Future fortunes to be made

It was the venerable Chairman Mao who coined the phrase “Build windmills not windbreaks” in the little red book that was much loved by faux socialists in my early years.

He might have had a point though. I heard just that quote from a good capitalist today describing how to profit from technology. Futurologist Paul Saffo used the example of a silicon valley engineer who was given the task of designing microwave relay stations.

Once he realised what the technology would do to communications he looked one step beyond he realised that there was a retirement fund to had here. He rented the tops of mountains across the country and now makes a fine living sub-letting them to communication companies.