Capitalism is a powerful tool for creating change, but it may not be the best tool available for creating progress. Not without careful rethinking.
As I’ve said before, change does not necessarily move humanity forward. As with evolution, change can just as easily move us backward or distract us with the new and shiny instead of the truly better.
There’s a drive these days to push entrepreneurs into the business of “saving the world,” with the idea is that there’s financial opportunity in solving the problems that plague humanity.
That may be true to a point, but many of the problems that still plague humanity remain problems because they don’t easily fit into a business model. The target customer is so poor that they can’t pay for a service, or there is no infrastructure to support the business.
Business can still make a difference, but it’s going to require that we take a careful look at what business is for and who it’s intended to benefit.
Most of these problems might be better solved by institutions that were originally designed the serve the common good, like government.
