New York Times columnist Tom Friedman was on Meet The Press this past Sunday to discuss his new book, Hot, Flat, and Crowded, calling for an "energy revolution."  The model Friedman touts is what he calls the ET revolution, akin to the IT revolution.  He contrasts this with what is frequently called for to solve the world's energy woes, a Manhattan Project kind of focus.  His distinction calls out the improbable success of a top heavy development scheme funded solely by government.  What we need instead is 100,000 inventors working in 100,000 garages to come up with 100 ideas, 10 of which are viable, 2 of which will revolutionize the energy industry.  This mirrors the IT revolution in which the personal PC changed the way we all live our daily lives.

My favorite part of the interview was when he compared delegates to the GOP convention chanting "Drill, Drill, Drill!" to an alternate reality in which the subject was the PC rather than oil and the delegates shout, "IBM Selectric Typewriter, IBM Selectric Typewriter, IBM Selectric Typewriter!"

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