Swarm would be a web app that would treat the network of its users as a single sentient entity (where, for example, sufferings of "others" would be recognized as a universal (urgent) concern). The app would allow users to exercise a universalist suffering-focused ethic, a moral "view from nothere".
In terms of initial functionality it would notify users of others' crises (from individual tragedies to famines), provide means of proposing and voting for solutions, collaborative thinking ('resolving cognitive dissonances') and having other discussions ('mind wandering'); and facilitate sharing and exchange of resources.
Ultimately, Swarm would cultivate a "hive-mind" culture where suffering of others is disvalued as one's own. Swarm would help aspiring effective altruists to fight their akrasia.
(At the current level of technology, the "swarm" solution should already be developed as a brain-to-brain interface. The app would be just an inadequate substitute, at best a mean to promote the swarm solution to indifferent and ineffective society.)
- browse, sort and submit current and potential future instances of suffering
- browse, sort, propose, discuss and vote for solutions
- browse, sort and advertise free resources by category and tags
- interact with a tag cloud
- engage in debates
- engage in discussions
- etc.
- Elm (alternatives: Web Components or inferno.js)
- back-end in Phoenix
- DB: ?