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.
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