[September 26, 2008]

WIRED's First-Ever Smart List 2008

Parag Khanna: Director, Global Governance Initiative, New America
Foundation
Embrace the Post-American Age. The US needs to wise up about which
parts of the world matter and which parts don't. By tightening trade
and energy ties to the rest of the hemisphere, pursuing economic
innovation at home, and establishing a "diplomatic-industrial
complex," the United States can continue to grow and become stronger.
David Laibson: Economics Professor, Harvard University
Tweak Human Behavior to Fix the Economy. Help consumers avoid the
paralysis of choice by giving them smart, basic default options, like
automatic enrollment in a simple IRA.
Carolyn Porco: Planetary Scientist, NASA
Use Big Robots and Big Rockets. Porco has criticized the space
agency's shuttle program for years, arguing that the missions could
have been accomplished more quickly and cheaply had they been
launched with the kind of big rockets the US quit building after the
moon shots ended.
Leroy Hood: President, Institute for Systems Biology
To Rebuild Healthcare, Start With the Genome. DNA sequencing will soon
cost as little as a CT scan. At that point, doctors will be able to
use technology and create medicine that is predictive, preventive,
personalized, and participatory.
Montgomery McFate: Senior Social Science Adviser, Army Human Terrain
System
Hold Your Fire! The Pentagon should deploy various kinds of social
scientists to help troops learn more peaceful (and effective) ways of
interacting with foreign cultures.
Peter Gleick: President, Pacific Institute
Deal With the Water Crisis Now. Among the challenges facing the next
president, few are more complex - scientifically, politically, and
economically - than the unsustainable demands humanity makes on fresh
water supplies.
Jagdish Bhagwati: Economics Professor, Columbia University
Keep Free Trade Free. Globalization helps nations discover their
unique strengths--but it needs to be balanced with compassion and a
free trade in intellectual property.
Ellen Miller: Executive Director, Sunlight Foundation
Make DC More Like the Web. It's all about transparency.
Ram Shriram: Venture Capitalist and Founder, Sherpalo
Open Up the Airwaves. Wireless spectrum could be for the 21st century
what oil was for the 20th, but it needs to be allocated
strategically.
A.T. Ball: Chief of Staff, US Army, Pacific
Wage Smarter War. Speed the deployment of network-centric warfare,
which would put more tactical control where it belongs--on the ground
with the troops.
Steve Rayner: Science and Civilization Professor, Oxford University
Get Serious About Climate Change. The problem threatens our whole
civilization. America needs to make a strategic choice and take the
kind of bold action that's consistent with its history.

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