Products I Wish Existed • Hacker News Board

Re: Products I Wish Existed

#191

Post by NeutralCrane » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 7:19 PM UTC

blackbrokkoli wrote: post #148

scarejunba wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the normal result of this for people isn't that they have to go perform two minutes hate or praise Big Brother; it's that their packages don't get stolen. And the downside? Nothing. In fact, the expression of "I could be watched at any time but no one will" is a greater expression of trust. People live their lives very differently from the universe you're talking about. They enforce things through trust netwo…

Well, 300 million people are currently living under an administration whose election was most likely heavily influenced by mass data collection and analysis. Nobody cares if you and your friend read each others diaries or whatever. The problem is the metaphorical diary being owned by a global entity, along with two billion other diaries. Locked behind shoddy security and regarded as sellable for the right price at an…

> 300 million people are currently living under an administration whose election was most likely heavily influenced by mass data collection and analysis

There’s has been little to no evidence any of the data collection/analysis done by the Trump campaign influenced anyone.

Re: Products I Wish Existed

#192

Post by blackbrokkoli » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 7:23 PM UTC

oh_sigh wrote: post #186

blackbrokkoli wrote: post #100

> 4. ADT 2.0: Digital neighborhood watch. That this is not only a market, but a "wish" which seems to get traction even here on HN confirms to me that the old joke "1984 is not a manual" is more relevant than ever, and scarily not only in regards to the usual suspects, corporate and nation states, but people themselves. Can anyone explain to me why anyone would advocate a profit-driven, systematic eradication of soul…

How do security cameras remove the "vibrancy of your young urban block" or "the sense of trust and community in your suburb"? Do the locks on your door accomplish the same incredible feat?

No, because my lock does not monitor?

You can seriously not see how the the entanglement of psychological effects of being watched, mob justice, alienation, gossip, public shaming and threatening and first and foremost real or imagined social scoring breeds dull monoculture?

Re: Products I Wish Existed

#193

Post by vageli » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 7:24 PM UTC

freepor wrote: post #189

arrosenberg wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I literally have video of the dude grabbing shit off my porch, but can do nothing about it. In that case, what is the security system really doing for you?

Imagine if it uses facial recognition to tell you when the guy is next entering the neighborhood. Dystopian, but it could work.

> Imagine if it uses facial recognition to tell you when the guy is next entering the neighborhood. Dystopian, but it could work.

And if it misidentifies the person?

Re: Products I Wish Existed

#194

Post by vageli » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 7:29 PM UTC

bart_spoon wrote: post #185

blackbrokkoli wrote: post #100

> 4. ADT 2.0: Digital neighborhood watch. That this is not only a market, but a "wish" which seems to get traction even here on HN confirms to me that the old joke "1984 is not a manual" is more relevant than ever, and scarily not only in regards to the usual suspects, corporate and nation states, but people themselves. Can anyone explain to me why anyone would advocate a profit-driven, systematic eradication of soul…

> systematic eradication of soul and character around each and every human residence? Why would you trade the vibrancy of your young urban block or the sense of trust and community in your suburb against prevention of low-impact black-swan events like serial packet thiefs? Why would the “soul” and “vibrancy” of a neighborhood die with some kind of digital neighborhood watch? Seems like a flawed premise. There’s also…

> > systematic eradication of soul and character around each and every human residence? Why would you trade the vibrancy of your young urban block or the sense of trust and community in your suburb against prevention of low-impact black-swan events like serial packet thiefs?

> Why would the “soul” and “vibrancy” of a neighborhood die with some kind of digital neighborhood watch? Seems like a flawed premise.

People act very differently when they are being filmed. Go to the nearest largest city and start filming passerby in an obvious fashion. People will not appreciate it and act differently towards you (likely visibly hostile). That reaction supports the notion that something of value is lost when you blanket-surveil a society.

Re: Products I Wish Existed

#195

Post by svieira » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 7:38 PM UTC

vageli wrote: post #193

freepor wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine if it uses facial recognition to tell you when the guy is next entering the neighborhood. Dystopian, but it could work.

> Imagine if it uses facial recognition to tell you when the guy is next entering the neighborhood. Dystopian, but it could work. And if it misidentifies the person?

Hey, he probably deserved to be beaten up anyway.

Re: Products I Wish Existed

#196

Post by ctdonath » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 7:39 PM UTC

gnopgnip wrote: post #188

ctdonath wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HOAs are practically incorporated hamlets - local governments. There is a government (board) which imposes taxed (dues) and imposes zoning & other laws (rules), and can impose debilitating punishments (liens) against subjects (residents). Some are little more than friendly neighbors trying to keep neighborhood home values stable, others are wannabe tyrannical dictatorships. I could certainly see an HOA installing (in…

HOAs in most states cannot issue liens for unpaid fines, only for unpaid dues or assessments.

Some form of enforcement must be available to the HOA. Otherwise I'd sow wheat in my yard and raise a gaggle of chickens starting tomorrow.

Re: Products I Wish Existed

#197

Post by reroute1 » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 7:39 PM UTC

triceratops wrote: post #181

coldtea wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> > get things shipped to work, use Amazon lockers, > These seem like reasonable solutions. Why not just do them? Because that's bending broken backwards to accept a broken neighbourhood and society. Where this stops? "Drive-by's are a thing, accept it and just were a bulletproof vest, it's a sensible solution"?

Needing to safeguard your possessions lest they get stolen is a sign of a broken society? By that yardstick, every human society past and present is broken. Leaving aside small sleepy towns, everyone locks up their house, car, bicycles, and other possessions, even the people complaining about stolen packages. That's not considered an unreasonable burden, but the minute unattended packages get taken off porches everyo…

> By that yardstick, every human society past and present is broken.

Just because a yardstick gives you undesirable results doesn't mean that it's a faulty measuring tool.

Re: Products I Wish Existed

#198

Post by tomlagier » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 7:40 PM UTC

vageli wrote: post #194

bart_spoon wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> systematic eradication of soul and character around each and every human residence? Why would you trade the vibrancy of your young urban block or the sense of trust and community in your suburb against prevention of low-impact black-swan events like serial packet thiefs? Why would the “soul” and “vibrancy” of a neighborhood die with some kind of digital neighborhood watch? Seems like a flawed premise. There’s also…

> > systematic eradication of soul and character around each and every human residence? Why would you trade the vibrancy of your young urban block or the sense of trust and community in your suburb against prevention of low-impact black-swan events like serial packet thiefs? > Why would the “soul” and “vibrancy” of a neighborhood die with some kind of digital neighborhood watch? Seems like a flawed premise. People ac…

> People act very differently when they are being filmed. Go to the nearest largest city and start filming passerby in an obvious fashion. People will not appreciate it and act differently towards you (likely visibly hostile). That reaction supports the notion that something of value is lost when you blanket-surveil a society.

I don't agree with this premise. People act very differently _when they don't know why they are being filmed_. (Almost) every retail store in the world has had CCTV for 40 years now and people are not alarmed. They know why the filming is happening - as a deterrent to theft. I'd argue that the same principle applies to dashcams, stoplight cameras, helmet cams on bicycles, and, yes, porch or doorbell cams.

Once you start filming people _without_ an obvious reason, then they start acting differently.

Re: Products I Wish Existed

#199

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 7:40 PM UTC

reaperducer wrote: post #127

skosch wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm with you, but then again I currently live in a nice neighbourhood where something like "serial packet thiefs" are considered a "low-impact black-swan event", as you say. Not everyone is so lucky, and I'd wager that many folks would be happy to "automatically purge nuisances" if all it costs them is some sidewalk privacy. I would certainly make that trade-off if I lived in a dodgier environment.

I'd rather people actually got involved in their neighborhoods and formed or joined a real Neighborhood Watch group, rather than letting some AI handle it badly, or outsource it to some faceless company. At least if your neighbors screw it up, there is an avenue of redress. Plus, outside of TV shows, few bad things come from neighbors getting involved in their neighborhood.

[deleted]

Re: Products I Wish Existed

#200

Post by davedx » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 7:45 PM UTC

mmckelvy wrote: post #104

davedx wrote: post #32

> NoCode/LowCode (letting anyone build an app with a spreadsheet as a database representation) AirTable has made huge inroads here. I'm also building something in this area ( https://lightsheets.app/ ), turning slightly back towards spreadsheets instead of databases but then building enhancements and modern integrations on top. I think there's still lots of potential in this area, despite spreadsheets being 50 years…

I think building apps with spreadsheets makes sense, but to me the spreadsheet works better as the UI, not the database. In other words, you still store your data in a plain RDBMS, but you access and manipulate that data via spreadsheet formulas or custom functions.

Maybe... but a regular spreadsheet doesn't map very well to a RDBMS due to its variable and flat structure. It might map to a column data store like Cassandra I guess, wonder if anyone has looked at that?

What I'm working on though is more about taking the core of existing spreadsheets and building powerful integrations on top of it. Like in the sibling comments, building a webapp, or something else. I really think this has huge potential.