be something of value in hanging around the odd lump of sandstone for a little while. At least there was when Philip Knight did his back in 1962!

I'm no expert in most of this stuff... but it seems just too fascinating and cool to ignore!

Speaking of business schools, I've been told that a head of the UQ business school said as an excuse for the low quality of lecturers on campus (I thought that they were okay but oh well), that "We're no Harvard". If this is true I am embarrassed to think that such a weak cop-out might ever be uttered from any one's mouth, never mind the man responsible for the UQ Business School. If you want to be great, you have to first think great... mediocrity will just come along in its own good time, but with greatness or anything else that you actually want to create rather than just hope for, the heart must first by made to conceive before the eyes will be permitted to discover.

Australia does not have the luxury of superior talent anymore. Nor do we have the luxury of superior access to capital or a stable political structure. China, India and the rest of the world is developing fast and they will take jobs, money and power wherever it might be available. The only way that we can retain strength is if we value what we have and build upon it for future generations. Mediocrity is stealing from our grandchildren.

There is too much information to have it all... how are you figuring out what you need and what you don't?