The problem I find with most philanthropic efforts, most namely charities, is that it's a black box with little measure of accountability. You don't know how exactly the money is spent, and how effective it was.
If someone can start a 100% transparent charitable organization, where each line item of expense is open to the public, it would give people more confidence in giving, and it would give the organizations more incentive to make effective and efficient decisions. Kind of like a manager overseeing your moves, except it's the public since they provide the funding.
In terms of where to focus the efforts -- I find providing education is the only short term effort that can lead to long term and everlasting gains.
GiveWell, in particular, publishes a bunch of information (cost/benefit analyses, intervention reports, etc.) about their charitable success/initiatives.
Just as many people would only donate to organizations where they can be anonymous. For example, if you were a gay man and wanted to send money to Russia to help fight the anti-gay sentiment over there, you might not want to do it with your name easily traceable.
The problem with understanding trends is that people naturally tend to think that the past predicts the future. What they forget is that what goes up, usually goes down. This is true in the vast majority of cases except for certain occasions (rise of internet, mobile, cloud). This is why hype such as 3d printing, VR, AI, IoT, chat bots, are just that -- hype, until we arrive at the point in time where the exact necessary breakthrough occurs for each, but I don't see it yet in many of todays cases.
Did Uber really win yet?
They haven't exited yet. Their valuation is insanely high and they are not looking to IPO, as they won't get a favorable price in todays markets. They are spending billions in China where they are not leaders yet (and unlikely to be).
I don't see how they have won yet. They are walking a dangerous path with no exit in sight.
Treating drivers as independent contractors also increases liquidity for everyone else in the market, as drivers just run multiple apps (and anecdotally prefer driving for Lyft in my unscientific q&a sessions). It's like Groupon marketing budget in early days increasing awareness of all deal sites out there.
They also have severe problems in many European countries where the consideration of the legality of the service hasn't been as lenient as in the US. One can "win" without a global presence sure, but that's something to still keep in mind.
I wonder if Lee Sedol were to start as white again, and follow the exact same starting sequences, would AlphaGo's algorithms follow the exact same moves as it did before?
If someone can start a 100% transparent charitable organization, where each line item of expense is open to the public, it would give people more confidence in giving, and it would give the organizations more incentive to make effective and efficient decisions. Kind of like a manager overseeing your moves, except it's the public since they provide the funding.
In terms of where to focus the efforts -- I find providing education is the only short term effort that can lead to long term and everlasting gains.