At TED, Robert Wright, the author of Non-Zero, spoke eloquently about the increasing moral dimension of history. With the increasing growth in complexity of social organization comes a deeper correlation of our fortunes. What happens in Iraq and in Gaza means more when there are super-empowered individuals with the technological power to create havoc across national borders in ways never before seen. Indeed, this downside correlation of fortune means we have to look more seriously and carefully at the growing lethality of hatred.
Wright argues that the world needs a major round of moral progress. We have to find ways to better understand one another’s humanity. Acumen Fund’s approach of working across borders and boundaries to solve concrete problems insists on beginning with an understanding of who people are, and more specifically, who the poor are as consumers. It means caring about their preferences, their aspirations, their humanity. Celebrating real successes - commercial successes - is also part of building a greater sense of dignity not only among the poor but for the wealthy as well. At least it is a start.
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