Thursday, October 23, 2008

Ideas for a non-existent Ideal

Google Inc. will award $10 million to solicit ideas it believes could benefit the world.

I mentioned this award casually over dinner and to my surprise I found that my 10 year old daughter was very curious. I gave her a rough estimate of the amount at stake in our currency and she was all the more excited. I explained to her that we need to come up with an idea which is good for the majority of the human race.

She gave a pregnant pause and then asked – “But papa, can you tell me what is good for the humanity?”

Now, when you are asked to ideate, it’s normally towards something. In this case we have been asked to ideate towards the welfare of humanity. But, do we really know what’s good for us. All indicators from the social, economic, faith indexes point towards a negative downslide. Growth is synonym to plunder, religion to fanaticism, and social relations have been stymied to – What’s in it for me?

I didn’t have an answer to my daughter’s queries; perhaps a project which helps the administrators of the world in understanding the actual needs of the deprived millions for whom words like growth, prosperity, and freedom have a different connotation altogether is not a bad idea.

1 comment:

Nimmy said...

Isn't this why it is awesome to spend time with children! :-))They floor me...almost every time they say something...!