Balliet provides a brief overview of the Cooperation Databank, and how its has been applied to test theory of how personality, institutions, and culture relate to cooperation.
How should we characterize our current era of philanthropy? It’s not obvious which of the contradictory trends should be given pride of place. We have great concentrations of wealth at the same time as issues of equity have become ever more prominent in the discourse around philanthropy. Technologies that connect us also remove us from local connection and engagement, taking over more of the tasks we used to accomplish with a sense of dignity -- because they mattered to others. And, as always, much love, support and care occur outside of systems that formally count what matters for the public good.
Let’s start with the billionaire and elite philanthropy that occupies so much media attention. It seems a reversion to a past when mythic deities roamed the mortal realm. Billionaires are, of course, mortal though some seek to conquer death. Yet their wealth gives them powers that distance them from the experiences of regular people. Their actions become fables, “fabulous” in the contemporary way that celebrity culture seeks to define what is remarkable. Some, with their distinctive personalities and ways they approach causes, occupy our contemporary version of Olympus or Asgard. We may be witnessing a new era of mythic philanthropy, amplified by technology and media, that is distinctive from the original Gilded Age.