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I know there are a lot of libertarians around here, and I have some leanings that way myself. Plus, there's the whole startup culture which naturally embraces b

I know there are a lot of libertarians around here, and I have some leanings that way myself. Plus, there's the whole startup culture which naturally embraces bold new ideas. So I thought the article was very interesting and understand why others would as well. But your last paragraph ... Ouch. I had to rewrite this post three times to keep it civil. I guess your point is you think this idea is just that good, but if you take a step back and consider that on the one hand we have a very, simple, proven, and cheap way of saving huge numbers of lives and on the other we have something very ambitious but as yet unproven, you might conclude that they should not be competing for the same dollar.

barry-cotter 14y ago
Money is fungible or, a dollar is a dollar. We know with near certainty that 1600 dollars will save one life if spent on the best mosquito bednet charity. It may be the case that Charter Cities can and will lift millions out of poverty. It seems a plausible idea. If it is true the faster it happens the better. I'm fairly confident they have much less money than they'd like so they can productively put any donation to work. Really, it's a choice between the near certainty of saving a life and the possibility that one could save many more. It beats donating to the Society for Curing Rare Diseases in Cute Puppies.