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Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

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Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#131

Post by ivm »

voidhorse wrote: post #105
matt_wulfeck wrote: post #33

I'm getting tired of all of the hot air coming from these tech oligarchs. They're so enriched by a tech boom and a decade of easy money that we worship at their feet. Their vision and goal for the future is simply more money for themselves at the expense of others. "Guys look! An hour long commute is actually a good thing because you can spend it with your kids!" Why is it so hard to spend time with our kids now?! I…

It's really a fascinating phenomena when you think about it. Technology has warped and dominated our world and culture to an extent it never has before. I like to imagine a little scene: a primitive man bows at the feet of another who fashioned a knife out of a mammoth tooth. That's more or less what we still do today. The technological and scientific have replaced the religious as the ruling dogma and organizational…

When ethical progress lags behind technological progress it ends up in an enormous bloodshed every single time.

Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#132

Post by BjoernKW »

blhack wrote: post #48
BjoernKW wrote: post #30

> All of a sudden you can have the idea that an hour-long commute is actually a big perk because instead of driving and having to sit and focus and lurch through traffic, what if your car is a rolling living room? This is ridiculous. That's what our supposedly most innovative thinkers can come up with? Turning your car into a living room so we can have even more commuting (with all the wonderful side effects that com…

Maybe not everybody wants to live in a population dense metropolis? 1hr commute outside of Minneapolis, Duluth, St. Cloud, or any of the other metro areas in MN and you're living in a beautiful cabin in the woods.

So, why not work from there while enjoying the beautiful view and only go to the city if personal presence really is required (which most of time it isn't)?

Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#133

Post by metafunctor »

mvpu wrote: post #26

"Take the ego out of ideas" is sound advice for investors , not entrepreneurs . Ego is a loaded word, but if you define it, in this context, as an irrational belief that you are right and the world will catch up, then it's essential for every entrepreneur. "New ideas" get no support. You're the only support. You have to strongly believe that the world will get there, do whatever it takes to convince them to get there…

I think there's an important distinction to draw between the problem you want to solve (your vision, the ethos of your company), and how you plan to go about solving it (your product idea, your go-to-market plan).

You should stick with your vision, but not tie your ego into how you originally planned to execute towards that vision.

Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#134

Post by aanm1988 »

whack wrote: post #103
matt_wulfeck wrote: post #33

I'm getting tired of all of the hot air coming from these tech oligarchs. They're so enriched by a tech boom and a decade of easy money that we worship at their feet. Their vision and goal for the future is simply more money for themselves at the expense of others. "Guys look! An hour long commute is actually a good thing because you can spend it with your kids!" Why is it so hard to spend time with our kids now?! I…

I only came to HN somewhat recently, around 2 years ago, but I've started to notice a very major change in the culture of this forum lately. There is so much vitriol and blanket insults being levied at anyone and everyone. The linked article is almost always a sideshow, and simply acts as a prelude for the battle in the comments section. A battle which has little to do with what the article itself says, and is simply…

I thought the points made by the parent were really relevant. especially as things move more and more towards letting founders cash out early and then take years longer to get to IPO.

I think we could much worse than to start moving away from the SV VC startup mentality which is so dominant.It's become ridiculous. Think about how many stories you see about some guy who is living in a van in SF because that's what you have to do now.

Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#135

Post by aanm1988 »

BurningFrog wrote: post #113
bambax wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah. > Self-driving cars, for example, could potentially put 5 million people involved in transportation jobs out of work. And creating 5 million new jobs for them seems impossible with net monthly job gains typically in the hundreds of thousands. “Five million jobs seem like a lot of jobs. It is a lot,” Andreessen says. But looking at the big picture shows that “every year in the U.S. on average about 21 million jo…

These 5 million transportation jobs will not disappear on the same day. It will probably take a decade or so. This has happened many, many times over the 250 years since the Industrial Revolution. Each time, the old jobs have been replaced by newer and better jobs, and each time people have worried about mass unemployment and misery that did not happen.

I'm more worried about increases in gig economy type crappy jobs, further erosion of workers rights, underemployment, and degradation of the middle class.

Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#136

Post by stagbeetle »

dave_sullivan wrote: post #126
BurningFrog wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These 5 million transportation jobs will not disappear on the same day. It will probably take a decade or so. This has happened many, many times over the 250 years since the Industrial Revolution. Each time, the old jobs have been replaced by newer and better jobs, and each time people have worried about mass unemployment and misery that did not happen.

I really think this time will be different. I agree it will take a decade, but those jobs aren't coming back. One trend to consider: each "mega successful company" for the past 100 years or so (maybe longer?) has been extraordinary because of how few people were required to start the company, and how much profit per employee they generate. The unspoken side effect is "we need fewer people" (and they're hard to find A…

> In such a world, most people will have to be on the dole at some point in their life, and that will be OK.

I don't think so.

If "most people are simply not going to be economically useful" for what reason, besides an appeal to utopianism, is it a good idea to strain the country's resources in chase of an ideal?

Basic income will pave the way to cementing this feudalistic class-inequality we possess today. Extremely simplified: Those who believe in virtue through "self-fulfillment" (leisure) will intermingle and breed with the same, and so will those who believe in virtue through industry.

The first will mimic the lower classes (maybe even the proletariat) and be "left behind," degenerating over the years into nothing more but grazing animals.

The second will mimic the higher classes and continue to consolidate power and seize freedoms for themselves.

Basic income is an idealistic idea, both impractical and separated from human nature.

Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#137

Post by teddyh »

goatlover wrote: post #93
smacktoward wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When he talks about "what if you don't have to worry about driving," what I hear is: what if your car is one more place where we can show you ads? Right now we can't show you ads in your car, of course, because you're in command of two tons of steel moving at high speed, so your attention needs to be fully concentrated on that task. But if the car could drive itself, think of all the ways we could monetize that newly…

If you own the car, surely you can install the equivalent of an ad-blocker.

Your would have to jailbreak your car to do that, of course…

Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#138

Post by sctb »

LordHumungous wrote: post #115

> All of a sudden you can have the idea that an hour-long commute is actually a big perk because instead of driving and having to sit and focus and lurch through traffic, what if your car is a rolling living room? jack_off_motion.gif

Please don't post like this here.

Re: Marc Andreessen: “Take the Ego Out of Ideas”

#140

Post by aanm1988 »

wincy wrote: post #74
pasbesoin wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The current buzz is "basic income." While I'm not opposed to the idea that if you're born -- and if so much of the world values human life including and especially in the womb -- then you should have the opportunity to at least "get by" and not be per force exploited, much less sickened and killed. While I'm not opposed to it, there is a pre-cursor of ostensibly more limited scope, and perhaps of greater benefit than…

I would have a thousand children if I could. If I can pay for them all and don't draw benefits, who cares? People might think I'm eccentric, but it's not like I'm taking more than my fair share. Once the government is paying every one of my kids, suddenly people wants to have a say in the number of children I can have. I also want my insurance to spend a million dollars if it means I can live for an extra week. Even…

> "free" healthcare would have strings attached that I quite frankly find disgusting.

But you are fine with letting people with less money die?

Universal health care doesn't mean you can't pay extra for supplemental stuff.

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