2005-11-19
But what are we doing about poverty and hunger?
I think we all wonder from time to time about "switching careers" to really make the world a better place.
I'm reading The Lexus and the Olive Tree and reflecting on globalization. It would be easy to feel a bit sorry for myself ;-) ... here I had this nice thing going as a software consultant in North America, and now smart folks in India, China, Malaysia and Bosnia are competing with me. Here I worked all these years to understand software, middleware and networking, and those very technologies have opened up the world to be my competition. My standard of living is coming down, I'm working harder, and the quality of life for those smart folks is rising rapidly.
All along I've been a bit challenged by how I'm serving big business, but not my local community or those most in need in the the world. Perhaps it will turn out that advancing the use of these technologies is indeed what levels the playing field for those most in need, and goes the furthest to reducing hunger and poverty globally.
I'm reading The Lexus and the Olive Tree and reflecting on globalization. It would be easy to feel a bit sorry for myself ;-) ... here I had this nice thing going as a software consultant in North America, and now smart folks in India, China, Malaysia and Bosnia are competing with me. Here I worked all these years to understand software, middleware and networking, and those very technologies have opened up the world to be my competition. My standard of living is coming down, I'm working harder, and the quality of life for those smart folks is rising rapidly.
All along I've been a bit challenged by how I'm serving big business, but not my local community or those most in need in the the world. Perhaps it will turn out that advancing the use of these technologies is indeed what levels the playing field for those most in need, and goes the furthest to reducing hunger and poverty globally.
