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Ask HN: What problem would you solve with unlimited resources?

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Re: Ask HN: What problem would you solve with unlimited resources?

#61

Post by ethbr1 »

antfarm wrote: post #30

Reading some of the answers in this thread, I think I would put all my resources into a global education program. In my eyes the greatest challenge is to find a way to enable humanity to live in a way that does no longer destroy the ecosystem it relies on. Unfortunately, the solution won't be just technological but rather social, educational and political. We must find ways to stop overconsumption, overpopulation and…

+1!

It'd be great to see the beneficiaries of tech wealth commit to building intentional, public physical learning spaces (again [0]).

Libraries may look different in the 21st century, and have more than books, but their purpose of making knowledge accessible remains the same and as important as ever.

[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_library

Re: Ask HN: What problem would you solve with unlimited resources?

#62

Post by ethbr1 »

tsoukase wrote: post #58

I would definitely converse the current society to my dream one: - replace ownership of productive means from capitalistic to cooperative - ban any ownership of goods that are not actively used (eg one home, one car for everyone) - all high ranking politician positions are unpaid and voluntary - some more details...

I've been slowly becoming convinced that the lower house of all governments with legislatures should be chosen at random, like jury duty.

Pick random people, empower them with access to staff and information, have them serve their term, then repeat.

Re: Ask HN: What problem would you solve with unlimited resources?

#63

Post by ethbr1 »

antfarm wrote: post #39
sinenomine wrote: post #2

Aging. Nothing brings more suffering. Resource needs are considerable due to long preclinical & clinical studies necessary, perhaps also due to novel paradigms which will have to be invented along the way.

Would you like to die with a young body, or prefer not to die at all? Serious question.

Immortality brings a host of other problems, given that minds are rarely as plastic as bodies. I'm not sure it would be healthy for society to have ideas and people stick around for even longer.

Re: Ask HN: What problem would you solve with unlimited resources?

#64

Post by ethbr1 »

Ekaros wrote: post #47

World peace. Simple provide every country with sufficient number of nuclear weapons and delivery capacity to destroy any potential evil adversary. Side effects would be enough nuclear powerplants to solve lot of fossil fuel dependency.

How do you avoid nuclear armageddon, when any single country's leader can trigger it?

Re: Ask HN: What problem would you solve with unlimited resources?

#65

Post by ethbr1 »

aetherspawn wrote: post #25
Peacefulz wrote: post #5

A global rail network. Homestly, I just think it'd be kinda awesome. If you asked your local politicians if it would take unlimited funds to get started they'd likely say yes. Haha.

Yeah this would be awesome. I hate planes and would happily take a 3 day bullet train to America.

Side-effect: undersea cities at junctions

Hard to admit that wouldn't be cool.

Re: Ask HN: What problem would you solve with unlimited resources?

#66

Post by ethbr1 »

rkagerer wrote: post #31

I'd revamp the entire computing stack from first principles. Replacing the layers of patchwork technology that have accreted onto each other, with clean, direct architecture (reminiscent of earlier days) and more sensible abstractions. Reliability and security baked in from the start. A focus on clarity of intent - not just through documentation (for which the quality bar would be set exceptionally high) but also how…

Solid list! Expect we're of similar ages.

My thoughts around identity mirror your own, as fundamentally it needs to be a difficult to automate and unique function, if we keep optional anonymity (which I'm strongly in favor of!).

I think there's a lot of unexplored opportunity in federated opaque attestation. I.e. this service attests that this user has this much value on it (where value is history + quality), but no additional information. Then that can be aggregated as proof for new service user bootstrapping. Done well, you could do away with captchas.

Similarly, the communication prerequisite for healthy democracy has become apparent over the past 30 years. Without accurate and digestible information, enough people make dumb decisions that democracy produces bad outcomes. Something that realigns {what I want} with {what will make that happen} would be incredibly valuable.

Re: Ask HN: What problem would you solve with unlimited resources?

#67

Post by ethbr1 »

reify wrote: post #20

I would change the voting system in the UK. I would get rid of first past the post voting scam and change to proportional representation. Labour won at the last election with just 33% of votes, not 33% of the population of the UK, this is not representative of the people. Only about 50% (35 million) of the entire population voted. So about 10 million people out of 70 million people decided who should run my country.…

How would you square campaign finance limitations with free speech? That's always the rub.

Re: Ask HN: What problem would you solve with unlimited resources?

#68

Post by ethbr1 »

austin-cheney wrote: post #54
austin-cheney wrote: post #28

* Social intelligence testing. I would create a testing scheme robust enough to serve as a form of employment credential. Typically people of extremely low social intelligence present catastrophic performance failures that directly impact career performance and working relationships at dire costs to their businesses and the people around them. * I would create software licensing. This would identify persons capable o…

I take it from the down votes that people find the mere idea of identifying and measuring people pleasant to work with or competent to perform the work abhorrent.

Libertarianism (of the old, independent flavor) clashing with social responsibility.

I have a sneaking suspicion society would get a big boost if you filtered sociopathic tendencies out of middle management. I.e. license to have direct reports

Re: Ask HN: What problem would you solve with unlimited resources?

#69

Post by Ekaros »

ethbr1 wrote: post #64
Ekaros wrote: post #47

World peace. Simple provide every country with sufficient number of nuclear weapons and delivery capacity to destroy any potential evil adversary. Side effects would be enough nuclear powerplants to solve lot of fossil fuel dependency.

How do you avoid nuclear armageddon, when any single country's leader can trigger it?

MAD principle.

And well, in that case emissions globally would go down. So climate change would slow.

Re: Ask HN: What problem would you solve with unlimited resources?

#70

Post by ethbr1 »

Ekaros wrote: post #69
ethbr1 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you avoid nuclear armageddon, when any single country's leader can trigger it?

MAD principle. And well, in that case emissions globally would go down. So climate change would slow.

Part of MAD is predicated on concern about the thing being destroyed.

There aren't many countries run by dictators these days, but they exist.

I'd be a lot less comfortable in their making rational decisions not to use The Button. (After having moved their wealth and/or person offshore)

Does someone already running their country into the ground for personal enrichment, and vacationing in places {not their country}, really care about their country?

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