Early Adopters

What if we’re coming to grips with the realization that the Internet can be more for humanity’s gain and less about business? What if it was about people and not corporations. We have to admit that pretty much the entire point of the Internet thus far has been to make money. But, we’re still the early adopters. In the history of the world, these last 20 years are a blip on the radar. It’s not too late to shape the purpose.

There have been plenty, and necessary, discussions around women, diversity, and equality of late. A lot of our focus has been on this industry and how we need to change the reality of things. We’re looking at home and not liking what we see and want to change it, which is great.

And yet, we’re great builders of things, no? We built this Internet in our image. What if we spent a little bit of that “side project” time working on something that actually made a difference. What has been to this point nothing more than a great money making machine can be the thing that changed the course of humanity forever.

This can be a monumental moment when future generations will look back and marvel at what we did. We made it about the people. Individual lives who deserved better and it wasn’t about profits over people. It was about people.

There are initiatives already underway. But lets think bigger and make the Internet the thing that achieves this, not just a tool we used along the way. Money is powerful. I understand it’s hard to leave it on the table or make it a secondary thought.

I just can’t see how improving lives would be an undesirable goal.

Originally published at designernaut.com on August 6, 2014.