11–20 of 32 posts
Just like the overwhelming majority of people, including the ones that think they are making a dent by 'inventing' apps that'll be obsolete and forgotten within a few years, at most a few decades.
I embrace the futility and absurdity that is a job. It pays the rent and that's good enough for me.
I barely made it through college, and worked in factories and warehouses during/after school. Because of my bad grades, I thought manual labor jobs were the only ones I could do. I later worked overseas (in Guyana). I've seen many bright young people worldwide forced into doing work that crushes their spirits, because they either never had access to educational opportunities, or they struggled with rigid educational…
That sounds very surprising to me. To me at least it seems it's getting easier, at an accelerating rate. With resources such as libgen, scihub, mit ocw, a great number of moocs, the amount of content is only growing (most stuff gets archived). Most top universities have publicly accessible course data and resources.
Also, internet access is growing, internet devices are getting cheaper, high speed broadband is also becoming the default.
So I wonder, why would you say it's getting harder to get a cheap high quality education? I'd say you can do it for free, just look at the mit challenge.
Surely, the only obstacle is the constant stream of distractions.
I barely made it through college, and worked in factories and warehouses during/after school. Because of my bad grades, I thought manual labor jobs were the only ones I could do. I later worked overseas (in Guyana). I've seen many bright young people worldwide forced into doing work that crushes their spirits, because they either never had access to educational opportunities, or they struggled with rigid educational…
> but it's getting harder to get a cheap, high quality education over time. That sounds very surprising to me. To me at least it seems it's getting easier, at an accelerating rate. With resources such as libgen, scihub, mit ocw, a great number of moocs, the amount of content is only growing (most stuff gets archived). Most top universities have publicly accessible course data and resources. Also, internet access is g…
One of the toughest parts of that is getting folks to understand how the gains in productivity are being taken from them by corporate owners that fund the Democrat and Republican Parties.
I've also worked pretty hard on getting us (the US) out of those mid-east wars with very little effect.
I live in a very rural conservative area and most of my neighbors are great folks but they tend to get a lot of tilted information on TV and the internet. Because I am able to point out these issues in a bi-partisan way they tend to listen and read what I share more than they would a "Libtard" (a term I hear often).
Since 2002 I've also made inexpensive software for small businesses and provide support for it. It's pretty easy to use so I don't get many requests for support. I'm working a new version of that software now.
I've shared a few concepts I've developed. A few years ago I made a lightweight backpacking tent made out of an "SOL Blanket" and showed how a small campfire would warm it up to +80º F in below freezing temps. I didn't invent that concept. "Bushcrafters" did. I just refined it and demonstrated and promoted a more practical way of using it. In the years since I've seen other similar designs come out, some that are made to be used for the homeless and in emergencies.
The thing about this kind of work is that it is usually impossible to measure the reach, but not so to see the effect if you are patient. My theory is if you can shed light on something true and good that light will spread, and seeking credit for how far is vanity.
If a concept is good it's better to get it out in the open than guard it like a secret if you cannot make the general use of the concept a reality. It's better because you will still get to benefit from it coming into existence.
A small example of this is years ago I took a cap off of a dishwashing soap bottle and put it on a disposable water bottle I bought on the way to a bike trail. When I got home I told my wife I was going to make it so I could buy these in the store because at that time no company was doing that. I looked up a company that made bottles and caps and told them what I wanted and it wasn't long before I could buy water and Gatorade with those caps in the store. My wife still thinks I "should have made a million dollars" and tells that story a lot but I know that was never the case. I don't think that made the world a better place, but it demonstrates how one can deliberately change how things are done by shedding some light on an idea.
Worse: I eat a lot of animals. Better: I'm creating a better language for humans.
Got kids so keeping the human race going.
Working for a hedge fundish type company so just helping some people make their profits from what is effectively poker.
About 5,000 smokers quit smoking and 10,000 heavy sleepers have gotten control of their sleeping habits through our wearable device, Pavlok: http://pavlok.com
Quick question: how does the device know when to shock you?