In a message dated 99-09-05 22:28:56 EDT, echilds@linex.com (Elizabeth Childs) wrote:
> Perhaps this is a problem with the "charity work" mindset versus the
> "grubbing capitalist" mindset, as these stories have usually had to do with
> new kinds of crops or ovens or that sort of thing, while from everything
> I've read, everyone in the world loves television.
Actually, it ought to be possible to both do the kind of good things I was talking about AND make a profit. For instance, the folks who would build the cheap, simple solar-powered sat-net terminals I envision are creating billions of new workers, consumers and micro-investors. In a couple of technological generations, it might be possible to make solar-power systems that could be bought with Grameen-style micro-loans, so that the people who build the systems can get paid for them.
I'm not suggesting that working on low-end bootstrap technologies and institutional change is an entirely charitable enterprise, although it is philanthorpic: This kind of philanthropy IS profitable, because people are a resource.
Greg Burch <GBurch1@aol.com>----<gburch@lockeliddell.com>
Attorney ::: Vice President, Extropy Institute ::: Wilderness Guide
http://users.aol.com/gburch1 -or- http://members.aol.com/gburch1
"Civilization is protest against nature;
progress requires us to take control of evolution."
-- Thomas Huxley