Will Activist Tech Billionaires Be The Superheroes The World Needs In The Post-Covid World…

In a word, yes –tech billionaires will simply have to be part of the solution to our many challenges this decade, according to NYU professor of global risk and World Economic Forum risk expert Dr. Maha Hosain Aziz.

In her recent award-winning, bestselling book Future World Order, Dr. Aziz argues that the 2010s saw the emergence of a unique global legitimacy crisis, one defined by the decline of governments and the rise of non-state actors, including the activist tech billionaire. 

In her upcoming sequel, A Global Spring: Navigating a Post-Pandemic World, she considers how this legitimacy crisis will deepen further due to the pandemic and offers strategies for new actors, including tech billionaires, to take us forward. While “superhero” might be too strong of a word, I think many would agree the world’s most well-off could be contributing a lot more than they currently are towards the global COVID response and recovery effort. As I’ve outlined previously, there is no shortage of need where even a fraction of the billions some of them have accumulated over the past year could make a world of difference.

I recently had a chance to speak with Dr. Aziz about her latest writings on this subject:

MS: Tell us about the “unique global legitimacy crisis” and lack of trust in institutions. Research shows the increased lack of trust in governmental organizations, which we know are critical entities working to address some of the largest crises of our time, including the COVID-19 pandemic. 

My work over the last decade has focused on risk, which basically means identifying the threats to global stability – in essence, I study what could go wrong. Through my research, I started to see that the risks in one part of the world were comparable to the risks in other regions. 

It led me to a larger thesis about our global legitimacy crisis and that the same sorts of issues were coming up in every type of context—every political and economic context—and that governments were simply failing to meet citizens’ expectations. 

We are truly at a crossroads in four key areas globally: If it’s not a US-led world anymore, who’s in charge? Is democracy still the best political system? Can globalization thrive amid populism and rising unemployment? Do we have shared global values in a world of growing hate? I’m of course excited about the new US leadership and vaccine progress, but neither will immediately solve these challenges. This global legitimacy crisis will fester and be further exacerbated by the long term effects of the pandemic.

MS: How do you think we can work towards restoring trust in governmental organizations and what is the risk we face as a global community if we don’t rebuild public trust?

Restoring trust in government is a huge challenge. It’s important to remember that in the 2010s citizen frustration had already experienced a sustained rise, with riots increasing by 282 percent and strikes up by 800 percent (according to the Global Peace Index). Citizens were notably unhappy in both democratic and nondemocratic countries globally. So even before the pandemic, there was a recurring feeling among citizens that there must be a better, more legitimate way to govern and that we deserve, well, better from our leaders. 

The pandemic has unleashed more citizen frustration. Many of us will wonder: Did our politicians do enough for us when the pandemic started and, more importantly, are they doing enough for us now?

In fact, in my upcoming book, I argue that COVID-19 is leading us into a global spring – a movement where more citizens will be challenging their governments, certain policies, or leaders through protests even more in every region in the world. So at this stage, rebuilding trust in government is going to be a challenge. It’s more likely that in the near-term, we will see more non-state actors – i.e. citizen activists and activist tech billionaires – trying to fill the gap. In this sense, whether democratic or undemocratic, our political systems are evolving in a COVID-19 world order. Perhaps it is finally time to think about a new social contract that reflects these new influencers?

MS: In your book Future World Order, you note that “tech is the cure to the crisis”. Certainly, the tech industry at large has seen record-breaking profits, and the fortunes of billionaires like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg continue to skyrocket, even in the wake of a pandemic, with total billionaire wealth growing by more than 27% to an astounding $10.2trn. With their fortunes continuing to grow, how can they step in and solve some of the most urgent crises our world is grappling with and why should they do it now?

I think we have to appreciate where we are today and where we are headed – a tech-driven world order – whether we like it or not. So it makes sense that we are seeing a surge in a wealth of certain tech moguls. Frankly, they earned it. What is important to note is that even before the pandemic, many of these tech billionaires were already stepping up to try to tackle certain crises, perhaps in response to the failure of our governments. Pre-pandemic, the tech billionaire, like a 21st century public intellectual of sorts, was spotting current and future trends, even offering policy proposals to the public; specifically, he was warning us about the negative impact technology will have on our economy and society, especially automation-related unemployment. 

As Alibaba’s Jack Ma put it, “in the coming 30 years, the world’s pain will be much more than happiness.” Tesla’s Elon Musk also predicted universal basic income (UBI) will be “necessary over time if artificial intelligence takes over most human jobs.” Y Combinator’s Sam Altman even launched a small pilot project for UBI in California to test the viability of his policy suggestion. 

Already in the last decade, the tech billionaire has been talking about policy and global issues in a public space much more than we’ve seen in the past. They are already political influencers stepping up to fill a perceived gap in leadership. 

MS: It will cost billions of dollars to tackle and emerge from the pandemic we are in – a fully funded Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator will cost $35bn USD alone and addressing the hunger crisis globally will cost another 10bn. Given tech billionaires’ rising fortunes, why should they be committing to Give While They Live? Last year we worked with Forbes to enhance the way they measure the generosity of the Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans to measure actualized giving – not just funds sitting in their charitable foundations or gaining interest in a donor advised fund. What else should philanthropic leaders and organizations working to end the pandemic be doing to make the case for increased philanthropy worldwide and what new tactics or measures are needed?

Your Give While They Live initiative is much needed during this critical pandemic period and more tech billionaires should be committing to it. The vaccine is on its way, but of course, we know the short term and long term effects of the virus will persist and our governments will likely not be able to cope. But what has been interesting to observe is that many tech billionaires have already stepped up during the pandemic – Jack Ma, Adrian Cheng, and Bill Gates, for instance, directly offered world leaders medical supplies in a unique form of COVID-19 bilateralism; it’s unclear how that dynamic might play out in future crises. And of course, you have billionaires like Twitter’s Jack Dorsey who created a new charity focused entirely on pandemic relief. 

There is also the Millionaires for Humanity, a group of over 85 millionaires who have signed a pledge saying philanthropy is not enough; they’re calling on governments to tax them more to help cope with the pandemic’s economic impact. Such direct forms of activism by the wealthy is a positive sign – a more immediate way to help tackle crises when governments fall short.

MS: While I take your point that a small number of tech billionaires are stepping up in their philanthropic giving in response to the pandemic, many are not. Even amongst those who have made commitments over the last year, it still represents a mere fraction of the 5% minimum threshold our Give While You Live campaign calls for them to give. Mark Zuckerberg for instance gives less than 1% of his annual wealth away and could be doing a lot more notwithstanding some of his recent commitments. I do agree though the commitments of Jack Dorsey set a powerful precedent for others to follow.

Before we finish up, I’m curious, what’s your next project that you’re most excited about?

This year I’m thrilled to be part of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Frontier Risk to consider how we can help leaders better tackle global risks in a COVID-19 world order. 

I’m also excited to be launching my second book, A Global Spring, to help all readers understand the pandemic effect better and I’ll be giving 50% of my profits to the WHO’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. But I do feel it’s important to share my ideas with younger audiences too, which is why I drew my political comic book The Global Kid back in 2016 and am finally launching the sequel this spring – but in VR/AR form! So excited to be partnered with award-winning ed-tech startup Musemio to create the world’s first VR/AR political comic book to inspire tweens to learn about the world and consider their activist role in fixing it.

What is your hope for the 2020s?

Aside from overcoming the pandemic effect, I also hope this decade we figure out how to completely eradicate hate. It’s sad that we have seen it spread globally since the 2010s, not just within society but also at the level of the state in most parts of the world. Where is the leadership on this issue? New Zealand Prime Minister’s Jacinda Ardern called for a global campaign against hate in 2019. And new US President Joe Biden has already said he would like to try to unite our fractured world during his term. But I think the solution is more likely going to come from us – global citizens. We must never forget the intense reaction to George Floyd’s death that launched a global movement against hate this past summer – a citizen-led movement in the midst of a life-threatening pandemic. It is citizen activists who now need to lead discussions about what our shared global values are so we can create a counter-narrative to the hate. We didn’t have that debate in the 2010s. Can we have it now in the 2020s? That will be important if we want to redefine our values and our identity as a global community.

In my conversation with Dr. Aziz, one theme was clear: we really are all in this together. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the need to look beyond world leaders to get us through crises, and it’s critical that we each do our part – governments, corporates, billionaire philanthropists and everyday Global Citizens to recover better together. The time to do more, act more, and give more is right now.

Dr. Aziz’s sequel, A Global Spring: Navigating a Post-Pandemic World examines how COVID-19 will shape our geopolitics, politics, economies and societies in the coming years. Her book is available now for pre-order and will be released in March on Amazon.