Poverty

Daniel Nocera’s Gift

I just saw the most important talk I have seen in 300+ TED, Pop!Tech, etc talks that I’ve watched. And at the risk of hyperbole, I will say that the worst case scenario is that Daniel Nocera simply wins a Nobel Prize (and yes, I’m willing to bet at even odds that it happens in under 10 years from today). But if the system is able to scale through replication, it will be at least as important as penicillin in terms of ending human suffering and will have a bigger impact on the world as a whole. Here’s why:

Input: Water (clean, saltwater or dirty water)
Outputs: Electricity + Pure drinkable water
By products: nothing (other than what was in the water)
Resources required to assemble: all abundant and most have substitutes
Knowledge required to assemble: simple
Cost to assemble: relatively cheap

Essentially what Nocera has done is reverse engineered and re-created a super-simplified photosynthesis process. It’s a closed loop (i.e. autocatalytic) so …

Alternative Institutions, Energy, Health, Poverty, Scarcity / Abundance, Science, Social Entrepreneurship, Society, Socio-technical systems Alternative Institutions, Energy, Health, Poverty, Scarcity / Abundance, Science, Social Entrepreneurship, Society, Socio-technical systems, 5

Is Hunger Really a Problem in U.S.?

Given everything I hear about obesity stats in the U.S. and malnutrition in the developing world, the last thing I was expecting to find in my inbox this morning was a plea to join a Facebook cause to help end hunger in America. Really?

I’m usually not skeptical in this way, and I’m loath to focus on the negative when it comes to philanthropy, but I can’t get these thoughts out of my head and I’d like some perspective from those who are better informed about the alleged U.S. hunger crisis. In the mean time, here’s my food for thought:…

Health, Homelessness, Interventions, Nutrition, Obesity, Philanthropy, Poverty, Scarcity / Abundance Health, Homelessness, Interventions, Nutrition, Obesity, Philanthropy, Poverty, Scarcity / Abundance, 5

Paying Women to Not Get Pregnant

What’s fascinating to me about this is not that it works so well and or that there might actually be support in the Obama administration for doing it on a national scale, but rather that there has not been a backlash against it yet. What are the odds that something like this will actually get implemented? Is it actually a good thing?

hat tip: Annie Duke’s mom…

Government, Incentives, Interventions, Poverty, Psychology, Society Government, Incentives, Interventions, Poverty, Psychology, Society, 9

Eben Pagan’s Birthday Webinar

This year for his birthday, Eben decided to host this webinar and invited all his contacts to join him online in lieu of a party and gifts. What a brilliant concept and even more brilliant execution. Eben (and Scott Brandon Hoffman, founder of CharityWater.org) truly epitomize the new philanthropy. Watch the video here.…

Health, Philanthropy, Poverty, Scarcity / Abundance Health, Philanthropy, Poverty, Scarcity / Abundance, 1

Out of Poverty

One of the more inspiring talks at Pop!Tech this year was Paul Polak’s talk about serving the “other 90%” with life-saving and transformative products using a for-profit micro-franchise model that scales. Paul’s vision and track-record speaks for itself, check it out.…

Markets, Pop!Tech, Poverty, Scarcity / Abundance Markets, Pop!Tech, Poverty, Scarcity / Abundance, 0

The Socioeconomics of Cancer

Pop Quiz: Which is a bigger determinant of cancer mortality in America, being poor or being black?

According to Dr. Harold Freeman of the National Cancer Institute, poverty is the bigger factor today, but it hasn’t always been so:

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Cancer, Epidemiology, Poverty, Society Cancer, Epidemiology, Poverty, Society, 0

Notes from TED

Here are some notes that I took at TED 2008. I have a bunch more on each of the speakers individually which I may post as time permits. Let me know if you want me to expand any of the notes below into a full post.

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Agency, Alternative Institutions, Computation, Cooperation, Culture, Education, Emergence, Epistemology, Government, Levels, Limits of Knowledge, Models, Networks, Non-linearity, Poverty, Psychology, Social Networks, Society, TED Agency, Alternative Institutions, Computation. Cooperation, Culture, Education, Emergence, Epistemology, Government, Levels, Limits of Knowledge, Models, Networks, Non-linearity, Poverty, Psychology, Social Networks, Society, TED, 11

TED Talks: Iqbal Quadir

Mobile phones fight poverty

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Alternative Institutions, Poverty, Society, TED Alternative Institutions, Poverty, Society, TED, 0

Poverty

Mobile phones fight poverty

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