Nicola Avery commented on my last post on changing the structure:
How do you bring everyone together though – we do it in learning through various networks and initiatives but don’t know with this – who would be interested, how to connect them up ? It would be great to start an economic education initiative – but who to involve – as well as individuals – would it be organizations like World Economic Forum as well as the alternative World Social Forum – just some thoughts.
So is it possible to use “frivolous” social media for real change? 
Vinay Gupta thinks so and has written a visionary essay on The Future of Poverty. Vinay sees social network development, coupled with the billions of people who have cell phones, as the necessary change infrastructure for the developing world.
“By the time I retire in 20 years, I believe that poverty that people die of will be a thing of the past. If you do not think that is possible, I ask you to think on this question: if the Linux nerds had needed to learn to grow food and build wells, do you think they could have cooperated to figure it out and implement it everywhere it had to happen?”
From tweets, to blog posts to pictures and videos; statistics can become real people. Events like Charity Water can make a difference. Take the time to read the entire article or at least go to the bottom and find out what you can do.
Hi, have to confess that haven’t had a chance to look at War on Want – I know they have Facebook presence but not sure what else. I spoke to someone from there the other day very briefly – haven’t had a huge chance to see about online initiatives but saw they have this:
http://www.waronwant.org/campaigns/financial-crisis
Also this http://www.6billionways.org.uk/about/ but it appears to be f2f in UK,
I will get back in touch with them,
Nicola
You know what? I’d love to believe that extreme, life-threatening poverty will be a thing of the past during what statistically will be my lifetime.
But I can’t.
Linus Torvalds didn’t look at growing food. He developed an operating system. Something which those who are threatened by that level of starvation won’t even have heard of.
Now I’m not dissing what he did. He worked within the parameters of his interests, abilities and the tools at his disposal. Extremely commendable.
But we’re talking about two very different things, here. Just think for a moment where food and operating systems fall respectively on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. And there are too many people who have a vested interest in keeping the starving people under the jackboot. Powerful, unscrupulous people. People who don’t operate in the civilised circles of those who had/have a vested interest in keeping people paying for their operating systems.
Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to have to publicly recant on this point
“Oh that a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a Heaven for?” Robert Browning
Economists tend to look at people as “inputs”, things that can be moved around. They base economic policies on the ability to train, standardize, and move around “human capital”. Politicians look at the distribution of resources and who should get what. Educaters create curriculums based on the culture and priorities within that culture, the culture’s idea of what knowledge is and what is important in the world.
We will always have poverty as there will always be clashes in how resources should be shuffled around, who should get what with the limited resources available, and what is important to whom. Poverty can only be diminished by bringing peace and understanding of other views, values, and sharing the wealth.
@Virginia, @Karyn, I’ll settle for a few more years of naivety and hope for now, thanks all the same – all good things start with conversations ;-)