Technology & Innovation — October 21, 2010

How Capitalism Solves Poverty

Venture capitalist Vinod Khosla plans to create an investment fund for companies fighting poverty in India and Africa that provide social services like health, energy and eduction.

bigthinkeditor

“Mr. Khosla is what I call a ‘social arbitrageur.’ He understands that there is tremendous economic potential in solving social problems. Not just in the ethereal, abstract, long-term sense. Like, in the tomorrow sense. Khosla recently earned $117 million—pocket change for a billionaire—on the recent IPO of SKS Microfinance, one of the largest micro-lenders in India. Khosla, who founded Sun Microsystems, also raised a $1.1 billion for a ‘green’ VC fund last year. According to Khosla: ‘There needs to be more experiments in building sustainable businesses going after the market for the poor. It has to be done in a sustainable way. There is not enough money to be given away in the world to make the poor well off.'”

a computer generated image of a human brain.

Thinking

The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The Past

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

a collage of photos of a man with a hat and a book.

High Culture

6 great books with wildly unreliable narrators

Dive into the twisted truths and concealed realities told by literature’s most unreliable narrators.

a group of five matches on a pink background.

The Well

Signs you’re burned out — and how to bounce back

If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.

▸

7 min

—

with

Laurie Santos

Starts With A Bang

The trick to instantly identifying JWST images

If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it’s a JWST image or any other observatory.

Up Next

Guest Thinkers

Toward a Female Viagra

“Distrust of big pharma is stifling research into the real problem of female sexual dysfunction.” Suzi Godson says further research stands to benefit millions of women.