Ask HN: What should we fund at YC Research? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What should we fund at YC Research?

#431

Post by decasteve » Sat, Jan 30, 2016, 5:17 PM UTC

vonklaus wrote: post #406

decasteve wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds analogous to understanding an electricity grid and power generation. Distributing CPU power (decentralizing it) by having more people run servers in their homes is the Internet equivalent to rooftop solar.

Understanding how the electricity grid works is non-trivial, maybe I am mischaracterizing your suggestion that it is not. Digital Ocean, a smaller provider, has 64gb memory 6 core intel cpu in a single server[1]. These are wired up into a cluster or clusters and probably plug in to a backbone provider like level3 or a big ISP. Small fish, last time i looked they have a half dozen or so regions with a few zones. AWS t…

I'm not/wasn't suggesting people running servers in their houses would/could offset data centres. Just as rooftop solar could not replace large power plants.

Your comment made me think that understanding how computing power is employed and distributed, and how that information is propagated, sounds a lot like the distribution and routing of electricity. The problems being non-trivial to understand.

If we consider what the average person uses in terms of computational power, bandwidth and storage, and how many people an individual shares content with, like they would on Facebook, using email, et c., then a server in the home with appropriate software could easily cover that requirement.

If we consider the requirements of publishing content to a mass audience, then individuals running home servers would not cover this (at least not yet). Just as everyone with rooftop solar could not power the requirements of factories.

Re: Ask HN: What should we fund at YC Research?

#432

Post by eldavido » Sat, Jan 30, 2016, 5:21 PM UTC

kresimirus wrote: post #311

Transparent lobbying fond that would be used for the interest of majority. Currently in US there is a problem of buying political power that is hard to counter with standard democracy instruments (e.g. voting). When the specific political problem is discussed (like finance regulation or incarceration rates) there will usually be some corporations or interest groups that will have much higher incentive to lobby for a…

This is a great idea. Stuff like the sugar tariff [1] are a perfect example of what you're talking about, a well-organized but tiny minority using the political process to affect an outcome that's bad for people as a whole. I would contribute money to this if it existed.

[1] http://sugarcane.org/global-policies/policies-in-the-united-...

Re: Ask HN: What should we fund at YC Research?

#433

Post by HappyFunTime » Sat, Jan 30, 2016, 5:23 PM UTC

gamification tactics for useful behaviors. Some good tactics should be found out of the cancerous casual gaming wallet emptying strategies. Maybe time gating can get people to write books, that's what the pomodoro method is right? What other tactics could work? Jingling sounds in the "casino acoustics" genre? They've found a way to addict humans to useless behaviors, lets find ways to addict humans to useful ones!

Re: Ask HN: What should we fund at YC Research?

#434

Post by wfn » Sat, Jan 30, 2016, 5:23 PM UTC

aakilfernandes wrote: post #427

wfn wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's an interesting idea and angle. While reading "The Dispossessed"[1] and thinking about the way syndicates work there, I had this (generic, not-worked-out) thought about some form of protocol for creating co-ops of the kind mentioned, and then running and enforcing the rules (including e.g. equal dividend payment / whatnot). I wonder if someone has considered implementing some kind of a co-op system in Ethereum…

Definitely in the works. Check out http://boardroom.to/ Its allows any arbitrary ownership rules, so it works for co-ops as well as shareholder corporations

Thanks, looks interesting, will check out their whitepaper!

Interesting architecture in regards to their "General Hook Middleware" and other ways of implementing "middleware contracts" (for things such as company payroll). Curious stuff...

edit yeah, this is interesting. Do you know how close this is to a working implementation? I see some "pre-alpha" screenshots etc.

Re: Ask HN: What should we fund at YC Research?

#435

Post by danblick » Sat, Jan 30, 2016, 5:23 PM UTC

I guess most research ideas here will focus on technology. Just a thought: how about supporting research on economics?

YC is in a great position to spawn a small "think tank" focused on technology startups.

A couple ideas: how about studying the effects of software patents on technology startups? What government policies would really support innovation? How should startups approach intellectual property?

Alternatively: how about ideas in industrial organization that relate to startups or Silicon Valley? (I'm sure if you supported research on technology clusters, governments around the world would love to work with you to help nurture startups at home.)

Concrete suggestion: Find an economics professor who you could support as a "visiting fellow" for X months?

Re: Ask HN: What should we fund at YC Research?

#436

Post by eldavido » Sat, Jan 30, 2016, 5:24 PM UTC

petra wrote: post #53

1. A lot of industries are concentrated and monopolistic, which leads to both issues of high prices, control and lack of local resilience. So how do we build a more decentralized economy ? What are the missing building blocks ? 2. Our current remote-work isn't good enough from the psychological perspective. No eye-contact, no body language, isolation, etc. But solving this is one of the only things thing that can byp…

Re (1), I agree there are desirable properties of a less-concentrated economy where every industry isn't controlled by 4 companies and the entire Internet doesn't run on AWS, I just don't see that as the future.

If you agree that technology promotes various kinds of efficiencies (e.g. Uber), then companies who can invest the most in their technology platforms will win the market. Net result: when more investment is required for market participation, capital intensity goes up and you get industry concentration.

I think about this a lot as a matter of personal career planning. A lot of my friends work at Apple/Google/facebook and I don't, and I can't help but wonder whether many sectors of the American economy are going to be dominated by megacorps vs. clusters of small (inefficient, but where I prefer working) firms.

Re: Ask HN: What should we fund at YC Research?

#437

Post by Abraln » Sat, Jan 30, 2016, 5:24 PM UTC

increment_i wrote: post #397

bambax wrote: post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wanting to live forever has to be the apex of egoism and arrogance and all that is wrong with the human mind. Death is good because it leaves room for new people with new ideas. Being against death reveals a profound misunderstanding about what life is about, which is: finiteness, urgency, novelty, creativity.

I suspect you're going to get hammered here but this is an incredibly important point. Aging and death forces the passing of the torch from the old generation to the new, and I think this is a crucial part of progress. A tragedy on par with death would be the rise of some oligarchical class of immortal technocrats, wielding power and influence for centuries on end.

I can see the job description now: "75+ years of relevant experience required." At the same time, allowing the Einsteins of society to continue their work indefinitely would provide a net increase in the rate of scientific advancement. Unfortunately climbing the corporate ladder would be nearly impossible as positions would almost never go vacant. It has both pros and cons, but allowing a larger fraction of the population to be in the workforce might just outweigh the negatives.

Re: Ask HN: What should we fund at YC Research?

#438

Post by eldavido » Sat, Jan 30, 2016, 5:32 PM UTC

What we'll do with all the electronics waste we're producing now. Disassemble it? Take it apart with robotics? Is it possible to reuse SMD-soldered components in new things?

This problem is only going to get worse with time.

Re: Ask HN: What should we fund at YC Research?

#439

Post by mrdrozdov » Sat, Jan 30, 2016, 5:39 PM UTC

Fund more programs like Tamid [1].

Tamid is a student run non-profit that helps students get internships in Israel. It's different from a program like Birthright in that it facilitates a cultural exchange through business rather than religion.

Another commenter brought up that teaching empathy has been something you, sama, have personally thought is an interesting and difficult problem, and a Tamid-like program is one approach. There's nothing quite like living with a foreign family and working for a foreign business that makes you fully appreciate the perspective of that country.

Although Tamid is Israel specific, one could imagine similar programs for India, Russia, China, etc.

[1] http://www.tamidgroup.org/

Re: Ask HN: What should we fund at YC Research?

#440

Post by eli_gottlieb » Sat, Jan 30, 2016, 5:44 PM UTC

Applied and computational statistics, especially related to learning/inferring latent representations and causal inference.

Basically, there's a big complicated world out there, and the data we can collect about it using any fixed amount of human labor is really noisy, and so we need vastly better statistical techniques than are usually applied (see: p-hacking/NHST-worship) to help us figure out what the heck is going on.

Example: http://www.isi.edu/people/gregv/practical_methods_discoverin...