Greg Lindsay | Fast Company

The Economics of Disaster: Fragile Supply Chains Tossed By The Storm

BY Greg LindsayFri Nov 11, 2011

Almost all the world's hard drives are made in one Thai plant, and that plant is underwater. Are we going to keep facing economic disaster as a result of natural disasters, or will global supply chains have to adapt to a more ... READ»

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The Trillion-Dollar Storm: Will Hurricanes Drive Us Off The Coasts?

BY Greg LindsayTue Oct 4, 2011

As storms become more powerful and more damaging, will living on the coasts become simply impossible? Insurance companies might try to price you out before we find out.READ»

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Let Them Eat Ethanol And Cash

BY Greg LindsayThu Sep 22, 2011

How biofuels and speculation are driving food prices to scary new heights.READ»

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Let Them Eat ... What? High Food Commodity Prices Could Cause A Global Revolution

BY Greg LindsayTue Aug 30, 2011

New evidence suggests the Arab Spring wasn't caused by the slow boiling of political grievances, but by a sudden rise in food prices. Next year, prices will soar even higher.READ»

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Size Matters: How An Expanded Panama Canal Will Keep China In Business

BY Greg LindsayTue Aug 23, 2011

New renovations will let even "Post-Panamax" ships cross the isthmus, altering the economics of global shipping to the advantage of countries that produce cheap goods for the developed world.READ»

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If No One Wants Them, Where Do We Resettle The World's Refugees?

BY Greg LindsayTue Aug 16, 2011

The droughts in Somalia are creating the latest refugee crisis. At the same time, Western countries are clamping down on asylum claims. But a new type of city could house refugees and give them a chance to form their own economies.READ»

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Only 3% Of What You Buy Is Made In China, But It's The Most Important 3%

BY Greg LindsaySun Aug 14, 2011

When we outsourced manufacturing to China and Japan and Taiwan, we may have lost something far more important than low-wage jobs. We may have lost the ability to innovate and grow.READ»

BUTTERFLY EFFECT | Comment

Bluefinger: The Race To Freeze Or Breed Bluefin Tuna Before Extinction

BY Greg LindsayTue Aug 9, 2011

Bluefin--the most prized of all tunas--are quickly going extinct. The tsunami may have set back plans to keep toro refrigerated for future sushi lovers, but fish farmers are close to a breakthrough.READ»

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The First Bank of Blizzard: Are Virtual Currencies The Next Safe Havens?

BY Greg LindsayTue Aug 9, 2011

Now that a major online role-playing company has effectively created a functioning market for in-game currencies, gold farming is going to become a viable part of the global economy.READ»

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IBM Partners With Portland To Play SimCity For Real

BY Greg LindsayMon Aug 8, 2011

The Oregon city is the first to use IBM's app to help cities figure out how policy can affect the lives of their citizens. But can any algorithm quantify the whole experience of city living? READ»

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Move To The City, Save The Rainforest

BY Greg LindsayFri Aug 5, 2011

That the world's population is cramming into cities at a rapid pace has countless environmental benefits. A big one is that as people urbanize, we chop down fewer trees.READ»

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The DIY Terminator: Private Robot Armies And The Algorithm-Run Future Of War

BY Greg LindsayMon Aug 1, 2011

In the latest installment of the Butterfly Effect: Predator drones are just the start of unmanned, autonomous warfare technology. But as the tech becomes more democratized and more deadly, what happens when anyone can assemble an army of killing machines?READ»

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With Americans Coming Around To Soccer, Is U.S. Domination Around The Corner?

BY Greg LindsayTue Jul 26, 2011

In the latest installment of the Butterfly Effect, we look at what might happen if interest in soccer continues to grow: TV deals, a World Cup victory, and the American Dirk Nowitzki.READ»

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The Bacon Uprising: How China's Top-Secret Strategic Pork Reserve Is Burning Down The Amazon

BY Greg LindsayThu Jul 14, 2011

In the latest installment of the Butterfly Effect: The Chinese middle class is eating more and more meat, and Beijing wants to keep prices low. That means finding a way to feed all those pigs with grain imported from land cut from the Brazilian rainforest, leading to conflict within the BRICs.READ»

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The Rush To Electric Cars Will Replace Oil Barons With Lithium Dictators

BY Greg LindsayThu Jun 30, 2011

In the latest installment of the Butterfly Effect we look at how mining the key ingredient in electric cars could end up enriching potential enemies of America, and force another round of innovation to build an even newer kind of battery.READ»

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Melting Arctic Ice And The Fight On Top Of The World

BY Greg LindsayThu Jun 23, 2011

In this installment of the Butterfly Effect, climate change is creating incredible economic opportunity in the Arctic, leading to saber rattling from Canada and Russia. Whichever region benefits the most will have enormous geopolitical consequences.READ»

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China's Cell Phone Pirates Are Bringing Down Middle Eastern Governments

BY Greg LindsayTue Jun 14, 2011

In the latest installment of Butterfly Effect, we examine China's cheap knockoff cell phones. After being forced out of China and India, Chinese counterfeiters brought their product to the Middle East, where the sudden availability of information had unintended consequences for the region--and for China itself.READ»

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How Google's Robot Cars Will Revive Sprawl

BY Greg LindsayThu Jun 9, 2011

In the latest installment of Butterfly Effect, we examine Google's autonomous vehicles, seemingly a vision of the future--they'll potentially make commuting a dream and maybe even help kill the Big Three. But for those same reasons, it has the potential to set us back by revitalizing suburbs and damaging the economy. Here's how.READ»

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IBM Offers Cash-Strapped Mayors A Smarter City-In-A-Box

BY Greg LindsayMon Jun 6, 2011

A plug-and-play system for cities that want the benefits of real-time data crunching, without the big bills required to become a true city of the future.READ»

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China's Real Estate Bubble Is Making Your Cell Phone Obsolete--And Valuable

BY Greg LindsayThu Jun 2, 2011

In the latest installment of Butterfly Effect, we follow the impact of China's bulging real estate market on commodities such as copper, the latest tech innovations those commodities enable, the scrap they create, and the subsequent recycling opportunities--in China. READ»