Abundance

“Abundance is not about providing everyone on this planet with a life of luxury—rather it's about providing all with a life of possibility.”

We live in turbulent times. When we glance at the headlines, it is enough to put anybody on edge. However, a quick look at history shows that progress continues through the good and the bad times. Global living standards will continue to improve regardless of the horrors in the headlines.

For example, the 20th century saw advancement and tragedy. The 1918 influenza epidemic killed fifty million people, and World War II killed another sixty million. Yet, this period also saw infant mortality decrease by 90 per cent and maternal mortality decrease by 99 per cent. 

Underlying influences tend to push us towards a pessimistic view of the future.

• The amygdala is always looking for threats in our environment. When triggered, it starts the fight or flight response. But modern society threats are probabilistic. For example, the economy could crash, or there could be a terrorist attack.
• Information we receive. Media outlets know that good news doesn’t sell as well as threatening news, so we are constantly bombarded with fearful images and possible situations that feed the amygdala and prevent us from seeing the future objectively.

The world consists of complex systems where changes in one area can impact another area. For example, population changes in one species affect living and survival conditions for others. 

While some systems may seem to exacerbate current problems, they also present great opportunities because they create momentum and positive benefits in others.

Contrary to what many believe, big businesses contribute more to alleviating global poverty.

• They develop cheaper products for people at the bottom of the income pyramid - around four billion people. This is a huge potential market and the opportunity to make a profit while raising the standard of living for the poorest citizens.
• Technophilanthropists have a global vision and business and political connections to get things moving forward, such as Bill Gates, founder of the Gates Foundation.

Access to education is a major global problem. 

Those students with access to education follow an outdated framework that does not provide students with the skills needed to handle the problems of the twenty-first century.

ICT could offer a solution to address both issues of quality and delivery. For example, Sugata Mitra ran experiments on self-directed learning in Indian slums. He found that by just providing a computer terminal and internet access, groups of young children could teach themselves.

A stigma is attached to failure, and many people will do anything to avoid it. This can prevent innovation. 

Failure should be viewed as part of a longer learning curve and an important stepping stone toward innovation.

Nanotechnology allows us to create new materials leading to major advances in many areas. Nanotechnology involves building things on an atomic scale and create anocomposites, even tiny programmable assemblers, called nanomachines. These nanomachines can build other nanomaterials and create greater efficiency in the technology.

Examples include nanocomposites much stronger than steel produced at a fraction of the cost. Lifesaver is a water filter that can make water safe to drink without chemical or energy-intensive methods.

Access to biotechnology is multiplying the potential to find innovative solutions to food, energy and other global problems.

• Advances in genetic engineering provide solutions that can feed an ever-increasing population. 
• Biotechnology is also used for other applications such as developing strains of algae as a biofuel source.

The internet and social media spread has helped people share and discuss societal problems and provide tools to find solutions. 

Access to information is a significant catalyst in this process, for example, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

• Advances in solar energy technology can further innovation and lower production prices. New Energy Technologies has recently found a way to turn an ordinary window into a solar panel by using the world’s smallest organic solar cell that performs ten times better than current commercial models.
• More efficient methods of growing food, like urban farming, hydroponics and vertical farming, can reduce the need for arable land.