What would you do with $10,000US to improve the human condition?

I would pay off my debts.

Hmm.. I have a couple of ideas and one of them involves lots and lots of solar panels.

That way, I could put whatever I was paying towards the electricity bill towards my other debts.

Bond Street, baby. That would certainly improve my condition

Get the hell out of my RL geographical location and maybe pay down my student loans a bit, depending.

10k?

i would split them into a couple even portions and donate them to a couple grantmaking and other philantropic organizations I know, with at least some of it going to techsoup.

I'd do the same thing I always do when I get an unexpected chunk of money....buy stuff I don't need.

Do I have to improve the general human condition or can I just improve my position? 10k would certainly help. Please send the money in small unmarked bills immediately.

Might sound totally counterintuitive, but give it to Bill Gates for any real effect.

More specifically, his vaccine and medical care foundations for third world nations.

It would need to be at least seven billion US$, because I think everybody needs flashlights (batteries not included).

I found out about this charity through one of AM Radio's builds, and have sent a few chickens in the names of "please don't give me a present for my birthday/Christmas" relatives and friends.

www.heifer.org

The key thing is that it isn't just donating in the sense of "here, have a biscuit", but more in the sense of giving people a chance to make it on their own. Livestock is a self sustaining gift.

And cows have such cute eyes...

I'd start an organization that would encourage big corporations to at least not only build green, but to put solar panels on all their buildings that get decent sun. I'm tired of going though the closest cities and seeing all those flat treeless buildings without solar panels.

No, I don't think solar panels are the end all of being green. I just think that might help the little guys by either reducing demand and thus costs or companies seeing "Hey, this saves us money on even the OLD buildings!"

I wish I could put solar panels on my home.

Have one of the gender reassignment surgeries I have wanted for long time and maybe if any left some art equipment

Id use it to travel the world and offer aid, support and charity to those who need it. : )

10K? Pay off medical bills, put a big chunk in babys savings account, if there was any left, put it towards a mortgage.

Buy a chunk of rainforest and do absolutely nothing with it.

International family planning agencies

EDIT: Virrginia saved me having to choose between this and heifer.org

I would look up some local charity in my city and make a donation to them. Something like a food pantry or a church group.

Only $10k?? Thats not even enough to cover my student loans!

I'd be on the first flight to Vegas, to try to turn it into a million or so, so I can really improve my condition.

Want to compare loans? 10k isn't even enough to put a noticeable dent in mine. That's why I intend to fake my own death. Dodge the student loan folks and collect on that nice little insurance policy. Some people have IRA's. Some have 401k's. I've got a dead body in the freezer who looks a lot like me and a used car i can roll off the loading dock of a ferry.

(just kidding - in case any LEO's or my insurance guy are reading, the foregoing was meant in satire only and I would never seriously consider faking my own death. Plus, a body won't fit in the freezer unless you cut it up into really little pieces. Not that I tried or anything. Just guessing.)

I'm genuinely horrified by myself, having first read that as "facelights."

But to the thread topic, I'm supposing this to be related to the "Linden Award" for elevating the human condition with Second Life. And to buck the trend here, I think it's perfectly reasonable to look to technology to advance the human condition. And I rather hope it's more than just using Second Life as a new fundraising and awareness tool for non-profits. Not that this isn't a good use of Second Life. I just don't think it is what this should be about.

Here's what I mean: I think even the largest, most noble cause--The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, say, or UNHCR--has done less to advance the human condition than did the invention of the spreadsheet.

And that's because the spreadsheet is a tool that enhances human cognition. People make better decisions because it exists. (Including better and more timely routing of philanthropic resources, for that matter.) Enabling humans to be more productive thinkers, planners, decision-makers--that's elevating the human condition, universally, even for those who don't use the technology directly yet benefit from the better thinking it enables.

It remains to be seen if the Second Life platform can be The Next Spreadsheet, but it's noble enough that LL and its Board seeks to encourage that outcome.

My place of employment has made, and is making, discoveries that will improve the human condition -- like a light bulb that uses something like 1/10th of the kilowatts for the same amount of lumens. I'd donate to that, and also to the arts.

i would buy a bag of pot then find some scientists that are really smart..have them smoke the pot..

then when they get so high and to the point of getting really wild creative ideas i step in and say.
Lets make a time machine..

they finish the time machine... i get in it and go back about maybe to the 1960's with things i know will change the world and the future..
i take my $9,500 dollars... the scientists kept sending me to get more pot to finish the time machine..

ok so now i have 9,500 dollars and a better rate on the dollar to do some real spending..
first investment ..dump half into McDonald's stock.and let it sit till 2008.
second investment..spend the rest on gold and let sit until 2009
drop a few futuristic hints to key people that will affect my future then fly back to my fortune..
now that i am the richest and most powerful person in the world.

i end all wars make nudity legal make them release cures for diseases they have been holding out on and get the world back into shape by banning the use of oil and using the pattens on those more efficient cars that they have been hiding..
pretty much get rid of all the bad in the world i could if i could..

if i had a time machine everyone would be in a better place and there would be no bastards at the top holding the world back from progressing because moving forward takes money from their pockets..

I'm human, I'd improve my condition


http://www.secondscripter.com

That was all very cool. Thank you. Please find a way to save Hendrix, Morrison, and Janice while you're at it, would you?