Ask HN: Fear?

I've thought about this, are patent offices even needed anymore? We used to need the centralized store of timestamps--proof of who thought of what idea first. Since you can check your idea into github these days, and show later you were indeed the first person to your idea, do we still need a central office for this?

Let it go.

I stopped caring about what other people will think/feel/benefit, it has nothing to do with me.

If you love what you do, then f* them. Just do it.

This is for you: http://zenpencils.com/comic/140-invictus-a-comic-tribute-to-...

You need to think it through. Imagine the worst case scenario, that you do all the hard work, and then someone really does come along and gain all the benefits. Then what happens? You will still get the experience from doing the hard work, if not the money or recognition. The only thing that matters when it comes to getting things done is experience. Fame and fortune come later, if at all. Eventually, with enough experience, you will be so good that it will be impossible for anyone else to take credit for your work, even if that isn't true now. Have faith in yourself and your future.

Realize your value is not in what you do, but how you're able to do it, that you're able to repeatedly do it over and over again with high quality.

Also nothing really matter on its own, it's up to each of us to make our own meaning. So, if you're really set on these fears they'll be real. If you focus on a different strategy that will be your reality.

You want a non zero sum game perspective.

My first startup was in Arts space. I used to do Art exhibitions along staircases, where people in companies would walk up the stairs and see photo-journalism stories (instead of taking lifts). I did a few good exhibitions and later closed the startup because of financial reasons.

I was a bit scared that someone established in Arts industry, would take up my idea and because they had more networks and artists, would do a better than me locally and then more people would steal it in different cities.

I tried to go open source later and literally tried that an art gallery or a photographer steals my idea and does staircase exhibitions. I tried to pitch it to people from different countries, they all loved it, said would try it, but never did. I sent them elaborate checklists on how to execute and pitch these exhibitions.

Nobody steals your idea - unless they see that you are making money doing it already. At which point, your idea is no longer a secret.

Since then, I have shared my ideas for months before working on them and received valuable feedback to refine them or weed bad ones out. I have even shared ideas that I thought were patentable - that made me uncomfortable, but no one ever stole them either.

Interestingly, at times I have thought of stealing someone ideas (we were co-founding and I felt cheated). I tried, but could not steal the idea either - though I was the developer. I guess, it is a lot of work to steal an idea.

And my latest startup idea is a game - https://halfchess.com . I shared it for a few months before starting to build it.

It can still make me uncomfortable to share an idea at times. So I stopped sharing ideas with people who make me feel uncomfortable or don't have a constructive feedback.