A New Breed of the Rich and Famous

Something good is happening in the "gilded age." More and more of the rich and famous are hearing the call. They are devoting themselves to addressing the important issues of our world.

This is more than a fashion statement or a tax write off. The gold is more than skin deep. Important people, who have already made it on a personal level, are turning their attention to helping others and improving the world.

This is a phenomenon, a trend, I want to point out. It's a cause for real hope and optimism about the way the world is headed, and not just because these people are a political weather vein, but because they have actual resources.

I'll let cynics argue if this is business as usual. To my mind, it is clearly happening, and the interesting question is not if, but why.

Some people say that the pictures from Apollo, seeing the earth as a whole, changed in an instant the way we view the world. Buckminster Fuller also used this moment as a milestone, not only of our psychology, but in technology.

He said at that moment, the pieces of technology had finally been assembled that can allow everyone in the world to prosper.

Of course, Bucky always was ahead of his time. But maybe not too far. Maybe only a generation or so.

As the pace of technology quickens, I hypothesize, the rich and famous are increasingly devoting themselves to good works because they can.

Today we see through new media into people's lives all over the world. We seek to analyze complex systems like the weather and eco-systems. We see our direct impact on these things with ever more clarity as our impact grows and our tools of observation and analysis improve.

And at the same time, technology, business and inventors are producing an ever greater menu of solutions to problems as we identify them.

Depending on how you tilt your head, we seem to be on the verge of an unprecedented disaster, or an unprecedented golden age.

And an increasing number of us are beginning to get the idea, "I, personally, can help to tilt the balance from one to the other."

Not only are we identifying the problems, from poverty and economic development, and the environment, to health and education, but we are getting excited as we see so many solutions, so close at hand.

It's really the greatest adventure of all time, the greatest opportunity. Dinosaurs couldn't have done what we can do. Pharaohs and kings of yore couldn't have ushered in a golden age of prosperity for all people, for all beings in the world. Not even maybe.

But we can. Maybe. It is worth a try.

It's not just a matter of responsibility. The rich and famous are devoting themselves to improving world conditions because it is an opportunity. It is the Grail quest of our time. And the grail is real. We can actually do this.

And we are not alone. It is a trend bigger than us, but including us. Standards of living have been improving dramatically since the technology boom 300 years ago in England. Earlier, the technology boom of agriculture sped us towards improved lifestyles.

The technology boom of today is like those, but it is the big one. If we manage it correctly, it could make life great, not only for every person, but for animals and plants and even bacteria.

But right now, in the face of this potential golden age, 5 billion people live in poverty, 1 billion are desperate, eco-systems are in crisis, even people in the first world face dire problems. The issues are not ho hum.

So why are the rich and famous hearing the call? There are big problems. There are solutions. The consequences are huge. Failure would be dire. The prize is unimaginably good, for everyone.

If you have a $billion or the social capital of a star, there is no question that you can influence the outcome of this important game.

The tools of Selfport will put the resources in every individual's hands to help solve these world sized problems, and in the same way as for the rich and famous, for whom good work can make you even more rich and famous, or at least no less so.

This is the proposition our world offers us today. For the rich and famous, the course of action is a no brainer. Let's extend that same obvious opportunity to personally wrestle with dragons to everyone.

The big evils are no longer people. Maybe they never were. They are circumstances, and we can tame them.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• philanthropy
• rich
• famous
• poverty
• end
• global
• warming
• environment
• pollution
• wealth
• Gates
• Jolie
• Bono
• Omidyar
• HH
• Dalai

[monkeysdemons]

& why do they need the YT PR????????

[SelfPort]

mutual benefit

[SelfPort]

There are epistemological issues with what you suggest. Any time one tries to explain how the world works, why people do what they do, and the effects actions have, analysis of how knowledge is developed is important...and all the more so when you suggest conspiracies or hidden forces. If you are not able to analyze analytical methods, yours or others, conclusions are always liable to be more or less inaccurate. By most definitions of "poverty" what I said was simply factual.

[qvqvqv23]

Poverty is not manufactured??? Um...ok...you're just in denial about who runs this planet financially. Ok Ok...that's fine. When people lands are stolen, that's the beginning of poverty! BUT as you say...there are many people working for the good. True.

I just wish you would give THEM attention and not goons like Bono and Bill Gates, who are FAKE GOOD. If you investigate these people, that becomes all too clear. So why ACT like they are "do gooders"? Well...that's ignorance for ya.

[SelfPort]

Poverty is not "manufactured," but it can be eliminated. If you look at historical graphs of living standards, you'll see that they have been increasing steadily for 300 years. Prior to that, throughout history, 99% of humanity was desperately poor. Poverty is like Buddhism says of samsara, "it has no beginning, but it can have an end." Whereas nirvana "has a beginning, but it need not have an end." If you look for evil, you'll find it, but there are many many people working for the good.

[qvqvqv23]

Yes agreed. I think these AIDS drugs need to seriously be independently investigated. There are a lot of Africans now refusing the vaccines because they have seen enough to prove they are toxic. It's a disease of poverty all right, manufactured poverty. Africa has all the resources yet a starving population. Just go back to Cecil Rhodes and it all starts to add up.

[qvqvqv23]

YES! and my point is these people are masters at diverting ATTENTION. For attention really controls a persons reality. And it's quite dangerous, IMO, to allow negativity to get sugar coated. And that's what these "stars" are there for. They MASK what is really going on. Some of them are totally unconscious about it, but most are actually not. When you catch their side comments it's all too clear they are willingly on board with the AGENDA. But people still worship their precious celebs.

[SelfPort]

btw, thanks for the heads-up about AIDS INC. I'm all for rethinking the nature of AIDS. Sure, there are people who exploit situations to make money.  But the issue with AIDS also involves fundamental understanding (or not) of the nature of the problem. For instance, the comment in the trailer says in Africa, it is a disease of poverty. And eliminating poverty is our main focus too.

[SelfPort]

We each create our own reality, to some degree. Attention acts like a tv tuner. Analytics and virtue are disciplines. And then we have some measure of choice and creativity in which version of "truth" we choose to espouse.

[qvqvqv23]

Investigate and you will find the RED campaign is a scam. Cleverly disguised as charity, this is a modern day eugenics program. Watch AIDS INC and you'll soon realize that these so called charitable celebs are actually just whores for the NWO.