Saving Time

Posted on 9 May 2016

Bill and Melinda gates write an open letter every year about what major problems they want to work on solving. This year's letter truly inspired me! They wrote it from the perspective of which super power they wish they had that they could share with others. I loved Melinda's section about time.

She writes about the unequal distribution of time spent on unpaid work and how it perpetuates gender inequality everywhere in the world. Then she shows how the triangle kitchen design drastically reduced the number of steps required in the kitchen for a person to bake a cake (as an example).

The result of this design was that it created new time for women to participate in social and civic discourse.

That's what got me excited. The idea of creating new time for people to focus on the things that are most important to them, where they can contribute the most possible value to their communities.

Right now we're standing in front of a giant wave of new products and services that will automate so many drudge tasks. It's going to enable so many new civic and social participants.

Awesome!