Entrepreneurial Singularity: Marrying Technology and Human Virtues

Article by:  Leah Wald

Mona Hamdy believes that technology married with pragmatic optimism can save the world.

That’s what the entrepreneur and Harvard University Applied Ethics teaching fellow told me while we sat overlooking the Potomac River at her restaurant in Georgetown. We discussed impossible problems like plastics in the ocean, hostile AI, hypersonic missiles, the perils of cashless economies for the world’s poorest, socioeconomic challenges for women in the Middle East and North Africa, and cultural misunderstandings between the U.S. and Arab nations. As I watched the sun glistening off the water, mulling over our conversation and the seemingly insurmountable challenges we had discussed, Hamdy caught my gaze. Surprisingly, she was smiling. “I am a realist. You have to clearly understand human nature to design effective solutions for the biggest challenges people face. But I’m optimistic about the human ability to solve problems. I choose to see these issues as design flaws we can fix.” Entrepreneurs will find viable market opportunities in addressing these issues, just like banks and large corporations do, Hamdy told me. “How will the pesticide market change if amortization of crop yield is based on soil quality, not on acreage? Is there a need for a physical crypto instrument to replace the freedom of cash in our increasingly cashless future? Can biomimicry give us clues about better batteries and more efficient energy distribution?” […]

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