Earlier quoted context omitted.
Cool, what kind of fossil fuel does the machine run on?
Tires soaked in the blood of a white rino, but to make it meaningful, we first use crispr to modify the protein in the blood.
Poe's law?
Ask HN: Is your work meaningful?
81–86 of 86 posts
Re: Ask HN: Is your work meaningful?
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
Same, I help writing systems to 'optimise advertisement effectiveness' == encourage consumerism and maybe creative negative value for society. It sucks but I have to support my family and extended family as the main bread earner. On the other hands, I often donate to wikipedia, supporting local FOSS communities and mentoring young students. Currently helping my friend with his air pollution measurement station projec…
> It sucks but I have to support my family and extended family as the main bread earner. May be you can find a different work which may pay a bit less but doesn’t create negative value for the society?
It's very hard to find one like that with all the VC money poured in, only those cool startups get all the money. I am making 3~5 times as much as friends who are working in civil/mechanical engineering.
Re: Ask HN: Is your work meaningful?
#83You have to make a choice between meaning and money
Re: Ask HN: Is your work meaningful?
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
Unless you're a really good mathematician (I count hardcore CS as math) your work will likely not bring any advancement because it is low hanging fruit. Sometimes you get lucky like Apple, but the hard work was done by inventor guys like Kendall or a selection of electrical engineers in 80s. In short, if it's not academia, it's probably 10 years outdated already if not more... or just a minor tweak. (Like high end 10…
It takes collaboration to make a difference, and from another perspective, computer science is worth just the paper it's written on until it's applied in the real world and actually changes something for the better. You could write a simple program, with 10 year old technology, that changes an entire industry. Imagine if no one applied encryption to eCommerce. Or imagine if no one wrote a messaging application that w…
Indeed. The point being you're supposed to implement the latest and/or proven and/or best techniques but we're reduced to sloppy work due to business requirements almost always.
Your point about encryption is misplaced. Do not imagine impossible stupidity - even ancient Romans sometimes encrypted tax and military information. The difference is between brewing your own (common in 90s, crackable even then in a day of math or so) and using actual research.
As for collaboration, it is overrated. Best work generally is done by a few actual geniuses in the specialty. (I can name a bunch in a few fields I'm interested in, like acoustics and audio algorithms.) They do need support staff of course. Usually the real ones are tenured professors with long development of a singular technology over the years.
As for penicillin, it was one quite genius chemist (Pfizer; Erhardt was a comfectioneer so support) who developed means of mass producing it. (Among many other things later.) They worked for a company which got major government funding during wartime, which makes it almost like a tenure.
Re: Ask HN: Is your work meaningful?
#85I work for a company which specialises in a service helping other companies to ask stupid questions from their own customers and employees in a form of web surveys.
Is it meaningful? Nope.
Does it help put food on the table? Yup.
Re: Ask HN: Is your work meaningful?
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am pursuing that currently and would love to do so indefinitely. Maybe I'm just pessimistic and assume that it might take a try or two before I get it right? I'm also not against joining a team that's building something really cool.
That's fair enough. I'm definitely prepared for it to take a couple of goes as well. Best of luck!
You as well!