Posts Tagged ‘philanthropy’

Larry Brilliant is one of those figures whose life just begs for long-form journalism. Brilliant is a doctor who, in addition to helping eradicate polio with the World Health Organization, reveled in the 1960s hippie culture. He is also the head of Google’s philanthropic arm, Google.org, which is reinventing the philanthropy industry.

Suppose Brilliant is not a human lava lamp at all but, as his friend and Grateful Dead co-founder Bob Weir puts it, “a living freakin’ saint”? Hell, you don’t even have to go that far. Suppose, for a moment, that Brilliant is simply a man with a deep conscience and a deep faith in mankind’s ability to work together and solve big problems. Suppose you married that withGoogle’s technological prowess and a few billion dollars. What would our future look like then?

Well, the future isn’t clear, but Rolling Stone’s story on Brilliant and Google.org helps to illuminate it. If you think, like I do, that the unique cultural and technological complexion of the Silicon Valley have powerful tendencies to reinvent the “outside” world, then the mix of Google’s optimism, deep pockets and technological resources are a point for excitement and hope.

[Photo: Wikipedia]