Hello!

Welcome to The Saturday Morning Newsletter, a concise and casual digest of current events, optimistic news stories, and other interesting tidbits to round out your week. The concept is simple: 14 articles, essays, companies, ideas, podcasts, videos, or thoughts that caught my attention this week for their potential to significantly impact our future.

I want this to be a collaborative effort, so if you see examples of things that truly impact our future, let me know here. I’ll give you credit for sharing them.

If you enjoy this newsletter, please share it with friends, colleagues, and family.

Let’s get started.

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#1: Candela

Description: Candela is a builder of electric boats and ferries using hydrofoil technology.

Why Is this Company Interesting? Candela recently raised $14M in venture capital funding. If you haven’t seen a picture of these hydrofoil boats, they’re really interesting. What’s more, these boats are the first to combine long-range capabilities with high speeds. The overall energy use of these boats is cut by around 80%, creating a lower carbon-emitting boat for sustainable water travel.

#2: OceanWell

Description: OceanWell is a company creating the next generation of clean water devices.

Why Is this Company Interesting? OceanWell recently raised $11M in venture capital funding. Their mission is to create a source of clean water at the bottom of the ocean (a very unique value proposition). Their modular reverse osmosis systems use the natural pressure of the ocean to more efficiently produce fresh water. Boasting a 40% energy reduction (compared to existing solutions) and no harm to marine life, this may be the future of ocean-based water purification.

#3: Aquaria

Description: Aquaria is a startup developing devices to extract clean water for the entire globe.

Why Is this Company Interesting? Aquaria recently raised $12M in venture capital funding. It’s the week of water purification companies. Unlike the others, Aquaria is attempting to get their water from the air (not a natural water source). Their pitch is that not everyone lives near a source of running water, yet everyone lives near air, so extracting the H2O molecules from the air could provide a stable water supply to the entire globe.

The Economist: Casey Handmer Says Solar Power is Changing the Economics of Energy

Solar is arguably the cheapest, most scalable source of energy humanity has ever known. It’s carbon-free, has zero moving parts, no uranium enrichment, and no highly specialized labor required. Casey Handmer, founder of Terraform Industries, states “Cheap and abundant solar power, directly from the array, will transform dozens of industries beyond fuel production.” Let’s hope that idea becomes reality.

BBC: Is Nuclear Power Gaining New Energy?

When nuclear reactors were first developed in the 1950s, governments were seduced by their seemingly unlimited potential. It seemed like the future. “But the technology also inspired public fear. And that fear seemed to be justified by the Chernobyl disaster, which spread radioactive contamination across Europe in early 1986.”

Now in 2024, interest in the sector is growing again. Developed countries are hunting for ways to meet growing energy demand while striving to meet emissions reduction targets under the Paris Agreement. Opinions about nuclear power still remain highly polarized. Solving this public opinion crisis will be critical if there is going to be a new age of nuclear.

NREL: What Does the Horizon of Wind Energy Look Like?

Visual concerns are among the top reasons people oppose wind projects. Yet, what the research is finding is that turbines are technically only visible for around 12% of the population, with minimal to low impact on the geographical areas they are in. While more turbines are being installed, the population and scenic resources are generally not impacted by them.

New York Times: An Economic Model That Moves Beyond G.D.P.

A new economic model has been proposed, called the “Doughnut Economics” model. If we consider our system as a doughnut shape, the goal is to let anyone fall into the hole (the center), where they lack essentials like food, housing, healthcare, education, etc (think Maslow’s hierarchy of needs). Similarly, the system should not expand past the outer bounds, damaging the Earth through climate change, biodiversity loss, air pollution, and more. The following comparison to our existing system makes these priorities clear:

What are the consequences of a system based on endless G.D.P. growth?

We have inherited economies that need to grow, whether or not that makes us thrive. The evidence is clear this is not making us thrive. The scale of inequalities within and between nations is extreme. The climate and ecological breakdown is witnessed daily in wildfires and extraordinary flooding events. This is not working for Earth, her people and all her living beings. We need to create economies that enable us to thrive, whether or not they grow.

New York Times: Climate Talks End With a Bitter Fight and a Deal on Money

Countries are squabbling over climate change yet again. At COP29 in Azerbaijan, an agreement was begrudgingly struck to triple the flow of money from developed countries to developing countries to adopt cleaner energy and cope with the effects of climate change. The pledge is to increase funding from $100B per year currently to $300B per year.

A couple of notes:

• Independent experts have placed the needs of developing countries at around $1.3T per year, so this sum is not anywhere near the total needed to fund this transition.
• Many leaders of developing countries were angry at developed countries for not pledging to do more to help as they are primarily the historical drivers of the problem in the first place
• The agreement is not legally binding and functions through diplomatic peer pressure (which is not the best enforcement mechanism at all).

New York Times: Vast Oceans of Water May Be Hiding Within Uranus and Neptune

You read the title: there may be vast oceans of water hiding below the surface of Uranus and Neptune. The article has a gorgeous visualization if you’re interested in what that would look like.

I’ll be honest with y’all. I read the article, and I’m still not convinced there are massive bodies of water hidden in Uranus and Neptune. It’s giving human confirmation bias wanting there to be viable life capabilities on these planets and choosing to model them accordingly. We’re still a long way out from knowing for sure since we only have surface and solar-system levels of data, but there is still the potential for water on these planets.

New York Times: The Certainty of Uncertainty

If you want a great introduction to the concept of uncertainty, this is a great article (would recommend it as it inspired me to purchase 2 books and hopefully write a couple of newsletter articles in the future). Uncertainty is often disregarded in economics and other professions as it’s very difficult to measure and interact with. Knowing that can help us factor this randomness into our models and our thinking, hopefully predicting future events better.

Forbes: Intellectual Property: A Key To Innovative Development And Global Economic Transformation

Intellectual property brings significant revenue to countries, driving innovation and economic growth. Some of the most developed countries in the world earn large amounts of money for the intellectual property their countries produce. Cross-border payments for the license to use intellectual property in 2021 were almost $1T. That number has grown 50x in the last 40 years, a large feat.

Clarivate: How to Unlock the Value in Your Intellectual Property Portfolio

The value of every global intangible asset is estimated at around $63T. Yet, many companies, people, and other entities struggle to accurately assess the worth of their intangible assets despite their possibly large commercial value.

This lack of information pushes these groups to fail to use their intangible assets as they aren’t, on paper, outwardly signifying value such as company inventory, next-gen software, etc.

The Bubble: Why we need Philosophy

Why does humanity need philosophy? Many people often have this question. I like the answer this writer gives:

“Humans are guilty of latching on to something, one idea, that works in the hope that it will be the answer, the model by which we can live, but, of course, this is impossible, and it is dangerous to think otherwise. We need conversation, debate, a constant friction between different ideas to ensure we are in the best possible place and philosophy is the way we can do that. It is not static, as Descartes’ and Enlightenment thinkers may have caused us to believe, but something that does and must change. Even if we do not intend to change or uproot these underlying beliefs, it is vital to recognise and understand them rather than simply taking them as fact and ‘the way things are’.”

Thanksgiving weekend!

The unofficial/official beginning of the holiday season.

In this time of gratitude and thoughtfulness, don’t forget those who you don’t normally think about, the people who majorly go unnoticed.

The bus driver, the garbage man, the waitress, the newspaper boy, the hair stylist, etc. They may not have the support system you do—people waiting for them at home, people giving them positive affirmations.

Everyone deserves to be appreciated.

See you Wednesday for Brainwaves,

Drew Jackson

Twitter: @brainwavesdotme

Email: brainwaves.me@gmail.com

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Disclaimer: The views expressed in this content are my own and do not represent the views of any of the companies I currently work for or have previously worked for. This content does not contain financial advice - it is for informational and educational purposes only. Investing contains risks and readers should conduct their own due diligence and/or consult a financial advisor before making any investment decisions. Any sponsorship or endorsements are noted and do not affect any editorial content produced.