Hank, are we developed?

What does it even mean to be a developed country?

Traditionally, a "developed" country refers to one with a high-income economy, advanced infrastructure, and a high standard of living. On the other hand, a "developing" country typically has a lower-income economy, less advanced infrastructure, and a lower standard of living. However, when I think about the basic ideas, I tend to believe that a country should strive to be constantly developing to become a better version of itself. This leads me to question whether our current mindset is holding us back.

Our current mental model allows us to remove ourselves from the playing field of innovation due to convincing ourselves we are fully developed and living without any possible improvements or inefficiencies left to resolve. Removing ourselves from the playing field of innovation reduces our ability to raise people's living standards. Raising living standards is what has fueled human beings for centuries. The only technology that has been really allowed to make an impact on our lives has been the internet. Which yes, without a doubt raised living standards for millions of people, including myself. Although, it could be argued that even though we are the inventors of the internet, we and our people are being surpassed by "developing" nations in how it's used.

The internet's impact has propelled us into what's referred to as the "information age," allowing us to connect and exchange information at the speed of light. This exchange of information has allowed business to facilitate without borders, growing the total addressable markets for players to delve into. The information being freely available on the internet also gave anyone with access a chance to harness a new skillset to build a new business or product themselves. This desire to innovate and create better solutions to everyday problems is what's driving some pretty impressive technological innovations in the exact places we'd least expect.

Take Sierra Leone, for example. In 2018, the democratic nation held the first-ever election using blockchain technology for election transparency. The truth machine allowed for secure, verifiable, censorship-resistant voting. Imagine if we employed such a system during our elections. Would we have been able to prevent the debacle that turned into the January 6th Capitol riots and the distrust in the electoral process? Maybe just by allowing a slight bit more transparency, the people would be able to trust again. Perhaps Wala could be of interest, a South African company that used distributed ledger technology to enable zero-fee banking without relying on traditional banking infrastructure. Considering 20% of our nation is underbanked and underserved by the old guard financial institutions, we could consider such an endeavor.

As always, my goal is to bring light to perspectives that seem misaligned or contradictory to where we should focus our attention. It's not a problem of lacking solutions, talent, or know-how. I think the problem is coming from the way we are choosing to organize ourselves and how we are setting priorities in which we utilize our finite resources. We need leaders who have the ability to adapt, that can learn from the successes and mistakes of other nations. Without grasping the technologies of the future, we will be relegated to the past and will be constantly reacting to emergent outcomes rather than being the controller of our destiny and fate.

Instead of thinking of how developed we are, let's think about the developments left to be made and how to bring light to the people. I encourage all of my readers to challenge your existing beliefs on what it means to be developed (personally and societally) and if there is anything that you can do to push the ball forward and create the future we are all hoping for.

Are You Feelin’ Moody?

INRI