If you’re specifically interested in education, the shortest route might be the Khan Academy—whose effect is amplified by cell phones.
Note that I didn’t say “What’s the next cell phone?”, I said “what improves the odds of the next cell phone?”
Math and/or science and/or engineering research? Free markets? Invent a lot of stuff rather than trying to identify the right thing in advance?
To my mind, the most interesting thing about cell phones is that they increased individual capacity in first world countries by making communication easier, but they increased individual capacity much more in third world countries because cell phones require less infrastructure.
Buckminster Fuller’s idea of ephemeralization (doing more with much less) might be a useful clue.
The other clue might be that people in third world countries may need to have their own capacities increased more than they need help—they have enough intelligence and initiative, they just need better tools.
Yes, I realise that I was interpreting your question at the wrong level. My 5 minutes of thinking were fairly unfocused this time.
My answer to “what improves the odds of the next cell phone” would of course be “create a thriving community of rationalists dedicated to self-improvement and making the world better”. If you’re asking what I’d do other than that then it’s a good question I’d need to think about.
If you’re specifically interested in education, the shortest route might be the Khan Academy—whose effect is amplified by cell phones.
Note that I didn’t say “What’s the next cell phone?”, I said “what improves the odds of the next cell phone?”
Math and/or science and/or engineering research? Free markets? Invent a lot of stuff rather than trying to identify the right thing in advance?
To my mind, the most interesting thing about cell phones is that they increased individual capacity in first world countries by making communication easier, but they increased individual capacity much more in third world countries because cell phones require less infrastructure.
Buckminster Fuller’s idea of ephemeralization (doing more with much less) might be a useful clue.
The other clue might be that people in third world countries may need to have their own capacities increased more than they need help—they have enough intelligence and initiative, they just need better tools.
Yes, I realise that I was interpreting your question at the wrong level. My 5 minutes of thinking were fairly unfocused this time.
My answer to “what improves the odds of the next cell phone” would of course be “create a thriving community of rationalists dedicated to self-improvement and making the world better”. If you’re asking what I’d do other than that then it’s a good question I’d need to think about.
If we had a huge community of those rationalists, what more would we need?