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Ask HN: What impact are you having on the world?

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Re: Ask HN: What impact are you having on the world?

#21

Post by akulbe »

This is something that's hard to measure and quantify.

That said, you may be trying to make an impact on someone and never get to see the fruit of it in your lifetime. Those kind words of encouragement, that smile, that mentoring session... they could seem like they're of no effect, and falling on deaf ears.

You never know. It might be days/months/years down the road, and that person recalls their interaction with you, and something take root in their life, and change happens.

If you're trying to make an impact, and you're only satisfied by what you see right now in front you, you may be sorely disappointed.

@nougatine - you say "none whatsoever". I beg to differ, friend. You may be having a tremendous impact, and may never get to see it.

I would encourage any of you who happen to read this, to take a long view, and act with that in mind. It's totally possible for you to have a HUGE impact on someone and never get to see it.

Hopefully, this will temper our interactions with people.

Re: Ask HN: What impact are you having on the world?

#22

Post by akulbe »

tunap wrote: post #13
ekr wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but it's getting harder to get a cheap, high quality education over time. That sounds very surprising to me. To me at least it seems it's getting easier, at an accelerating rate. With resources such as libgen, scihub, mit ocw, a great number of moocs, the amount of content is only growing (most stuff gets archived). Most top universities have publicly accessible course data and resources. Also, internet access is g…

To me, you are describing knowledge & understanding. An "education", as I understand it, is a validated completion of a curriculum from a known, accredited institution. Also, an " education" is no guarantee of access to, nor achievement of, success. Merely a minimal requirement for consideration.

Education != schooling. It's a mistake to assume that you can only be "educated" in an institution.

A person can educating themselves, simply by reading, and never have set foot in a classroom and still gain AMAZING skills.

That's my $.02 :)

Re: Ask HN: What impact are you having on the world?

#24

Post by vikp »

ekr wrote: post #12
vikp wrote: post #9

I barely made it through college, and worked in factories and warehouses during/after school. Because of my bad grades, I thought manual labor jobs were the only ones I could do. I later worked overseas (in Guyana). I've seen many bright young people worldwide forced into doing work that crushes their spirits, because they either never had access to educational opportunities, or they struggled with rigid educational…

> but it's getting harder to get a cheap, high quality education over time. That sounds very surprising to me. To me at least it seems it's getting easier, at an accelerating rate. With resources such as libgen, scihub, mit ocw, a great number of moocs, the amount of content is only growing (most stuff gets archived). Most top universities have publicly accessible course data and resources. Also, internet access is g…

I think you're right, if you view "education" as content delivery. I think that for the most motivated people who are willing to learn on their own, education is often just an access problem (hence why so many smart people have focused on creating MOOCs and other content delivery platforms).

But for the people who aren't self-motivated (which I think is the vast majority), education is more of a motivation problem. Many people in this group (including myself) were trained by the traditional educational system to view learning as a chore or a slog.

I've talked to many people who have started MOOCs, but gave up halfway through due to boredom. We often see this as the student's problem/fault, but looking at it that way means that you'll only ever focus on the small percentage of students who are already motivated.

The motivation problem is one that just delivering more content won't fix. I think solving it is incredibly impactful, and can create far more opportunities than the content delivery platforms have. Unfortunately, most solutions to it are expensive (colleges/bootcamps), or lack depth.

Re: Ask HN: What impact are you having on the world?

#26

Post by tunap »

akulbe wrote: post #22
tunap wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me, you are describing knowledge & understanding. An "education", as I understand it, is a validated completion of a curriculum from a known, accredited institution. Also, an " education" is no guarantee of access to, nor achievement of, success. Merely a minimal requirement for consideration.

Education != schooling. It's a mistake to assume that you can only be "educated" in an institution. A person can educating themselves, simply by reading, and never have set foot in a classroom and still gain AMAZING skills. That's my $.02 :)

Noted, and you may be correct. I always presumed an "education" involved a structured framework of learning. As an autodidact of sorts w/ merely an undergrad degree I have had many citations from prospective employers & clients as to my "sparse" education. I am often dismissed without ever having an opportunity to demonstrate my abilities b/c I lack expensive degrees & certs.

Re: Ask HN: What impact are you having on the world?

#27

Post by muzani »

arthurwinter wrote: post #4

Some small things: - Growing my own vegetables. During the summer, half of my meals are home-grown, and I store the ones I can for the fall/winter as well. And I give away a lot for free to friends/relatives. - I quit eating meat, after realising the impact the meat industry has on everything from animals rights (most important) to pollution, water consumption etc. - I try to bring more consciousness on this on peopl…

It's sad if growing vegetables was a positive impact because people stopped growing their own food a long time ago under the assumption that doing everything else was more productive.

Re: Ask HN: What impact are you having on the world?

#30

Post by veddox »

muzani wrote: post #28

I wish I had more impact. There are a lot of big problems I'd love to solve but nobody is requesting my help to tackle them.

"It has long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things."

- Elinor Smith

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