We should not separate ourselves from humanity, yet we do.
 
When I was little I believed that war and other big world problems would go away within my lifetime. It was just a matter of getting people to become aware of one another. That awareness would spark compassion. It seemed so simple. While that fantasy faded, what motivates people to care enough to effect change continues to intrigue me.
 
We have the technology and information to solve society’s big problems. We (humanity) are missing the willpower and cognitive ability to make it so. Caring as a change motivator seems to be a scalability issue for most of us. Easy at a small or local level but we lose our ability to act as the scale of the problem grows. It’s not that we don’t care, or recognize it; we just don’t act on it consistently beyond local levels.
 
In a Wired article…Why We Can Count on Geeks to Rescue the Earth, Clive Thompson describes how Bill Gates has the cognitive ability to apply a moral algorithm to solve big problems, unlike the rest of us. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough Geeks acting like Bill.

Perhaps Geeks can build an algorithm for those of us less capable, which can be visualized to show how individually our compassionate actions fit into  a larger equation for solving big problems.

There are models out there now, although they are generally skewed towards one type of action, ie: donating money. Throwing money at it is just one of the steps needed. A simplified visualization of the other steps and action opportunities might help us understand the bigger picture. What comes to mind is something like a poster showing the lifecycle of the Salmon, only in this case showing the lifecycle of solving big problems in order to preserve humanity.  

Using the Salmon example, Salmon make their trip back up the fish ladders to where they were born in order to spawn, die, decompose, and feed the next generation… a preservation algorithm. Species preservation may not be a conscious effort for them. Regardless they do not separate themselves from each other like humans do.

Until the Geeks rescue the earth making my childhood dreams come true, Government needs to maintain infrastructure’s and standards that aren’t beholden to agendas other than serving humanity. As individuals (or corporations) we cannot be trusted to do so, we just don’t have the right wiring.