Note: This is the introduction to my book The World’s Biggest Problems.
We don’t get the future of our dreams. We get the future that we build.
There are two versions of the future.
- The Bad Future, described in shows like Black Mirror, is the realistic to cynical take on where the world is going.
- The Good Future, presented in shows like Star Trek, is the realistic to optimistic take on where the world is going.
It’s easy to be cynical today. You might feel like we’re living in the Bad Future now.
I still believe in the Good Future.
- The one with abundant resources and opportunities for all.
- The time and place where humanity becomes a multi planetary species and Earth is carefully preserved as our Home Planet.
I know that there’s no Silver Bullet Solution for the Good Future.
- It’s going to take a lot of Lead Bullets.
- That’s why many of my ideas are presented in the form of startups or organizations that need to be built to solve specific problems.
There are many people who profit today from the idea of the Bad Future.
- Politicians who need polarization to raise money and rally their base.
- Corporations who sell us the tools of our own destruction.
The Good Future needs its own leaders. We have to organize. We need to fight back.
- I am always looking for partners to build teams to chase these missions!
- We each have the power to change and influence every part of our lives.
This book is inspired by one of my favorite quotes:
“You have to keep a dozen of your favorite problems constantly present in your mind, although by and large they will lay in a dormant state. Every time you hear or read a new trick or a new result, test it against each of your twelve problems to see whether it helps. Every once in a while there will be a hit, and people will say, ‘How did he do it? He must be a genius!”
— Richard Feynman (via Gian-Carlo Rota, Indiscrete Thoughts)
There are way too many important problems in the world for any one person to solve.
I’m sharing these ideas so we can get more people organized around all of these problems.
My two ultimate goals for this project are:
- Start a constructive debate about the world’s biggest problems and best solutions.
- Convince everyone to work on the biggest possible ideas.
Let’s get started!