It does not matter what I think; objectively and indisputably my existence in the world, especially in a first-world country, has an enormously negative impact on the planet. And I'm an individual with a conscience - now imagine a business with diversified shareholders!
That's true, actually I'm more a global thinker than a individual thinker. That's why even if I fail, I should first do no harm and have at least led others to the right direction (in my case, health and ecology).
And this kind of thinking doesn't makes me try to succeed whatever the price. Or in this case, I can even pass over opportunities that would make my personal success more likely but my global influence less positive.
I can say "I will strike rich AND THEN have a positive impact" but the odds are 5 on 1 against me to strike rich so I have to be positive for others even if I personally don't strike rich.
Not my responsibility. I'll just do what makes me content without getting in anyone else's way... Which coincidentally is creating products which benefit the world, for profit.
I've grappled with this for the last 7 years. I wanted to build a platform to address this problem but I eventually realized self-interest is the strongest force in the world and that most people are not ready to consider that they may be part of the problem AND own up to it enough to change their day-to-day lifestyle. It's much easier to point a finger at world leaders, corporations, or the developing world's use of coal.
I've finally let go of eating meat. I don't buy things unless I need them and I use them until they are no longer usable. My hobbies are exploring the outdoors, improving my fitness/meditation routine each day, and creating brands, experiences, and campaigns.
I am saving money for a cabin in the Rockies and a camper van to explore all of North America. I am building an agency to work remotely and accept clients that I feel I can help in a substantial way. I've given my ambitions of 'saving the world' or being a part of the world of SV or NYC.
No I wouldn’t. I’d feel gross being so judegemental and thinking so highly and self righteously about myself. I highly doubt the work your company does is blessing the earth with immense positivity.
I highly doubt, just based on sheer numbers and basic data, that the people working at your company are amazing humble people who care so much about the world. I doubt they are concerned with the homeless population and other disenfranchised groups. Vs in your case being all gung ho about the evils of FAANG that you are so above. The number of people who are against the current status quo enough and willing to sacrifice the comforts of their lives to fix the issue are so small. It’s not even a bad thing. That’s a hard thing to do. It’s much easier to point to a couple of big companies and say how evil they are and any one working for them.
The post was overly dramatic and mostly sarcastic, but not entirely. My point is that we are under the illusory impression that our opinions matter. If you are like 95% percent of the population who don't have a significant amount of capital (whether political, social or economic) then what you think is largely irrelevant and it's delusional to think the contrary.
As you said, the world usually ends "just as lousy" as before when things change. By lousy I mean that there will be a strict hierarchy of a few unimaginably powerful people exercising their will over the rest. Whether it's in a libertarian's wet dream or in the most claustrophobic dictatorial society, this will always be true. The average standard of living improves over time but the distribution remains the same. It's inevitable.
Let's say you hate Facebook and its privacy violations. What can you do about it? Nothing at all. You may try to stage protests or send angrily worded letters to your representative, but at the end of the day, to people like Zuckerberg you will be the equivalent of a pesky bug, soon squished and forgotten. So go ahead and impress me! Change the world. You might think, "What about those people who didn't give up their dreams and changed history in the process?" Well, unless you are lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time and armed with the right idea, it's extremely unlikely that you will have any impact at all on the world; hard work will never be enough. I want to change society as well, and I am constantly on the lookout for an opportunity to do so, but I also try to keep my expectations grounded in reality. I know I am not a protagonist according to whose life the story of the species evolves. It's highly possible, though not certain, that my life will be insignificant. I keep hoping it won't, but life isn't fiction and there are limits. I keep the glimmer of hope alive but I am fully aware that it emits only a pale light.
tl;dr Stop being outraged about the hypocrisy of powerful people and don't convince yourself that you have the moral high ground; you will only hurt yourself. Might makes right.
The world would be a better place if if companies focused on "people", and not on "money".
Of course that's unrealistic. But I don't care. I grew up believing in Star-Trek-style society. You know... "Social problems are gone; people are free to devote themselves to improving themselves; etc". I honestly believed that humanity would someday achieve this.
I used to believe most people were inherently good, and that they are naturally adverse to doing unethical things, and that if they did something unethical by accident, then they would go out of their way to fix it, even if they weren't obligated to. Because it's the right thing to do.
Needless to say, Real Life came as a nasty surprise.
You're a bad person for not caring about That One Guy Who You Deleted 7 Years Of His Life. But hey, our capitalistic society encourages not caring, so it must be okay, right?
The world would be a better place if we all had this thought process, but I could never have this perspective. Even when I first read your comment, my gut reaction was disgust. It took me a moment to reflect and even then I know I couldn't condition myself to think like this. I crave external approval and as much as scientists might think of themselves, the world at large see's you as a tool used by politicians and entrepreneurs.
Thanks for being able to have a healthy perspective and I hope you can convince more people to do the same.
Ignoratio elenchi. I'm not suggesting that you do nothing with your life, just that you have to weigh the alternatives carefully.
(But as an aside, even today a huge percentage of the world's population lives in squalor. If this is your true concern, then I assume that you're going to address it with your startup? Otherwise, your argument is simply a justification for martyrdom. Noble perhaps, but not necessarily useful.)
It's possible to build a life that attempts to solve the world's problems. Then you have personal accomplishments and meaningful social contribution. But your comment reads like "who cares about the planet we live on, just do whatever you want" which isn't really great advice or a particularly sustainable mindset. I'm getting strong Ayn Rand vibes.
I moved to San Francisco a few months ago. In my second week in the city, I went to a party and someone I had never met before opened a conversation with "What do you care most about in life?"
After a second of thinking, I answered "Having fun."
I asked him the same question back and he said "Having an impact on the world."
Although I don't think about it that much, I realized that I personally didn't care that much about my impact on the world. Any impact that I create would simply be a byproduct of me pursuing whatever activities I find fun.
Moreover, a positive impact in my eyes might end up being a negative impact to others. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
I realized this about 6 months ago, and this is exactly why I decided to start my own company. People that truly want to change the world should do the same, unless you fear instability more than you desire to change the world.
It's pretty typical - and accepted - to care about one's own self, family, and friends more than random strangers simply because you have more information about what will make your self, family, and friends happy than what will make random strangers happy. If you want to make the greatest positive impact possible on the world, focus your efforts on where you have the most information, so that you don't accidentally make things worse out of ignorance.
That's not to say that you can't also care about the world. But it's both illogical and immoral to ignore the good you can do right in front of you, for the abstract notion of good that you might do for the world.
As another commenter mentioned, what makes a better world is subjective, depends on what you value.
I joined my current company because I believe that as our species grows (over huge time scales) one 'world' will not be enough, and that our current manufacturing model is too wasteful and slow to adapt to meet our and our planet's needs, which impacts day-to-day life for all of us.
You seen to have solid logic centres and a steady income. You’ve also put thought in to your impact on the planet as a whole. But the part that confuses me is that it seems you’ve not questioned the “work for money, spend money” script.
Billions of people alive today continue to work for things besides money, and optimize for all sorts of goals that are rewarding to them: positive impacts on the world that are magnitudes larger than they could do alone, the happiness of loved ones, refinement of technologies that people can use to help themselves, self-knowledge, and so-on.
There are so many different ways to live that I can fill my brain with them and still have no view of the end of the list.
I'm not sure about that. Changing the world is actually very low on my priority list and I'd say most of the other founders I know think likewise.
It's not that I wouldn't love to change the world - I just don't find that a realistic goal to set. My immediate goal is much lower and more egoistic: I need to create something that rakes in enough money to sustain itself and cover my basic living expenses.
Only then will I have the time and mental freedom to pursue one of my world-changing ideas.
The problem with the world-changing ideas is that most of them are so inherently binary. Who can really afford to dedicate themselves at least 6-12 months to an all-or-nothing experiment?
For me the most important attribute of a business model is not the revolution-potential but rather the scalability. I'm going for things that have a chance to pay my bills even when they're only a small success. Call me a coward but I need a leg to stand on before I'll dare to reach for the stars, so to say...
reply