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Request for Startups: News, Jobs, and Democracy

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: Request for Startups: News, Jobs, and Democracy

#361

Post by selimthegrim »

smacktoward wrote: post #103
davidw wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a feeling part of why they don't use tech solutions is that the 'cost' of making a statement is valuable information: if a ton of people are willing to spend 10 minutes to make a call, that tells you something. Having 100 people, half of them Russian bots, click on a "+1" button, might not tell you as much.

Having worked myself as a constituent contact in a Congressional office, I can tell you from experience that you are exactly right. Someone who's willing to hand-write a letter and pay for a stamp is seen as a more motivated constituent -- more likely to care enough about the issue to have it decide how they'll vote in November, in other words -- than someone who makes a call; and the caller is more motivated than so…

Surely these offices still have fax machines?

Re: Request for Startups: News, Jobs, and Democracy

#362

Post by selimthegrim »

specialist wrote: post #267
tptacek wrote: post #30

A category of applications that I'd like to see YC helping along are those things that could help ordinary people run for office. The things off the top of my head I can see technology helping with: * Leveraging social networking to generate social permission for people to stand for office, which I think is the most important obstacle facing people who might consider running --- far more so than money. * Using techno…

All worthy suggestions. TLDR: Replace current campaign managers, consultants, fund raisers, etc. Which I totally support. But how? Please ask candidates (past, present and future) about running for office. Better yet, run for office. See what it's like. I highly recommend the training from http://wellstone.org and http://democraticfuture.org . I'm sure there's others. Also, join some local campaigns and do the grunt…

I'd be interested in your opinion on this initiative: https://sites.tufts.edu/gerrymandr/

Re: Request for Startups: News, Jobs, and Democracy

#363

Post by milesrout »

conanbatt wrote: post #333
lieut_data wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Society underestimates the long-term economic value of a child raised by a full-time, invested parent. Parenting and babysitting are apples and oranges.

No it doesn't. Otherwise, every single teacher, caretaker, would quit their jobs as soon as they had a child and would get the same economical benefit. If it were a productive investment it would be common because those that do it would easily outclass the rest.

They don't do that because they can't afford to do that. That's sad and unfortunate.

Re: Request for Startups: News, Jobs, and Democracy

#364

Post by grey-area »

CM30 wrote: post #312
grey-area wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes sure, Twitter (moments) and fb (live) are converging on this to some extent. I'm thinking of something less social and more verifiable source of info though. You'd need incentives to keep it real, probably some form of verifying in a local web of trust, and incentives to read/watch so grouping by geography and interest. I'm thinking more make your own local newspaper than share videos to your friends. Probably yo…

Thanks for clarifying on this. Such a system definitely needs a way to verify news, though I'm not quite how a web of trust might be integrated here. Grouping by geography and interest is definitely needed (Medium/WordPress style tags can help with both here, especially if users can follow/subscribe to them). Making your own newspaper sounds interesting as well. You mean like a sort of blog or Medium publication? Or…

I think you need the feeds from verified individuals first, then you need some new way to integrate those resembling neither Twitter nor newspapers but tailored to specific audiences who know their stuff and can contribute/correct too. There should be no comments section, the article should be made of comments with context and commentary. For example some people do stats, some do a map some do commentary from the ground, and maybe someone ties it together.

What are your thoughts on the way news should evolve, I'm genuinely really interested in this area.

Re: Request for Startups: News, Jobs, and Democracy

#365

Post by ako »

Fake news is going to be hard to address.

Imagine a browser warning for fake news. Every article about religion or God would need to be accompanied by a warning: speculative, no concluding evidence available, too many competing theories.

I guess that wouldn't gain many users.

Re: Request for Startups: News, Jobs, and Democracy

#366

Post by ScottBurson »

protomyth wrote: post #198
ScottBurson wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm going to pass along something my wife told me about, that happened when she was living in Idaho with her first husband. It was seriously suggested by some of the locals that she should undergo an exorcism. The evil spirit allegedly possessing her, that was to be the target of this procedure: her university education. There are lot of people in rural areas in the US who not only do not have a lot of education but…

I try not to let the anti-vaxxers, hippies, or the Hollywood stars brand whole areas, or my experience in San Francisco in 1988 with a broken down car and told to go find a tow truck. "a lot of education but who have an active antipathy to it." An yet, I live with people who cherish it right here in rural America. Parents sacrificed to get kids in college. Doctors are listened to (yep, get your shots). Its ok, really…

You're right. I'm sorry.

Re: Request for Startups: News, Jobs, and Democracy

#367

Post by RangerScience »

logfromblammo wrote: post #282
RangerScience wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something of a loaded question, but more, a super hard question. Your question is loaded because it assumes that ownership of such machines is the best solution for those made unemployed by them - I think this is probably flawed, because management is a different skill set than direct contribution. The problem is that the worker's skills have lost value. They need new skills - management skills for owning the machine…

I blame the grandparent post by eevilspock for loading the question. I don't think it can even be answered with that assumption included. Let's say you have a cobbler, who makes shoes. He recently lost his job to the burgomeister's new Elfbot 4000, that can make the same quality of shoe, but turns out 2 dozen pairs in a single night. The Elfbot 4k runs all week on a single saucer of milk, without sleeping. The cobble…

Ah! I hadn't noticed that you weren't the question's author.

I really like your summation that "can't get the capital in a capitalist society through the use of their obsoleted skill".

Arguably, the benefit of the cobbler could be a) highly custom small batch work, b) expertise to maintain the Elfbot, and c) a thinking mind behind the task. Elfbot will not improve by itself, the cobbler would.

Re: Request for Startups: News, Jobs, and Democracy

#368

Post by dwenzek »

ako wrote: post #365

Fake news is going to be hard to address. Imagine a browser warning for fake news. Every article about religion or God would need to be accompanied by a warning: speculative, no concluding evidence available, too many competing theories. I guess that wouldn't gain many users.

When I hear "fake news", I understand "news about fake facts" and not "opinions which may be erroneous".

The issue is to favor the true debates, with different points of view, and to remove the noise which prohibits and prevents from speaking or hearing others.

Re: Request for Startups: News, Jobs, and Democracy

#369

Post by intended »

thowar2 wrote: post #34

Education should be on this list. The root of all these problems stem from a lack of effective education. 1) The current methods are highly ineffective for teaching By getting more effective at teaching children, and helping them to self educate, we get better informed citizens who can interpret news more accurately and effectively participate in democracy. 2) The current goals for education do not align with current…

No! education should definitely not be on this list.

Education is a red herring, and the first thing people reach for.

But education is always misunderstood, and all research shows that there is vast amount of variability in things ranging from understanding to retention.

For example

1) Level of nutrition impacts grade outcomes

2) Level of food consumed on that particular day impacts retention/learning

3) Level of reading of parents impacts student scores

4) Level of grand parent nutrition impacts student health and nutrtion

5) Race and discrimination impacts educational outcomes

Leave aside things like bullying, student interest, intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation, learning style and so on.

And this may or MAY not impact job and future outcomes either.

Education is NOT an easy fix, and a tool which magically does fix this is a tool too powerful to create because if it were misused it would be an indoctrination tool beyond any other ever developed.

Education must be solved with other efforts

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