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Do All Problems Have Technical Fixes?

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Re: Do All Problems Have Technical Fixes?

#61

Post by yifanl »

tomjen3 wrote: post #55
chomskyole wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a little stunned that these problems can be framed as technical... How cheap would energy need to be for those problems to be solved? Can you provide a ballpark dollar figure for how low prices would need to go to solve each of the problems? Or a wild guess? Also, if energy production is getting cheaper, but energy production is only provided by a few entities (e.g. for reasons like production being capital inten…

I am not op, but food is essentially solved, as is most of the other things he listed. Socialist and countries at war aside famines just don’t exist anymore.

This seems wrong on its face?

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/namibia-drought-elephants-hipp...

Re: Do All Problems Have Technical Fixes?

#62

Post by steveBK123 »

SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #36
croes wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean Tech startups are desperately searching for buzz words that will generate profit.

Tech startups are desperately searching for buzz words that will generate a VC payday. Actual profit is optional.

Exactly - buzzwords are new opportunities for fundraising first and foremost.

Actual products which provide actual solutions to actual customers.. are for the product market fit phase.

Re: Do All Problems Have Technical Fixes?

#63

Post by bwestergard »

InDubioProRubio wrote: post #60

No, there are problems that are societal loadcaring and can not be fixed in the short term without widespread chaos and lawlessness ensuing. There can be local optima of minimal suffering approached, but every flower throws a shade and kills another flower.

Did you mean "societally load-bearing"?

Re: Do All Problems Have Technical Fixes?

#64

Post by bryanrasmussen »

croes wrote: post #33
xyzzy123 wrote: post #6

I feel like the framing in the article is wrong. Tech startups are desperately searching for solutions that will generate value. When a "new hammer" is developed or discovered (lets say, radiation) there's a natural inflection point. People will try marketing radioactive medicines, radioactive soft drinks, radioactive toys, radioactive jewelry.... etc etc. Everything will be thrown at the wall to see what sticks. The…

You mean Tech startups are desperately searching for buzz words that will generate profit.

this makes sense if tech startups just existed, but they are brought into existence, by people who perhaps think "you know what would be neat, and also make money because people would totally want that, is radioactive soda pop!"

I guess in the end the effect is pretty much indistinguishable.

Re: Do All Problems Have Technical Fixes?

#65

Post by msandford »

sameoldtune wrote: post #56
troaway56362 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Food scarcity, poverty, clean water, basic health care. These are IMO excellent examples of people problems, not tech problems. If it were tech problems we wouldn’t be drinking clean water, driving Teslas and eating fancy food now would we? These are more or less solved issues. Now what we have not solved is how to share our toys. Of course, tech could help to lower barrier(s), making access so cheap even “they” can…

It’s the trickle down theory all over again. If our toys are /extremely/ nice then surely global poverty will be relieved!?

Well I mean folks in the developing world now have mobile phones which is really changing the way things work. It doesn't immediately install a new government and raise everyone instantly out of poverty but it's likely a big improvement to quality of life.

I'm sure it's not all upside either. But I suspect that this is one case if trickle down actually working.

Re: Do All Problems Have Technical Fixes?

#66

Post by rbanffy »

It all hinges on how far you are wiling to go. If you are OK with being a supervillain, you could use a radiotherapy machine and FMRI to nuke the specific neural paths that are creating your pesky people-related problems.

The patients will object, of course, but that part of their brains can also be nuked.

Re: Do All Problems Have Technical Fixes?

#67

Post by rbanffy »

tomjen3 wrote: post #55
chomskyole wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a little stunned that these problems can be framed as technical... How cheap would energy need to be for those problems to be solved? Can you provide a ballpark dollar figure for how low prices would need to go to solve each of the problems? Or a wild guess? Also, if energy production is getting cheaper, but energy production is only provided by a few entities (e.g. for reasons like production being capital inten…

I am not op, but food is essentially solved, as is most of the other things he listed. Socialist and countries at war aside famines just don’t exist anymore.

Trickle down doesn’t trickle down enough.

https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america

Re: Do All Problems Have Technical Fixes?

#69

Post by rbanffy »

tomjen3 wrote: post #57
kindkang2024 wrote: post #11

[dead]

Precision guided bombs would have made short work of the nazies, so that’s one quick counter to your argument.

In their hands they’d have been equally effective for a completely opposite objective.

All vectors add up to zero.

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