Laura Murphy, the former head of the American Civil Liberties Union's DC legislative office, recently conducted a 90-day review of discrimination on Airbnb. Murphy says that she believes it's in the enlightened self-interest of not only Airbnb, but all sharing economy companies, to make a sustained effort to serve entire communities, not just an elite market share.

Laura Murphy, the former head of the American Civil Liberties Union's DC legislative office, recently conducted a 90-day review of discrimination on Airbnb. Murphy says that she believes it's in the enlightened self-interest of not only Airbnb, but all sharing economy companies, to make a sustained effort to serve entire communities, not just an elite market share.

Tim O'Reilly, founder and CEO of O'Reilly Media, believes we should rethink the world using today's technology. "Let's stop optimizing for the short term and start optimizing for the long term," O'Reilly says. O'Reilly acknowledges that technology is destroying jobs today, but only because "we've built incentives into our economy to encourage those choices."

Co-Founder of Peers.org Natalie Foster is a strong proponent of creating a new social safety net outside the bounds of traditional employment. Even if we wanted to bring back the unionized jobs that built the American middle class, Foster says, we can't. "Work is shifting away from protected jobs and towards service and retail sectors."

Andrew Stern, former president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and author of Raising the Floor: How a Universal Basic Income Can Renew Our Economy and Rebuild the American Dream, believes a universal basic income is the best way for the United States to deal with massive changes in our economy—changes that will only be exacerbated by increasing automation.

Co-Founder of Couchsurfing Casey Fenton believes that people are fundamentally good and want to help each other. Fenton, who founded Couchsurfing in 2003 as a way to explore the world and meet new people while saving resources, describes Couchsurfing as a "backstage pass to the world."

Former Mayor of Philadelphia Michael Nutter has plenty of experience with people clinging to the status quo. "What I say back home is, Philadelphians love change," said Mayor Nutter. "As long as things can stay the same." Mayor Nutter believes that city officials should first and foremost remain open to the possibility of disruptive companies that can provide new or better services to their constituents. In July of 2015, in Mayor Nutter's last year of office, Philadelphia legalized Airbnb and passed a plan to collect taxes from the home-sharing company shortly before Pope Francis visited. Mayor Nutter said the additional housing was extremely beneficial for a city that might otherwise have seen people camping outside due to a shortage of hotel rooms. He spoke of the importance of bringing commerce to neighborhoods outside hotel districts, and of families having the ability to profit from their most valuable asset.

Palak Shah is the Social Innovations Director at the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA), the leading voice for the millions of women who work as domestic workers, women who have been excluded from U.S. labor laws for decades. She is optimistic that tech, governments, and social movements can collaborate to make positive changes in the lives of workers.

Entrepreneur and investor Nick Hanauer, one of the most vocal proponents of raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, wants his fellow one percenters to understand the importance of addressing income inequality. No one has a bigger stake in a thriving middle class than the wealthy, Hanauer said.