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Ask HN: What problems do you see worth solving in 2019-2020?

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Re: Ask HN: What problems do you see worth solving in 2019-2020?

#111

Post by princesse »

gHosts wrote: post #103

Graph Theory in the presence of modules and dependencies between modules. Every thing in computing is modular and multiple levels of modules and has coupling and dependencies between modules. It's the hottest and hardest problem in real world computing... it's nicely representable in a graph theoretic framework.... but graph theorists aren't looking at it.

Can you provide more details? Are you talking about algorithms like modular decomposition[1]? Any specific challenge you'd like to see addressed in the following years?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modular_decomposition

Re: Ask HN: What problems do you see worth solving in 2019-2020?

#113

Post by atlasunshrugged »

rognjen wrote: post #110
atlasunshrugged wrote: post #20

There are a ton of great ideas backed up by a considerable amount of research done by 80,000 hours ( https://80000hours.org/ ) about problems worth solving (although most I think would take longer than a year). They also have a nifty job board in case you want to work for an existing high impact org rather than start your own

I've heard of 80000 hours before but if I'm not mistaken it's more for people who don't _have_ to work to earn money. A while ago one of their career advice blog posts gained traction and it read absolutely as advice for someone who doesn't have to worry about money at all. One of the pieces of advice was something like "don't make long term plans" and there was no advice at all about compensation. E: Found the blog…

Maybe for that one person who wrote that article that's true, at least for myself who has followed some of their advice (and many people in my network) we definitely all have to work to earn money and survive. I also think there is lots of other advice and frameworks for how to think about your career on the site so I would take one anonymous contribution with a grain of salt, even if they did have a high impact career.

Re: Ask HN: What problems do you see worth solving in 2019-2020?

#114

Post by krel »

ericb wrote: post #63

Allergies. Something has changed to make us allergenic to a degree that was never previously the case. We need to understand and fix it.

Is this true? Or did we just not care about allergies before when we had much bigger issues (like dying at age 30)?

Some reference/data to back up your claim would be nice.

Re: Ask HN: What problems do you see worth solving in 2019-2020?

#115

Post by BjoernKW »

omosubi wrote: post #104
neuroticfish wrote: post #3

Climate change should be anyone's first answer.

If you're a software developer, how would you go about doing this if you have no skills related to any of the areas that can have some impact on climate change? I've been a developer for a few years and have no hard science background. Should I go back to school to try and learn this sort of thing? Go into politics in some capacity? Keep working where I am and spend my free time and cash on climate change initiatives…

Software developers have tremendous potential for leverage at their disposal.

Some time ago I talked to a software developer who was both impressed by non-profit efforts by NGOs to combat Ebola in Sierra Leone and depressed at the same time because he thought that as a software developer (and not a medical professional, for instance) he couldn't contribute anything to such efforts.

I told him that a huge part of that specific effort in Sierra Leone was a piece of EMR software that allowed physicians and nurses to efficiently capture and retrieve patient data without being able to depend on a reliable local network infrastructure.

I'm certain similar opportunities exist with climate change, too.

Re: Ask HN: What problems do you see worth solving in 2019-2020?

#116

Post by gremlinsinc »

hprotagonist wrote: post #14

- voting rights, disenfranchisement, and election security. - climate change. - vigorous enforcement of international law guaranteeing human rights for refugees. - closure of industrial-grade CO2 emission sites like coal power plants.

I think paramount to all of those is the revolving door / political corruption that is Washington.

Remove money from politics and many of those issues will resolve themselves.

Make it so politicians may never become lobbyists, and in fact make it so lobbyists can't give money to campaigns, politicians, or PACS and Super PACS. Make it super hard to raise money except via grass roots and small donors.

This may cause some career politicians to throw in the towel and retire and make way for fresh ideas.

Replacing these career politicians opens the way for fresh ideas on Climate change, voters rights, etc... I see nothing so wrong as our corrupt political apparatus. It's not just us though, it's all politics everywhere, but it's definitely blatant in America.

Re: Ask HN: What problems do you see worth solving in 2019-2020?

#117

Post by gremlinsinc »

buboard wrote: post #72
leet_thow wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure, just have a hunch it will be a problem in the coming years. Look at Japan.

There is an enormous drop in T levels and sperm motility in the past decades. Don't know if related

I wonder if maybe it has to do with more screen time and less real-world socializing. Can't meet a girl when you never leave mom's basement. Also staying in breeds phobia's of crowds and people and social interactions which causes probably a lot of the incel behaviors in the first place.

Re: Ask HN: What problems do you see worth solving in 2019-2020?

#118

Post by buboard »

gremlinsinc wrote: post #117
buboard wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is an enormous drop in T levels and sperm motility in the past decades. Don't know if related

I wonder if maybe it has to do with more screen time and less real-world socializing. Can't meet a girl when you never leave mom's basement. Also staying in breeds phobia's of crowds and people and social interactions which causes probably a lot of the incel behaviors in the first place.

> with more screen time and less real-world socializing

That would imply that girls overwhelmingly don't do the same, which is not the case.

Maybe it's online dating

https://www.icoderzsolutions.com/blog/facebook-online-dating...

Re: Ask HN: What problems do you see worth solving in 2019-2020?

#119

Post by gremlinsinc »

buboard wrote: post #118
gremlinsinc wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if maybe it has to do with more screen time and less real-world socializing. Can't meet a girl when you never leave mom's basement. Also staying in breeds phobia's of crowds and people and social interactions which causes probably a lot of the incel behaviors in the first place.

> with more screen time and less real-world socializing That would imply that girls overwhelmingly don't do the same, which is not the case. Maybe it's online dating https://www.icoderzsolutions.com/blog/facebook-online-dating...

Maybe girls do -- do the same. Say 20% of girls do the same, that takes those girls 'off the market', so there's more competition and less supply of potential 'mates'.

I mean it sounds like a black mirror episode but, there could come a day where nobody leaves the house and everything is done in a VR world, including relationships and sex. Of course that might be healthier than what's going on now, at least there's some actual socializing, not sure if it's a healthy alternative to the real thing.

My point though is it seems a lot of 'incel' behavior is driven by reddit/4chan (the seedier side of reddit, there are some good parts), so I think maybe 4chan/reddit culture plays some role. Probably also group think as there are groups devoted to incels and giving voice to their anger that no women want them.

Re: Ask HN: What problems do you see worth solving in 2019-2020?

#120

Post by tmaly »

Education - I think if we can drastically improve it, that is our best chance at solving other problems. Glenn Doman in his book How to Teach Your Baby to Read, said every child has the potential for genius. That has kinda stuck in my mind this thought.

Plastics - the oceans are filling up with them. Stuff is not getting recycled despite people putting things in blue bins. Some research in material science to make something that breaks down faster would be huge

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