The Economy’s Hidden Problem: We’re Out of Big Ideas • Hacker News Board

Re: The Economy’s Hidden Problem: We’re Out of Big Ideas

#61

Post by AstralStorm » Wed, Dec 07, 2016, 8:41 AM UTC

devoply wrote: post #10

paulryanrogers wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Barring some massive breakthroughs my guess is planet earth has far too few resources for that to become reality.

Resource constraints are an optimization problem. Some things don't get made because other things need to be made which are more important for the system to function. Right now these resource constraints are not even optimum. In that we waste tons of resources for no good use. We call this stuff garbage, packaging, waste food that's simply thrown in the trash. These are optimization problems that AI can solve much be…

Nah, we don't even need AI to optimise such problems we made away.

There is enough will, but said waste is also known as marketing and pandering to the human tastes.

Re: The Economy’s Hidden Problem: We’re Out of Big Ideas

#62

Post by AstralStorm » Wed, Dec 07, 2016, 5:42 PM UTC

Hondor wrote: post #50

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #6

Big ideas take a long time to play out. Take electricity, for example. Maxwell published his equations in 1861. Yet useful new applications of electricity were still coming out in the 1960s (microwave ovens). Or take transistors. They were invented in 1948. What we call "electronics" didn't really start happening until about the 1970s. Moore's Law didn't really slow down until maybe 2005. The problem is that we don't…

Even if we can do sustained fusion, that doesn't make it a game changer. It looks like it will be hugely expensive. It's easy to say "fuel is nearly free and unlimited!" but that's also true of solar power and solar is too expensive to take over the world's energy. Fusion would be worse because it would require more maintenance - such as frequently replacing radiation damaged parts.

Solar is more importantly finicky with regards to weather. Cost is not that bad... Until you start to include massive batteries.

Re: The Economy’s Hidden Problem: We’re Out of Big Ideas

#63

Post by alasdair_ » Wed, Dec 07, 2016, 9:38 PM UTC

milkytron wrote: post #28

> There are more scientists and engineers in the U.S. than ever before. None of this has translated into meaningful advances in Americans’ standard of living. It seems like this article is attempting to state a problem that doesn't exist to create a stir. No meaningful advances recently? I cannot take this statement seriously when I now have the entire internet easily accessible in my pocket at all times compared to…

>None of this has translated into meaningful advances in Americans’ standard of living.

My five year old likes space stuff. This morning, he wanted to know what the planet Venus was made of. To find out, he spoke to my phone and was immediately given an answer along with lots of other details.

When I was growing up, the cost to find out such basic information was high - I'd need to find someone who knew, or dig out a paper encyclopedia after visiting the library, something I wasn't allowed to do by myself when I was five.

By he time I could do so, it usually didn't matter to me any more.

My son's standard of living far surpasses mine at the same age.

Re: The Economy’s Hidden Problem: We’re Out of Big Ideas

#64

Post by milkytron » Wed, Dec 07, 2016, 11:41 PM UTC

serge2k wrote: post #55

milkytron wrote: post #28

> There are more scientists and engineers in the U.S. than ever before. None of this has translated into meaningful advances in Americans’ standard of living. It seems like this article is attempting to state a problem that doesn't exist to create a stir. No meaningful advances recently? I cannot take this statement seriously when I now have the entire internet easily accessible in my pocket at all times compared to…

> If the writer is talking speed performance, the Model S blows every competitor out of the water in 0-60 time. > And the batteries and motor take up less space when compared to the engine and drivetrain of comparable vehicles Lots of weight though. I still think the article is rubbish. The Model S is a pretty damn good electric car. We are right on the brink of VR and AR being everyday life. The past 10 years have r…

> in 0-60 time.

Ah yes, I should've been more specific and said acceleration instead of speed.

This is what I was talking about when I said there are a lot of variables to measure performance lol.

Re: The Economy’s Hidden Problem: We’re Out of Big Ideas

#65

Post by candiodari » Sat, Dec 10, 2016, 5:38 AM UTC

geooooooooobox wrote: post #58

candiodari wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes but the situation is very different. We have fast declining productivity, and nothing seems to be able to arrest that. Now what is declining productivity ? Well, it's a measure of how much you make, on average, from one unit of human labour. In other words: how much can one single average human produce, given the odds of them having a job (so automation is not really a positive factor for productivity anymore). T…

I wonder what does the advent of ideas have to do with the average joe? The collective doesn't seem to be important here

These are large scale economic issues. It makes little sense to discuss one idea, in one line of business. It only really makes sense to look at the whole and what is happening there.