Changing the World for the Better, On Purpose

by Eric Chaet

Recently, I was writing a business plan for one of my two tiny, one-person businesses, which goes by the name, Eric Chaet, Consultant. I had to concentrate on and emphasize how I would earn money—because it was the necessity of doing more of that, that was forcing me to make the plan in the first place.

Writing the plan took months. (I was simultaneously working on a plan for Turnaround Artist Productions, my other business, and a plan for linking the two businesses.) The final version was one page—which was what I was aiming for.

But it left me feeling dissatisfied. It told me what I needed to do, mainly, was to accelerate getting clients who would pay me to do research for them on technical subjects, and, sometimes, to help them articulate their ideas about those matters. I needed to let more people know how prepared I was to be of service to them.

Okay ... but what if I put down how I saw my business evolving?

What I added was that I would assume I was in charge of humanity, and had to deal with its pending problems. I had already attempted to identify the pending problems. I'd come up with:

• communicable diseases, health care, prevention;
• armed conflicts & defense;
• governance & corruption;
• malnutrition & hunger;
• injustice & stubbornness;
• pandering & addictions;
• subsidies, trade barriers, sweetheart deals, pork barrel projects;
• ignorance, arrogance, & education;
• racism, sexism, ageism, religionism;
• nationalism;
• population & migration;
• water management, sanitation, drainage, irrigation;
• financial allocation & instability, & currencies;
• transportation & communication;
• soil, crops, herds, & seeds management;
• power, energy, minerals, forests (& fires), fish;
• technology management;
• religion;
• law, police, & prisons;
• atmosphere & climate;
• pollution & recovery;
• culture;
• human talents & skills;
• hunting & gathering;
• agriculture;
• manufacturing;
• commerce;
• art;
• science;
• politics.

The next steps would be to research each situation as precisely and comprehensively as possible, never forgetting that they were part of a larger whole—and to discover or create solutions—both ideal goals, and practical step-by-step procedures to get from here to there.

It would not be reasonable to pretend that the madness and evil in the world, or natural laws which can't be violated without disastrous results—would get out of the way. It would not be reasonable to assume that those implementing the solutions would be anything like all-powerful, or anywhere near perfect, themselves.

In other words, to make myself ready to provide solutions, should opportunity present itself during the remainder of my life—most likely in a period of such intense crisis that others who would normally want to argue before listening, would be willing, probably briefly, actually to listen and consider, before beginning, competitively, to argue.

I began, hesitantly, to let a few others know about my idea. Within weeks, I got a new client—a friend from 30+ years ago—who has put me to work learning about the current controversies in IT (Information Technology).

I'm far from IT-adept. Becoming more IT-adept has been climbing my to-do list for the last few years, but I thought maybe I'd sneak in reading Tacitus's "Annals and Histories," Macaulay's "History of England," and "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" first. But becoming more IT-adept has been more and more rapidly climbing up the list.

And, my friend added, once he'd outlined what he wanted me to do for him, under what terms—separately—he wanted to participate with me in "changing the world." How could he?

I said we should proceed with both projects the same way. Send me an email articulating what you know now in as organized form as you are capable of, in the time you have. I will reply likewise. You reply, I reply, etc. We build on one another's work.

For now, all email to me must be in the simplest form—I have no software with which to open attachments. But, if you are sincere, you will find that you can say what little you have come up with, that is not generally known, in the body of an email. Opinions will matter very little—except as obstacles. No fooling ourselves! It's a big task. It will take a long time, likely forever, surely the rest of our lives. It will be interrupted by enormous crises, and by minor, personal crises. We'll start with baby-steps.

I see no reason for any formal organization. Everyone is welcome to participate, who will restrain him or herself from wasting others' precious time and attention. Do what you can. Contribute what you can.

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[Permission is hereby granted for free reproduction of the entire essay, but not of parts taken out of context.]

Copyright © Eric Chaet 2004