
How to Change the World: The Cleverest Idea I've Seen In Years - iamelgringo
http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2008/02/the-cleverest-i.html
======
Tichy
It's sounds like a fun idea, but is it really a breakthrough? It seems to me
if pumping the water was so important at one location, people would find the
manpower to pump. How does adding child labor into the equation make it so
much better? Sure, they can save themselves some work, but surely they could
have found other ways to pump, for example simply adults handling the pump?
(Animals have also been used, for example).

------
andyjenn
How about a gym on the train into work?

All those treadmills, running, rowing machines etc.. all hooked up to the
engine carriage.

Commuters get their (twice?) daily workout and reduce the energy needed by the
train.

------
iamelgringo
Having grown up in the third world, I love stuff like this.

One of my big dreams is to be able to make enough from startups to be able to
fund ideas like this.

~~~
mixmax
Well here's an idea for the third world. It's absolutely outrageous,
politically incorrect, and I'm not sure it will work. But it just might...

One of the problems with aid to the third world is that a large proportion of
the funds end up in the wrong pockets due to bribes, "taxes", etc. Another
problem is that once a school or windmill has been set up it needs constant
repair and maintenance or it will quickly break. And very often this is
exactly what happens.

Now we've all played Sim city. You buy powerstations, police stations, and
other essentials and spend money keeping everything in working order. If you
do it right your sims thrive.

What if you take the Sim city concept and transfer it to third world
countries. You would have a map in your browser (google maps maybe?) and can
zoom in and see the villages that are in the program. There will then be
utilities that you can buy for the inhabitants of the village you have chosen
such as windmills, water refineries, pumps, schools, etc. When you for
instance pick a windmill for a village it has a price that corresponds to the
real life price.You can then put money on it and it will be added to the pool
of money dedicated to buying the windmill. When the full amount has been
donated the windmill gets built. You now have a windmill in a third world
country that has been paid partly by your money. You can then see the
villagers thrive, and maybe you will want to build them a school next. And of
course you will be disappointed if your windmill breaks so you will probably
be inclined to pay for the repairs of it.

And of course you will know exactly where your money went.

I have no idea whether it will work, and there are probably all sorts of
things I haven't thought of. But if it does work I think it would be really
cool. So please steal this idea if you are so inclined.

~~~
tomjen
Half of the time I spend in Sim City was destroying cities - so your concept
is perhaps not as good as it could be.

~~~
mixmax
There needs to be a bad-ass downmodding algorithm :-)

