>rebuilding a flawed, false global economy: one which actively transfers wealth from the poor to the rich, from the sick to the healthy<p>This is self-righteous 'leftist' moralizing of the worst kind.<p>The global economy is not flawed. It is the way it is. Human interests, interaction, history and habits are stronger than any amateur Marxist can imagine.<p>You think world is unfair? Probably. However, the pathetic attempts to seek high moral ground are futile. You have seen how One Laptop Per Child faired in real life. You should also remember that there are tons and tons of <i>used</i> computer equipment and especially mobile phones imported into Africa and other poor countries every day. This used equipment is imported for money and put to use immediately. Some of this technology is affecting how farmers in distant African villages are managing their harvest sales, for example.<p>This is globalisation. It may sound humiliating (used clothes, used phones etc) but it is wonderful, vibrant, living global economic organism which will show some interesting emergent qualities in our lifetime. Who would imagine South East Asia growing the way it does today?<p>You may see some surprises from Africa too. And no, it would be not because some guilt-ridden guy has shown us, the masses, what to do. Some of the worst damage to third world economies are done by Western donors.<p>So, basically, my advice to the author: stop preaching the need to change this cruel world and go make something that people want to buy.
The thing here is that big, immediate and obvious problems are almost never solved in Silicon Valley.<p>Silicon Valley is good at two things:
1) Solving small problems
2) Solving big, lingering problems that most people don't even realize are problems.<p>I work for a medical device startup that is hard at work trying to solve big, immediate and obvious problems (heart failure, hypertension) that kill millions of people a year. We're in Atlanta, not SV. Other medical device companies are in Boston, L.A., or even Minneapolis. None of them are in SV. I wonder why.<p>SV really only does three startup industries well: Software, Computer Hardware, and Green tech. And even the third is pushing it. If you're looking for innovation outside of those three areas, you should look outside of Silicon Valley.
<i>Food prices are skyrocketing. The financial system is melting down. Energy, of course, is more and more toxic, and costly.</i><p>These are the problems we're being challenged to solve? The first two appear to be random fluctuations-- possibly very bad ones, but due largely to speculation and chance. The third is something investors and founders are working on energetically right now.
"That is, when they're not too busy partying."<p>Stopped reading there, that is just stupid. So people are supposed to feel guilty because they party now?<p>My suggestion: stop breathing, that way you can save Co2 output of your country and aid the developing countries who will be the first victims of the climate change.<p>Sorry that I can't express my anger in a more sophisticated way. I just think contrasting world problems with party pics is an incredibly cheap shot.
A good Ted Talk to look at concerning this is Bjorn Lomborg's talk on cost/benefit and global priorities:<p><a href="http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/62" rel="nofollow">http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/62</a><p>It turns out there's a huge cost/benefit ratio to solving things like access to clean water, malnutrition, and disease. The cost of tackling problems like this is just a fraction of doing things like adopting the Kyoto protocol, and the potential for increasing the economic potential of many countries is very high.
People moaning "I am just a tiny hacker" or "You should be directing this at people with money" are either lacking vision or are just not interested in making the world a better place but prefer chasing the mighty dollar. Which in it itself is fine, but then come out and be honest about it.<p>There are tons of ways even individual hackers can put their skills to use while solving real world problems. No one is expecting you to solve the problems of world hunger or poverty but bitching "I can't" is a self-fulfilling prophecy.<p>Have a look at Kiva (kiva.org) for example. They did have a vision and they are doing a pretty damn good job making the world a better place by working on a real-world problem instead of finding a new and "revolutionary" way to figure out what your friends are doing right now.<p>Gross of the people in the valley are probably to busy liking themselves and praising their good-for-nothing ideas to actually sit down and look at the world in a bit wider perspective.<p>The world is bigger then the sub-reality that is Silicon Valley.