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Ask HN: What problem would you solve with unlimited resources?

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Re: Ask HN: What problem would you solve with unlimited resources?

#41

Post by burnt-resistor »

Hypothetical questions of the form "What X would you do with unlimited Y?" are stupid because they lack realistic constraints.

Healthcare for all ($2.8T/y), housing for all ($2T/y), UBI for all ($2.8T/y), and end fossil fuel usage ($1T/y) (= $8.6T/y or 29% of GDP) if every billionaire and most corporate profits were suddenly liquidated for the benefit of people. Probably not doable to such extremes, but doing less or nothing in some areas (like healthcare) is also probably net economically less efficient than assuring everyone else lower-cost, effective healthcare.

Re: Ask HN: What problem would you solve with unlimited resources?

#42

Post by ragazzina »

antfarm wrote: post #30

Reading some of the answers in this thread, I think I would put all my resources into a global education program. In my eyes the greatest challenge is to find a way to enable humanity to live in a way that does no longer destroy the ecosystem it relies on. Unfortunately, the solution won't be just technological but rather social, educational and political. We must find ways to stop overconsumption, overpopulation and…

[flagged]

Re: Ask HN: What problem would you solve with unlimited resources?

#43

Post by easyThrowaway »

alok-g wrote: post #21

If I had the Infinity Stones [1], I'll redefine human legal, political, cultural practices and beliefs so that we set right fitness function as it relates to 'survival of the fittest'. Nature evolved its own criteria for what is fit and unfit. We humans have twisted those around with our beliefs and systems, often for good, but often incorrectly and often inconsistently. 'Fit' cannot be meaningful unless 'unfit' too…

..but aren't our beliefs part of nature too? Who gets to decide which definitions of fit and unfit are "natural" or not?

Re: Ask HN: What problem would you solve with unlimited resources?

#44

Post by antfarm »

ragazzina wrote: post #42
antfarm wrote: post #30

Reading some of the answers in this thread, I think I would put all my resources into a global education program. In my eyes the greatest challenge is to find a way to enable humanity to live in a way that does no longer destroy the ecosystem it relies on. Unfortunately, the solution won't be just technological but rather social, educational and political. We must find ways to stop overconsumption, overpopulation and…

[flagged]

Being "well-educated" is not the only desirable outcome of education.

Re: Ask HN: What problem would you solve with unlimited resources?

#45

Post by theSherwood »

antfarm wrote: post #32
dkobia wrote: post #29

With unlimited resources, I’d solve the fundamental bottleneck holding back our species: getting off this single planet and establishing a true space-based civilization - colonizing our solar system. Along the way we’ll be solving for energy, jobs, resources, environment and existential risk.

I for one love this planet and would never want to leave it for an existence on life support in a hostile environment, fully dependent on technology. What do you propose to do with life on Earth while you put all your unlimited resources into your flight plan, let it burn?

Our lives are already nearly fully dependent on technology. Some of the projections for casualties in the months following a high-altitude EMP (or solar flare) are pretty staggering. Just losing computers means that most people die of starvation within a few months as global supply chains completely collapse.

And you're being unnecessarily adversarial. The comment you're replying to didn't say anything about disregarding the well-being of life on Earth. Interpreting it that way is uncharitable.

Re: Ask HN: What problem would you solve with unlimited resources?

#46

Post by dang »

ragazzina wrote: post #42
antfarm wrote: post #30

Reading some of the answers in this thread, I think I would put all my resources into a global education program. In my eyes the greatest challenge is to find a way to enable humanity to live in a way that does no longer destroy the ecosystem it relies on. Unfortunately, the solution won't be just technological but rather social, educational and political. We must find ways to stop overconsumption, overpopulation and…

[flagged]

"Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community." It's reliably a marker of bad comments and worse threads.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Ask HN: What problem would you solve with unlimited resources?

#48

Post by antfarm »

theSherwood wrote: post #45
antfarm wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I for one love this planet and would never want to leave it for an existence on life support in a hostile environment, fully dependent on technology. What do you propose to do with life on Earth while you put all your unlimited resources into your flight plan, let it burn?

Our lives are already nearly fully dependent on technology. Some of the projections for casualties in the months following a high-altitude EMP (or solar flare) are pretty staggering. Just losing computers means that most people die of starvation within a few months as global supply chains completely collapse. And you're being unnecessarily adversarial. The comment you're replying to didn't say anything about disregar…

True, my comment implied more than was actually said.

Re: Ask HN: What problem would you solve with unlimited resources?

#49

Post by ddritzenhoff »

- Manufacturing mass timber [1] 5-over-1s and starting a limited-profit housing association [2] wave in the US.

- Completely circular material lifespans. I'm out of my depth here, but there _must_ be a way to gasify/liquify any type of object and filter its contents through a membrane, the same way desalination plants separate salt (NaCL) and water (H20).

- Replacing first-past-the-post voting with proportional representation.

[1]: https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2020/1/15/2105805... [2]: https://www.iut.nu/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Limited-Profit...

Re: Ask HN: What problem would you solve with unlimited resources?

#50

Post by theSherwood »

ddritzenhoff wrote: post #49

- Manufacturing mass timber [1] 5-over-1s and starting a limited-profit housing association [2] wave in the US. - Completely circular material lifespans. I'm out of my depth here, but there _must_ be a way to gasify/liquify any type of object and filter its contents through a membrane, the same way desalination plants separate salt (NaCL) and water (H20). - Replacing first-past-the-post voting with proportional repre…

What's the current regulatory status for mass timber? My understanding was that one of the main hurdles for uptake in the US has been regulation. Is that no longer the case?
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