* Addressing a public press release to your private child's name
* Naming the initiative with your family's name
* Calling for "change now" as if the world isn't already working very hard every day towards progress
* Looks like a move out of a strategic playbook some advisers gave for "how to be President someday"
* Looks like they're marketing themselves as the royal family, like Facebook is the new kingdom
* Looks like that smug thing that's hip today where people compete to be most charitable
* Reminds me of the Melinda and Bill Gates thing, and the Google medical research thing
Part of this is the perspective of engineers who believe everything is solvable if you just build something to do it. If it isn't built yet, it must be because we're not working hard and fast enough. That if someone has billions of dollars, and are just willing to fund an initiative, they can take credit for curing all disease.
Part of it is the fear that's faced by people who felt invincible when they become old, or have a newborn infant. When you can purchase anything, the new difficulties are things like bacteria, viruses, and entropy. When you are a god in the eyes of the society and economy, yet a worm in the eyes of biology and ecology, there's no longer a clear path towards how to solve your daily concerns. If you're poor and need food, there's simple steps you can follow to acquire what you need. But when you're wealthy, what do you do to get well from illness, to escape the pains of aging?
These people, and much of the digital society today, need perspective and psychological understanding beyond what they have. But you won't see an initiative for that.
* Addressing a public press release to your private child's name
* Naming the initiative with your family's name
* Calling for "change now" as if the world isn't already working very hard every day towards progress
* Looks like a move out of a strategic playbook some advisers gave for "how to be President someday"
* Looks like they're marketing themselves as the royal family, like Facebook is the new kingdom
* Looks like that smug thing that's hip today where people compete to be most charitable
* Reminds me of the Melinda and Bill Gates thing, and the Google medical research thing
Part of this is the perspective of engineers who believe everything is solvable if you just build something to do it. If it isn't built yet, it must be because we're not working hard and fast enough. That if someone has billions of dollars, and are just willing to fund an initiative, they can take credit for curing all disease.
Part of it is the fear that's faced by people who felt invincible when they become old, or have a newborn infant. When you can purchase anything, the new difficulties are things like bacteria, viruses, and entropy. When you are a god in the eyes of the society and economy, yet a worm in the eyes of biology and ecology, there's no longer a clear path towards how to solve your daily concerns. If you're poor and need food, there's simple steps you can follow to acquire what you need. But when you're wealthy, what do you do to get well from illness, to escape the pains of aging?
These people, and much of the digital society today, need perspective and psychological understanding beyond what they have. But you won't see an initiative for that.