Motivations
I’m a restless, curious builder of MVPs, I enjoy testing ideas at the frontiers of tech. I enjoy writing about my experiences and perspectives.
I believe in the potential of technology to materially improve human well-being and I’m always looking for ways to contribute to frontier tech. I’m wary of what technology does to human relationships and our mental health.
I started out deeply skeptical of markets and the business world. They aren’t really helping humanity and the poor. I worked for twelve years with NGOs trying to address rural economic well being through water security. Now I firmly believe they can’t materially reduce poverty in a meaningful way. Their work is vital and needed, but they’re just there to prevent things from getting worse.
I believe businesses over the last several centuries have helped people get out of poverty. They’ve done this incidentally, by providing them jobs and directly, by reducing the cost of goods and services. I say incidentally because I believe businesses don’t owe jobs to anyone. The current AI & Robotics wave we’re mounting makes that ever clearer. They owe profits to shareholders and following the rules of the game to the rest of society. We encourage businesses because competition has positive economic externalities for us all. Yes, wages might not be going up but cost of living (at a multi-decadal time scale) is going down.
Most businesses even improve material well being incrementally, those at the frontier move it forward in leaps and bounds. Its because of these beliefs and a desire to have an impact that I’m starting a new chapter with the frontier as my north star.
I shy away from confrontation and debate, but love Socratic dialogue, on everything from philosophy to politics and technology. My most frequent dialogue partner (Srushti) is also my life-partner. Our dog Bintu plays the role of Chief Interruptor of Dialogue.
On this site you’ll find both my writings on technology with a focus on India and personal perspectives. feel free to check it out and if anything resonates with you, you can always contact me at craigds022@gmail.com