Three Pillars that Enable Global Innovation
There are hundreds if not thousands of social and structural challenges waiting to be solved. They need visionaries — those willing to imagine an unknown solution, an unknown truth, who are willing to take risks — both financial and soul changing. The problems facing the human race are greater today than ever before. As our planet continues to evolve due to climate change, resource degradation, economic calamity, generational and cultural clashes — the heart of the planet is aching for revival.
Our unique ability as humans to think and build intelligently is emboldened by three core pillars: the ability to communicate across oceans and borders; the creation and sharing of knowledge and content; and the human desire to leave the planet better off for the next generation. These pillars are what guide us to a better future. One in which the foundations have been laid before us even as the parameters of unpredictable change are expanding. Even if the challenges seem greater and more complex — the human ability to solve these challenges is far greater if we continue to not just break down barriers, but embrace what we don’t know, what we don’t fully understand in hopes of solving for the unknown challenges of tomorrow today.
Pillar one: We can communicate with partners, strangers, and problem solvers anywhere at almost any time via web cam, phone, social networks, and other forms of communication. Ideas and critiques travel as we construct them. This collision of opportunity even its purest form has awakened negative forces to plot evil, but the ability for good and life giving opportunity from this pillar enables us to create more positive for the world that is much greater if we have faith in our will to do good. This is an opportunity to unite those who seek a more just, dynamic, and responsive planet to the changing needs of our humanity.
Pillar two: With broad and diverse communication networks comes the ability to share ideas, content, and knowledge among those who envision a more holistic and innovative planet. Through the gathering and use of data, diagnostics information, instant user feedback, on the ground quantitative and qualitative information, human stories, and research, we can guide the discovery of new frontiers, new opportunities for human and technical engagement, and ultimately sustainable social changes that improve human lives, opportunity, and prosperity.
Pillar three: Our desire and hope to leave this planet we call Earth better off for those who follow — our children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, is what guides our thinking and opportunity to create solutions for the many unknown challenges that so many of our fellow humans face daily — disease, social and economic challenges, lack of infrastructure, and terror around the world. Because from these challenging experiences we see millions who fight for a positive resolution — those who travel to unknown lands rendering assistance, those sacrificing their lives for those who share a different culture and language, and those investing unknown financial resources to find solutions to the planet’s most complex social and technical problems right now — in this moment all for a brighter future. We cannot deny the will of those who seek a better tomorrow through their selfless efforts today. We cannot lose hope.
These three pillars are rooted in the continued advancement of technology. The challenge then is for us to ensure that technology is used for good, for problem solving and innovation; not for conquest and destruction. Real and sustainable change comes from asking tough questions, participating in a vigorous debate, and challenging the unknown. It can be very easy to turn on the news and become complacent and frozen in time — a time of war, disease, and uncertainty, but we have faced these challenges in generations past and present, but we can only emerge from them stronger and more resilient if we continue to seek a different vision, a more enticing story for generations to come. This realization reminds us that we are simply a piece of the puzzle of life. The question and challenge that we all face is where do we fit in? What are our life-giving talents? And ultimately how do we use our unique abilities to change what disturbs us, what weakens us, so that we can leave this our planet better off for those who shall follow.
