Forget Tech Philanthropy (& Engineer New Systems)

A system that has to rely on philanthropy to fix the outcomes that that system creates is, well, insane — and obviously not sustainable as a quick look around reveals. So let’s use our clever tech — decentralized smart contracts — to engineer a different economic engine with better outputs.

I saw this a few months ago and, I have to admit, I thought it was a joke: “UC San Francisco launched a new research initiative aimed at discovering the root causes of homelessness — and solutions to end it — thanks to a $30 million gift from Salesforce (CRM) CEO Marc Benioff and his wife, Lynne” (CNN). There are so many things here that would be hilarious if it weren’t so horrendous.

First of all, research into homelessness — are you serious? Does one homeless person get one penny of that $30M? Give me $1M and I’ll tell you the root cause right now. I’ll go out on a limb and say: Not enough homes. I know, I know, it’s radical. And, as far as I can tell, it’s a problem that’s rather readily remedied: Spend that $30M, throw in another few hundred, and build the 7000 homes in San Francisco needed to house those without homes. Done. (Yes, you’ll also need to build in support services such as access to psych meds, drug treatment, job training, and the like.)

You want a real root problem? Well, as jobs are not guaranteed in this country, nor is housing, there will always be someone without a job and without a home. That seems obvious, doesn’t it? And yet, thanks to the generosity of Mr. Benioff, UCSF will interview homeless person after homeless person — as if the homeless are the problem! — without ever once considering the economic engine that created this egregious, and avoidable, outcome.

When a system must rely on philanthropy to fix its problems, that system is broken. Philanthropy is a band-aid on a patient that’s being gutted from the inside over and over. It’s a bizarre and demented scramble to stop a bleeding while the patient is being stabbed. Save the pandas! Feed the hungry! Heal the sick! Research homelessness! Reverse climate change! Fund artists! Meanwhile, the system keeps creating these horrible results at ever greater speeds. The world is burning and dying and we’re sitting here hoping the people doing the burning and killing will save us. This is not just unsustainable, it’s insane.

Sure, we might get a law passed to save a few pandas or get a new community center built. But those are not real solutions as they don’t change the fundamental terms of the system (not to mention they rely on the powerful few to save us with their laws). So at some point, we have to ask: Why are we constantly scrambling to raise money to heal all these societal ills? Why is there no money for such things? Because we live within an economic engine that’s engineered to extract as much value from things — from people, the earth, culture — while siphoning all the wealth it generates into the hands of very few.

Today’s currency is driven by oil. It is what supports the global economy and drives our massive war machine and the tremendous capital that that demands. And, as oil is limited, we operate with the assumption of scarcity. Gotta get that oil before the other guy does! So let’s bomb ‘em! This presumption of scarcity is then applied to everything. So not only is there not enough oil but also not enough money, medicine, food, and homes for all — an obvious fallacy.

Due to this presumed yet false scarcity, we believe we have to rely on philanthropy, that those who got theirs — the wealthy — will help those who missed their chance. But can we trust those who have to provide for those who don’t? Clearly not. I mean, look around! Right outside the doors of Salesforce, people lie prostrate in the streets — literally right outside the building where Mr. Benioff works. Mr. Benioff could single-handedly end homelessness in San Francisco. Why doesn’t he? Because he doesn’t have to! So what does Mr. Benioff in fact do? He gives money to big institutions for “research” that blames the homeless for their situation — and we’re supposed to applaud him. It’s truly madness.

So the real question is: Should we have to rely on those with to provide for those without? The answer is of course no. So what do we do?

Well, if you could engineer an economic system with radically different outcomes, wouldn’t you? After all, isn’t it better to cure the disease rather than only treating the symptoms?

New technology — namely, smart contracts and decentralization — offers the opportunity to create a new economic engine that renders philanthropy unnecessary. And we don’t even need government intervention — although we do need governments to lay off! (This new technology supersedes the anachronistic debate between capitalism and socialism, between free markets and governmental controls.)

This clever technology allows us to build a different economic engine, one built on information not oil. And the great thing about information? It’s endlessly renewable! And — and! — everyone on the planet creates it. Each of us is a veritable, endless well of value. There’s no need for scarcity in this information resource economy. Information is abundant. And with abundance rather than scarcity as the guiding principle, we can fundamentally rethink the very terms and operations of our economy. And then this new technology allows us to easily re-engineer the economic system.

Today, these wells of information are being tapped by an economy of extraction, an industrial-age petrol based economy of massive capital centralization dedicated to maximizing profits for a centralized few. Facebook, Google, and the rest are taking our information, selling it, and keeping all the profits for themselves. And then we wonder what the root source of homelessness is! It’s enough to make you scream.

A new economic engine for the information resource economy built with information age tools will eliminate the need for the rich to save us poor wretches. As you make your way through the digital world — paying, buying, posting, learning, clicking, sharing, liking, commenting — you’ll get to decide which information you want to share. You’ll then share the revenue that information generates. It’s that simple. And with decentralized smart contracts, it’s readily built.

So we come back to Mr. Benioff’s absurd research grant: What’s the root problem of homelessness? It’s an economic system that is fundamentally violent, a system in which people are considered another resource, like oil, from which to extract as much value as possible without returning any. These companies even refer to to human beings as consumers and users. The earth along with human vitality and well-being is being sucked dry so the very few can be very wealthy.

And having those rich pay to discover the root source of the problem — as long as they themselves are never on the radar — is nothing less than insane. Mr. Benioff gives money to a hospital with the assumption that there is something wrong with the people who are homeless. But, Mr. Benioff, they’re not the problem. And neither are you, at least not directly. The problem is a system that keeps perpetuating itself along a downward spiral to oblivion — a system that’s simultaneously made you grotesquely rich and put thousands of people on the street.

So if all you tech philanthropists truly want to fix homelessness, take all that money and, instead of donating it to a cause for tax breaks and your name on the building, create a new economic engine. Build the information resource economy—as we’re trying to do at Anatha. And the funny thing is, not only will you solve the homeless problem, you’ll get even richer!

So I say forget tech philanthropy. Let’s actually use all this technology to re-engineer different outcomes. Let’s build the infrastructure and applications for a new, regenerative economy — an economy of personal sovereignty and collective prosperity — in which the only people living on the streets will be those who want to live outdoors.