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It’s Time to Build

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Re: It’s Time to Build

#791

Post by dsign »

chaseadam17 wrote: post #297

> We need to want these things more than we want to prevent these things. This is like saying we need to want to end poverty more than we want to prevent ending poverty. No one is for poverty, but very few people are against it enough to give up their money, power, or time. We need to want these things enough to make sacrifices > We need to break the rapidly escalating price curves for housing, education, and healthc…

> but our government is stuck in 1776

so it is. Democracy is not broken, but it really needs a modern remake. The problems we face today are more complex than ever, and we should be pushing out solutions based on the best crowd-sourced thinking, for the 99% of the people out there.

Also we need to start codifying the "meta" of government, the same way we have codified the "meta" of software development. Government and society at large should have regular mechanisms to counteract or at least slow the spread of red tape, legislative capture, and other systemic rots.

In particular there are issues that have little to do with government and more with the interaction between people and institutions. For example, it worries me to no end that in the middle of a pandemy the current news cycles centers on finger-pointing and gossip about Trump and the governors, while virology, epidemiology and the intricacies of vaccine development get very little coverage. When was the last time that you saw an explanatory diagram in a wide-circulation newspaper?

At an age where science and technology are more accessible than ever, our media divests attention and citizen time to gossip, instead of motivating people to learn and build more. Admitedly, provoking rage sells more than educating. But isn't social unity and development more important than the bottom line of media organizations? Maybe we should have mechanisms in place to subsidize social utility, and some taxes for toxic content, the same way we tax alcohol and tobacco.

Re: It’s Time to Build

#792

Post by analog31 »

In my view, we're great at building private wealth, but have lapsed at building public wealth. As a society, we can be as wealthy as before the COVID, but we should think about how our wealth is distributed.

Re: It’s Time to Build

#793

Post by silexia »

danimal88 wrote: post #784

I build tech enabled, innovative physical infrastructure solutions for buildings. People do want them. VCs, less so, unless it's as high margin as a photo sharing app, destructive and lucrative as consumable businesses like Kurig, etc. Consumers don't know what they want until the possibilities are presented to them. VCs are literally the gate keepers of much innovative possibilty at the early phases of enterprises.…

What do you think of my proposals to fight regulatory capture? https://joelx.com/how-to-beat-regulatory-capture/15780/

Re: It’s Time to Build

#794

Post by sanderjd »

danimal88 wrote: post #784

I build tech enabled, innovative physical infrastructure solutions for buildings. People do want them. VCs, less so, unless it's as high margin as a photo sharing app, destructive and lucrative as consumable businesses like Kurig, etc. Consumers don't know what they want until the possibilities are presented to them. VCs are literally the gate keepers of much innovative possibilty at the early phases of enterprises.…

Yep, if anything good comes from this open letter it will be from people in his own demographic (investors) reading, internalizing, and acting on it.

Re: It’s Time to Build

#795

Post by mbrameld »

didericis wrote: post #625
hyko wrote: post #566

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The failure of Lidl in Norway due to vested interests is an argument for one world government. Maybe if we had one government we’d finally be able to settle on one electrical plug, which side of the road to drive on etc. etc. Imagine if every country developed its own indigenous WiFi standard? How lovely, until you want to read your email. Charm and uniqueness is great on a postcard, but not when you want to actually…

Indigenous solutions typically develop differently for a reason. Building standards in a wet humid climate prone to flooding differ from those in the desert because they have different needs: if you make a standard set of guidelines that applies universally, it will inherently need to be more complicated than the guidelines adapted for a specific scenario. Part of the brilliance of the internet is the way things are…

I think the analogy is a little short-sighted. Having a universal building code doesn't mean every building has to meet the same standard in every way. They can contain conditional logic. Flood-resistance would only be required if the building is in an area with a likelihood of flooding above some threshold.

Re: It’s Time to Build

#796

Post by KirinDave »

darawk wrote: post #572
KirinDave wrote: post #415

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Markets would love to build more housing... But they're prevented from doing so by the regulatory state Interesting claim. Do you want to detail this more? Most of my experience is not with the State itself being an obstacle, but as a tool in the hands of landlords and capitalists to help enforce scarcity.

> Interesting claim. Do you want to detail this more? Most of my experience is not with the State itself being an obstacle, but as a tool in the hands of landlords and capitalists to help enforce scarcity. I'm not even sure I really understand your question. Rents in San Francisco are extremely high. What that means is that if you build a new apartment building there you can charge a lot of money for your apartments.…

> Therefore, any halfway intelligent capitalist understands it's a great idea to build apartment buildings in San Francisco

You don't mean "capitalist" here. You mean, "proponent of Free Markets."

An equally profitable "capitalist" play would be to find out what companies currently benefit from the shortages and to buy those companies, thus securing their revenue.

Capitalism is agnostic to free markets and in some cases even destructive to them.

Re: It’s Time to Build

#798

Post by KirinDave »

adamsea wrote: post #496
amasad wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having children will give you that incentive. People with no children will have higher time preference -- they prefer today's consumption over investment in the future. That's why I find a lot of the antinatalism of modern western culture to be concerning.

Yes and no? Plenty of parents in the U.S. with children don't seem to care about the environment.

The idea that having children is an anti-environmental stands is part of a platform called "eco-fascism."

I am not sure you want to involve yourself with those folks and this toxic ideology. It is not inevitable that every life liberated some huge sum of tons of carbon.

Re: It’s Time to Build

#799

Post by KirinDave »

geofft wrote: post #356
KirinDave wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please see sfwem.org. It is not my project but I've pushed it heavily and recruited for it.

I think the URL is https://www.sfwem.net/ . (Also, cool stuff!)

Thanks for the corrected link. I was walking my dog when posting and I miskeyed it. :)

Re: It’s Time to Build

#800

Post by KirinDave »

MattGaiser wrote: post #358
harryh wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber, Dropbox, AirBnB, Slack, Pinterest. Long term un-profitable venture backed software companies are practically a cliche at this point.

They are not long term unprofitable for the VCs. Those companies have been through rounds and rounds of growth which has brought in other investors (i.e. who VCs can sell to if they desire). What about the company that would need to labour for 5 years before they get the MVP out the door?

Why is 5 years the cutoff?
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