The nine to five job has killed most potential entrepreneurs. We need to bring them back to life. Entrepreneurs can solve all of the energy, social economic, and market problems we have today. They are the "Grand Engineers", they are the "Pragmatic Futurists".
The dream isn't dead. There are still great thinkers out there. What IS dying is our interest in them along with our respect for the rigors of a hard days work. It's like our fathers tried to tell us, "hard work builds character" and there's no benefit in "getting something for nothing".
America became wealthy because it was a land of unspoiled resources. As far as the eye could look, and much farther, there was land that was relatively untouched. It didn't invent entrepreneurship, it just made it easy. It's always been a progressive culture, and that has continuously inspired generations to be free thinkers, and creative problem solvers. So what went wrong?
The people are drained and uninspired. Looking for the next big thing to pick them up. Dreaming of a revolution that won't come unless they bring it pass; or start believing in something bigger than the prospect of their own failure.
A society of open minded and industrious citizens needs only to maintain a momentum of innovation. It isn't that we ran out of resources, but rather that we forgot how to take stock of our resources. The common American has become lazy by reason of ignorance. Many don't know how to work unless they have a job. If there isn't a company to hire them they assume the alternative is to stay home being idle.
Every country reaches a point where the use of resources appear have been maximized to a certain extent. If they're lucky new technology / discoveries can help us conceptualize new markets, keeping the spirit of expansion ignited, i.e. industrial boom, the internet, computers, new energy, etc.
The world is still a place of unspoiled resources, the greatest of which is it's people, their connection, and their willingness to do whatever is necessary to make this world a better, cooler place to live. We simply need to encourage each other to look with new and eager eyes.
Photography/Art by Fanny Allie
