Building a better world

If you asked yourself, “what is the state of the world?,” you’d probably recall recent stories that you’ve heard. Amazing things happening somewhere and terrible things happening elsewhere. But something that is obvious to all of us is that there are a lot of issues that need to be addressed.

For many, the solution they fall back on is technology. Technology will pave the way. Technology will revolutionize how we do things. However, technology is not enough.

It alone can’t solve the world’s problems. The world doesn’t only need more technology, but better incentive structures. It doesn’t only need new tools, but how, why, and when we can better use the ones we already have. If we only changed the existing systems around us — businesses, governments, and societies — we could still make exponential leaps in solving a lot of humanity’s greatest problems.

It’s hard to put a number on change, so we’re using the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a measurement framework:

In 2015, the UN defined the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as a “shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.” The focus is on 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that address the global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, prosperity, and peace and justice.

We’re using this model because it's currently the most widely used and accepted. It allows us to speak the same language as our peers.

Unfortunately, progress towards these goals remains slow, and it is estimated that we need to dedicate $5-7 trillion annually to accomplish them by 2030. To achieve this, we need to come together to build exponential solutions.