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I am trying to kill two birds with one stone. I have a homework assignment and I know if I turn it into a blog post it will be much more interesting.

I am living in Brazil at the moment and studying at FGV, a well known business school. One thing I love about classes is here is how much we focus on not only creating businesses that will thrive in low-income economies but that will pull the world from poverty. There is no doubt in my mind that private business running of free market principles (we have never seen another period in history where the free market is so strong world wide) will literally pull the majority of people world wide from poverty—unfortunately free markets never toot their own horn and the credit will be stolen by politicians and their lousy redistribution programs. But nonetheless, in spite of damaging “do-gooders”, our world is on the upswing.

One thing that surprised me is how many cell-phones people have in Brazil. I think anyone who moved away from Brazil in the 90´s would be shocked to see all the phones that have reached deep into the lower classes. Not only will cell phones increase the ability to talk more easily, but the give Internet access to millions and if Wizzit, a revolutionary bank in South Africa, has anything to do with it, they will also give access to bank accounts (this video is worth the watch- oh and I love their tagline “my bank in my pocket”):

This type of banking is in the process of revolutionizing the world.

Micro Credit is another type that started a long time ago. Now many organizations have this type of credit to help third world counties from poverty. The LDS (or Mormons) church has created one of the largest micro credit systems in the world.

But Micro Credit could also evolve with the Internet. Ebay has created MicroPlace.com, a place you can go and make micro credit loans from your own computer. Kiva is another one of these types of places. They both remind me of Prosper in many ways.

After we reviewed all of these places in class, I asked the question, “with investment opportunities like these, ATM,s Internet banking, the ability to make loans from person to person, why do we even need banks anymore?” My belief is that we will not need them, at least not in their current form. But like big government (which I firmly believe we do NOT need) these banks are powerful and it will be interesting to see how long they can maintain themselves even when they are no longer needed.

I think we live in such an exciting time. I don´t consider myself a multitasker but, right now I have my new FireFox 3 web browser (I LOVE it by the way) with tabs open for the following: my bank, my facebook, my blog, my email, my blackboard… I can get a homework assignment done and emailed in a very short period of time. If the web can speed me up this much, then why not the rest of the world. It is cheap and gives anyone the ability to dream. Dreams are powerful.

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A week ago in my Internet Business class we talked about the “Internet of Things”. Currently the Internet connects anyone at a computer, cellphones, wifi connections… It is now even begining to connect cars (I was amazed the first time I saw a car unlocked by OnStar). This is all just the beginning of what some call the Internet of things. Imagine if your waterbottle, or your money for that matter, had a radio chip (as thin as paper) that could work almost like a GPS. Although your waterbottle is not connected to the Internet, the Internet is connected to your water bottle.

So a waterbottle is kind of extreme, but it is not far from where we are headed. From what I understand pretty much every thing will be tagged with a new generation of bar codes. It is obvious that anyone with a marketing mind was absent when they gave these new bar codes the extremely catchy name: “Radio-frequency identification devices” or RFID´s.

These little RFIDs have some merit. Large enterprises will be able to use RFIDs to greatly enhance logistics and inventory turnover. They will illiminate the need for cashiers because you will just push your shopping cart of goods past some scanners and your total price will show up. I could list a thousand ways these could be used and not even come close to imagining the innovations that will take place.

We are already in the first stages fo these RFIDs or related tools. Toll booths use them for the “easy pass” system. Pharmicies are starting to use them to prevent counterfit perscriptions. They are used in ski passes, cell phones, beach clubs like the Baja Beach Club etc…These are all sensible and will make life better, but there is a potential dark side to these chips.

What happens when you start tagging people with these “bar codes”? No kidding, it is already happening:

In class we talked about how it is already being applied to children in schools, and will not be long before applied drivers licences, passports, and even cash.It brought to my mind Mel Gibson in Consperiacy Theory (he talks about it 2:50 seconds into this little clip on Youtube).

After we got done discussing this RFID in class I raised my hand and asked, “Does this make anyone think of the John in the Book of Revelations?” Only one other person in class even knew of the referance I was speaking of and he had not made any connection. Here is the famous verse of scripture:

” And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name… If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his han…” (references here and here).

I am not saying that RFID is the mark. I know people in our grandparents time said it was SSNs. I believe this scripture, but I think it will not just be the “number” because many numbers and organization can be used to move forward the Lord´s work, but I cannot help but think of this mark when I hear about the RFID in humans.

Here is another video from CNN:

Another question I have. We are all born with unique identifiers (our eyes, our finger prints, DNA…) why on earth do we need an RFID chip. We have the technology to scan eyes from billboards to see how long they look at the billboard and how many people look at it, if this kind of identifier is needed, why not just stick with the identifiers that God gave us? AND no, instilling fear in me that I might have a heart attack and my RFID could save my life is not enough, if I am having a heart attack and i am alone, I will probably have time to dial 911 on my cell. If the doctor needs my medical records he should certainly be able to get them through a simple eye scan.

As Seth Godin put it so well: “This is going to happen. The only question is whether you are one of the people who will make it happen. I guess there’s an even bigger question: will we do it right?”

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I have watched this years elections closely (as I have the past 3 elections) and I don’t know about you, but when I am watching the elections it feels like my head is spinning. I know we need change, but if I was supposed to tell you how Obama will change the US, I couldn’t do it. I know the economy is crumbling, but I don’t know why. I know there is something really wrong about the war in Iraq, but what? Iran confuses me to high heaven. Social Security is a mess, but what happened? The US has a giant debt, but why?

I just finished reading an incredible book called The Revolution. It is a New York Times Best Seller. My mind is more clear about the changes that need to take place than it has ever been in my life.  While I read this book I changed my Political status on facebook from “other” to “Constitutionalist”.

For some time I have given away copies of the books, The Law - by Fredrick Bastiat  and The Proper Role of Governmen - by Ezra Taft Benson (Prophet of the LDS Church and Secretary of Agruculture). Now I have another short read to give away.

So I challange anyone who is confused about what is going on in America to read The Revolution a Manifesto.  If you read it and disagree come and comment here on my blog, I would love to hear your reasons.

After you read it come and join the Revolution at www.CampaignforFreedom.com.

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BBC reported on “One of South America’s few remaining uncontacted indigenous tribes” that was spotted on the border between Brazil and Peru. I am not sure I believe it is true, but I just got thinking:

If Republicrates are so worried about making EVERYONE has their “equality and rights” to government schools, welfare, socialized medicine, food stamps, sex ed, gay marriage, social security numbers, farm subsidies, bow & arrow control, etc… then why is everyone so worried about this tribe being contacted by the outside world? If we are really good citizens, shouldn’t we go control their lives as well?

Am I the only one tempted to fly over them and drop them a Coke bottle? - gods must be crazy

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