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Greetings all, in this week’s episode of Ventures, I introduce and play an important clip from episode 97 with Daniel Wilson, PhD regarding the importance of Web3 to help humans flourish around the world. We talk about how while incentives for traditional organizations (e.g. banks) are often not compelling enough to provide the same services that developed nations enjoy, Web3 - especially Decentralized Finance (DeFi) - allows unprecedented access to quality financial services. We also talk about how a multidisciplinary approach to Web3 in the developing world is critical, and we discuss the work that Daniel is doing right now to help more language communities participate on the Internet.

Check it out: Web3 vs. Web2 incentives for tangibly helping the developing world :: with Daniel Wilson, PhD

Summer of Reflections

I’ve started a book club this summer with a few colleagues. We are reading through GreenPilled, ImpactDAOs, Network State, The Metaverse, and Build right now. I’ll have a lot more to say on these books in future newsletters, but I wanted to take a moment and tee-up “why” I’m interested in reading these kinds of books and talking about Web3 and social impact in general.

First, some statistics:

“1.3 billion people in 107 developing countries, which account for 22% of the world’s population, live in multidimensional poverty. About 84.3% of multidimensionally poor live in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.”

And, in case you are curious:

“The Multidimensional Poverty Measure (MPM) seeks to understand poverty beyond monetary deprivations (which remain the focal point of the World Bank’s monitoring of global poverty) by including access to education and basic infrastructure along with the monetary headcount ratio at the $1.90 international poverty line.”

I find it increasingly difficult to ignore these 1.3 billion people. While we complain about trivial things - like not having enough shows to watch on streaming services or why the Internet doesn’t work temporarily on airplanes - 22% of the world doesn’t have access to the basic infrastructure and education opportunities that the rest of us take for granted.

While major tech moguls focus on spending billions to get us off this planet, at least 1.3 billion people are suffering here at a fundamental level. This is, of course, deeply frustrating. Rather than complain about it, however, I’m working on tangibly doing something about it. My group (Prota Ventures) has recently started partnering with International Literacy and Development (ILAD) - which you can learn more about at their website and on Ventures Ep 96, 97, and 101 - to assist with tangible entrepreneurial projects in the developing world. I’m looking forward to sharing more about the progress of these projects in the coming months alongside ILAD.

Thus, what is of high interest to me remains how technology (e.g. AI, Web3, Satellites, advances in computing, etc..) can tangibly help at least these 1.3 billion people on our planet living in multidimensional poverty.

If you would like to collaborate on any/all of this above, please feel free to reply to this email (will@wclittle.com) or hit me up on Twitter @Impact_Ape.

Have a great rest of your week,

~Will