The Ananas Foundation is a UK-registered charity aiming to combat rising hate using cutting-edge technology and behavioural science to map ideologies and create the tools for individuals to navigate their own ideologies and those of others.
This is a difficult task, made possible by the advent of blockchain technology and the token ecosystem that allows for the organisation of complex informational and organizational challenges. We believe this allows us to create a resource that is comprehensive, up-to-date and, most importantly, authoritative, helping direct users to contextual, digital, and real-world information and resources.
Extremism of all types comes from a lack of contextual awareness and an illusion superiority in one’s own knowledge. The only solution is to create a dynamic resource where users can not only get basic information, but dig into this information in as much detail as they wish, while being connected to knowledgeable individuals who can help them.
We have constructed a unique token economy with a special currency, the Anacoin, used to pay researchers and contributors that increases in value as the platform is used more, accelerated by the creation of scarce digital assets. Our initial focus is on Islam, starting with the scripture that is at the core of the tradition, the Quran, to help combat extremism and Islamophobia.
The Living Quran will be the ultimate resource for this text, allowing Muslims and non-Muslims to explore all reliable and coherent interpretations, augmented by big data and artificial intelligence. This is a necessary, but not sufficient, component in the fight against rising extremism, which feeds on ignorance, as education and access can potentially succeed where bullets have failed.
Our ultimate goal is to map and create the resources to help navigate as many ideologies and belief systems as possible, religious and secular, helping to provide a reliable resource for “objective, subjective” information much as Google or Wikipedia are considered trustworthy sources today.
This will help communities with their own beliefs, as well as understand others from the perspective of these beliefs as we are standardising the ideological data set. Co-ordinating and incentivising a product of this scale as a charitable foundation would not have been possible a few years ago.
We believe we can make a real difference with the right community and partners in making the world a better, more peaceful place.
Zeena Qureshi CEO, Ananas Foundation
