Communal Problem Solving

In the blogosphere, there's a business/economics superstar debate going on about philanthropy and how the corporate sector should be involved.

Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Becker & Posner (one of my favourite blogs) are the names that stand out the most to me and they've also quoted Milton Friedman (the mastermind behind many of the firmest pillars of economics today)

It got me thinking about how amazing it was - that with modern technology, we can gather some of the greatest living minds together to try and solve a communal problem.

I imagine that it would have been quite hard to group solve problems during the cavemen era, because the smartest guy wasn't always king of the clan. In fact, more likely than not, the caveman geek would hardly get any say at all in the matter.

I'd picture a scenario like this:

A bunch of cavemen have killed a woolly mammoth, and they're dragging it to their cave, but it's too big to fit through the entrance.

The leader Ogg, calls for a clan meeting to address the problem.

Ogg: Meeting now come to order. We need action plan for getting mammoth into cave.

Grog: Why mammoth must into cave ?

Mog: Because mammoth yummy. Big Fang Tiger will smell mammoth outside cave and eat us all

Grog: How about cover mammoth in mud ?

Ogg: Now summer. Mud dried up to become powder.

Cog (geek caveman): How about we cut up mammoth and hide in cave in smaller pieces ?

Ogg: Why you want smaller mammoth ? We have many family. Make mammoth smaller not enough to go around. *smacks cog*

Mog: Or maybe we can make new cave around mammoth so mamoth in cave.

Ogg: Now you talking.

Grog: How about we make cave hole bigger ? We strong. Can throw rocks at ceiling of entrance until pieces fall off.

Ogg: Grog. You Genius!

Conclusion - Cavemen eventually cause a cave-in trapping themselves in the cave. They manage to escape after three days of digging but the dead mammoth has attracted a family of Big Fang Tigers who eat the entire clan.

If you want to read the blog I mentioned above for some heavyweight thinking (or perhaps you're looking for a non-medicinal solution for your insomnia), visit Creative Capitalism.

There. My first attempt at 'writing funny'. Lemme know what you think!