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Why the Fuck?

raganwald.posterous.com

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Re: Why the Fuck?

#81

Post by lukev »

benihana wrote: post #58

Oh goodie, another arrogant whine by raganwald where he can't understand why the greatest minds (implying people writing code are somehow the greatest minds) aren't doing what he thinks is important. This post makes two incorrect assumptions. First, that the things he derides (Google automating targeted content, Facebook introducing new search features that are tangential to their current features, Apple changing for…

I would hope it's uncontroversial that saving people's lives, health and sanity is categorically more important than making money or trivial social interaction.

Re: Why the Fuck?

#82

Post by paulgb »

MatthewPhillips wrote: post #9

Who says programmers are the greatest minds of our generation?

I think there's a certain degree of arrogance to that claim, but a lot of truth. For the smartest minds of our generation, programming is not that hard to pick up. I've seen (classical) engineers and physics PhDs working in ad tech and social games many times.

Re: Why the Fuck?

#83

Post by shadowfox »

bhickey wrote: post #38
YuriNiyazov wrote: post #18

Because most people, Facebook programmers included, don't have the patience and the resources to undergo the amount of schooling necessary to reach the level of understanding to make an impact in these areas; and after they do, the amount of bureaucracy they will need to fight to make a dent will drive even the most resilient minds to take a job getting people to click on ads.

Disagreed. It isn't a matter of patience, it's all about incentives. Almost all people who are smart enough to make a difference aren't foolhardy enough to make terrible economic decisions that will drastically reduce their quality of life. The existence of economics PhD students still baffles me.

> The existence of economics PhD students still baffles me

Interestingly, I have met many in the sciences that feel the same about computer science.

Re: Why the Fuck?

#85

Post by thecosas »

bhickey wrote: post #52
DanBC wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Diabetes has a variety of causes. Concentrating on just one cause - too much sugar in the diet - how much money is spent by producers of sugar on, for example, advertising each year? How much is paid by those producers of sugar in tax, and how much of that tax is used for research? I agree with your general point though.

Type II diabetes is almost entirely the result of obesity. Put on 10 pounds and your fasting blood glucose will skyrocket. Sure, there are genetic factors that predispose a person to insulin resistance, but the dominant factor is adipose tissue. Type I (juvenile/auto-immune) is more interesting. Sugar production in the US is heavily subsidized.

Thanks for making the distinction. I've had Type I diabetes for over 20 years and occasionally get the "but you're not fat" comment. EDUCATE :o)

Re: Why the Fuck?

#86

Post by JustARandomGuy »

Diabetes. Overweight. These are real problems, affecting real people, that need real solutions...

Doing healthcare projects requires dealing with hardware, dealing with regulatory overhead, etc. It's much, much more difficult than building out another web app for social/ads/etc.

Re: Why the Fuck?

#87

Post by derpmeister »

icebraining wrote: post #54
derpmeister wrote: post #23

Because nobody cares about your diabetes and obesity. Lay down that taco and get some fricken exercise, FFS.

What an ignorant post. How exactly does "laying down the taco" help Scott Hanselman and the other million of US citizens who suffer from Type 1 diabetes?

Even if it doesn't, there's a lot more profit in advertising than insulin. The economy would probably function better if diabetes patients were left untreated and die, since the cost saving estimates are quite enormous.

Re: Why the Fuck?

#88

Post by rewind »

It used to annoy me, but now I'm just amused when someone tells me what I should think is important when he's not even putting importance on those same things himself. HN trolling at its finest.

Re: Why the Fuck?

#89

Post by bhickey »

shadowfox wrote: post #83
bhickey wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disagreed. It isn't a matter of patience, it's all about incentives. Almost all people who are smart enough to make a difference aren't foolhardy enough to make terrible economic decisions that will drastically reduce their quality of life. The existence of economics PhD students still baffles me.

> The existence of economics PhD students still baffles me Interestingly, I have met many in the sciences that feel the same about computer science.

Perhaps we can chalk it up to the economic ignorance of CS grad students. There's no such explanation for econ students. :)

Re: Why the Fuck?

#90

Post by Permit »

lukev wrote: post #81
benihana wrote: post #58

Oh goodie, another arrogant whine by raganwald where he can't understand why the greatest minds (implying people writing code are somehow the greatest minds) aren't doing what he thinks is important. This post makes two incorrect assumptions. First, that the things he derides (Google automating targeted content, Facebook introducing new search features that are tangential to their current features, Apple changing for…

I would hope it's uncontroversial that saving people's lives, health and sanity is categorically more important than making money or trivial social interaction.

I think the incorrect assumption raganwald makes is that the greatest minds aren't trying to solve these problems. You're not going to hear about massive successes in these fields nearly as often because the problems are hugely complex and very difficult to solve.
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