Woo, non-AI-related update!
I started thinking recently about the sorry state of the world. War, famine, poverty, disease. Genocide, atrocities, crime, racism.
As an (Ugly) American, most of this is just stuff I see on reuters.com. I watch things like the war in Iraq and brutal crackdowns on protesting monks in Myanmar with little more than desultory interest. "I feel bad, but what can I do? I'm all the way over here; they're all the way over there." This is what most people think. Making it doubly hard to empathize is the fact that nothing like that is happening outside your window. For most Americans, nothing like that has ever happened outside their windows.
And my situation is more insular than most. I live in a very rural, very affluent community with essentially no population diversity. In short, it is Whitelandia, and rich Whitelandia at that.
So what the fuck do I care about all these downtrodden people in the rest of the world for? I've got the good life! Right? Right?
Sure. The good life. When I was young, though, I met someone who told me that leading a good life just isn't enough. At first the idea was foreign to me. My parents had raised me to believe that if I just was kind and generous in the course of my daily life, I could make a difference. This isn't true. No matter how kind and generous I am, it just isn't going to make a difference for some poor kid in the Philippines living in a trash heap.
So what is one to do? Join the peace corps?
You're still thinking too small. One of my favorite quotes is this:
"If our goal is to write poetry, the only way we are likely to be any good is to try to be as great as the best."
Donald Hall wrote that, in his piece "Poetry and Ambition," and I always thought it was an excellent point applicable to much more than poetry. If you are going to lead a useful life, why not try to do great things? Don't just join the Peace Corps or the Red Cross, create the next Peace Corps or Red Cross.
My goal in life is to create something as long-lasting and as useful to the future of philanthropy as these great organizations. Something that genuinely helps people in need, instead of aiding and abetting people who watch the world on TV.
There are two organizations right now that I aim to emulate, which as you can see from the quote above is my highest praise:
1) Room To Read
2) One Laptop Per Child
Both of these are, I think, outstanding ideas and completely unconventional. There are a great number of agencies devoted to the eradication of disease, and these too are worthy ways to help, but I think the greatest benefit will come from the eradication of ignorance.
With any luck, I can lend a hand in the future as well.
As promised, a book review. Technobabble will resume tomorrow.
The book Leaving Microsoft to Change the World: An Entrepreneur's Odyssey to Educate the World's Children is by an interesting guy named John Wood, who, as you may be able to guess from the title, used to work at Microsoft, left, and founded an excellent charity concerning books. You can see how I might be biased towards such a piece, since it involves both of my favorite things to do, but I think it is a genuinely good piece of writing.
A word about how I came by the book. Normally, I have a stack of books five or six high to read, and when I was given this book was no exception. Nine times out of ten a book I have never heard of given to me as a gift will end up getting ignored, not because of any fault of the gift giver, but due to the fact that I keep finding stuff to read in the meantime, and never get around to my gift. However, the person who gave me this book means a great deal to me, and I respect her opinion immensely. So a book that otherwise might never have had a chance got bumped to the top of the list.
And what an amazing book! John Wood has a particularly conversational style of writing, which makes for excellent nonfiction. Subjects which may have been boring when broached by other authors are quite interesting when rendered in his style. Also, he liberally sprinkles the book with interesting asides, both about his time at Microsoft (he worked in China during the height of Microsoft's power, and even had some dealings with The Bill) and about his attempts to start a charity. His stories about raising funding ring especially true to me, and anyone else running a startup.
While I don't want to give away too much of the book, I will end my mini-review by saying how inspiring the book is to anyone wishing to leave a lasting legacy of good in the world. And thanks to Audrey Etlinger for finding it!
And in case anyone reading this has spare pocket change or is looking for a cool charity, look no further than the one the book is all about, Room To Read.
"But Sean! Where is the clever title? Where is the probably copyrighted image you add to make yourself seem oh-so-witty?"
Pipe down. I'll add a fully-fleshed article tomorrow morning, maybe. I have been busier than hell with school stuff, company stuff, and personal stuff. Attempts to take the suck out of my life have snagged the top priority on all my cores, to make an awful computer metaphor.
I break radio silence only to let you know of the stuff going on with the OLPC.
Pow!
Blam!
Future! I can smell it cooking down south. Man, that last sentence is gross!
Those who live outside the US may be wondering why people in the so-called First World are getting to use these (Pow! links to a story about Alabama kids using the OLPC in school.) While I could probably make a pretty funny joke about Alabama being a howling maw of poverty, the question is just. What the fuck, Negroponte? I mean, yeah, great, spread the love. But the spread the love in places the love is needed. Kids in Alabama are not in desperate need of these things. It seems they won't even be used to their capacity -- just as some half-assed teaching aid. The kids have to give them back at the end of the year!
The program I envisioned when I heard about this was something GIVEN to children unable to acquire these resources any other way. I'm pretty sure those kids in Alabama have a library with computers, or probably even a computer lab in a nearby school or even one in their own elementary school. I envisioned a tool that a child could make into any other tool they needed or wanted. A cornucopia machine the kids could use in any way they wanted, to program anything they wished. I am more than a little disgusted that some are going to the US as a charitable donation to a SCHOOL, not actual individuals.
Oh well, enough whining. At least the vast majority are going someplace useful. Enough bitching from me for now.
Watch tomorrow for a review of a book named Leaving Microsoft to Change The World that someone amazing gave me.
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