This Could Be Our Future

A Manifesto for a More Generous World

By: Yancey Strickler

Narrated by: Yancey Strickler

A vision for building a society that looks beyond money and toward maximizing the values that make life worth living, from the cofounder of Kickstarter

Western society is trapped by three assumptions: 1) That the point of life is to maximize your self-interest and wealth, 2) That we're individuals trapped in an adversarial world, and 3) That this is natural and inevitable. These ideas separate us, keep us powerless, and limit our imagination for the future. It's time we replace them with something new.

This Could Be Our Future is about how we got here, and how we change course. While the pursuit of wealth has produced innovation and prosperity, it also established an implicit belief that the right choice in every decision is whichever option makes the most money. The answer isn't to get rid of money; it's to expand our concept of value. By assigning rational value to other values besides money--things like community, purpose, and sustainability--we can refocus our energies to build a society that's generous, fair, and ready for the future. By recalibrating our definition of value, a world of scarcity can become a world of abundance.

Hopeful but firmly grounded, full of concrete solutions and bursting with creativity, This Could Be Our Future brilliantly dissects the world we live in and shows us a road map to the world we are capable of making.

*Includes a PDF of images and information to support the text

Well written and thought provoking.

Sage thoughts and advise from a wise young man. If all businesses looked to balance profits and philanthropy, what a huge impact this would make on the condition of our country!

Good stuff.

Well researched and thoughtful. World would probably be a better place if everyone read this.

A must read book to rethink our world

I am reading it again. Great data to support a greater idea. Let's imagine a future with a more human paradigm than financial maximization. Very difficult, but needed if we want to survive, especially in a world in which Capitalism for-profit AI technologies replacing are making humans irrelevant.

bubba's take

a fresh new way to consider the root cause of so much turmoil in the world.

Positive and uplifting

An incredible piece of work with some interesting fun facts. Everything I do from this point forward will be different. Thank you Mr. Strickler.