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We call ourselves innovators, but most of us are really just iterators

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Re: We call ourselves innovators, but most of us are really just iterators

#51

Post by ccarpita »

calinet6 wrote: post #21
rmrfrmrf wrote: post #15

This is the kind of post that happens when someone gets so wrapped up in startup land that they lose all context of the "real world." These "first world problem"-solving companies he's talking about are really just B2B companies made to help the ACTUAL, real-world problem solving companies do their jobs more easily. No customer cares about MailChimp. No consumer thinks about Twilio. They're not solving first-world pr…

This is all well and good, but I think the point is that there is an imbalance, and very few tech startups are going after the big problems these days. There are some notable ones, but it seems to be the road less traveled.

I agree--take a look at our startup OneJobOneCause.com.

our mission is to help those who have been unemployed by giving them life-saving resources with a % of paid employer postings

Re: We call ourselves innovators, but most of us are really just iterators

#52

Post by angersock »

cllns wrote: post #10

> A few months ago, a startup developer friend said to me "I don't understand why poor kids, ghetto kids, don't do startups to get out of poverty." I've got just about zero tolerance left for people who don't acknowledge their privilege.

I've got just about zero tolerance left for people who don't view other people as people, instead of embodiments of their socioeconomic-racial-gender status.

A person is not their balance sheet, their skin color, or their preferred type of partner.

The truth is that--barring sheer crazy--anyone would play the cards dealt to them as well as they can muster.

This "Check your privilege" stuff, once a useful exercise in introspection, appears to have become another threadbare excuse for real thought and critique. What a fucking bore.

Re: We call ourselves innovators, but most of us are really just iterators

#54

Post by angersock »

edw519 wrote: post #45

We call ourselves innovators, but most of us are really just iterators... That's a fine line. The most significant innovations are often iterations. (Google comes to mind.) Why do we do this? Because we want to get rich, of course. I disagree with "Because we want to get rich". And I definitely disagree with "of course". Real hackers do this because we just have to . It just so happens that currently it's also a grea…

  prisoners are kept in jail
That's cool, but if you are in the US, given the fairly dumb laws on a lot of things (drugs, mainly), how do you feel about helping to oppress the population? Are you only helping with really violent offenders?

  insurance claims are processed properly
Isn't this just propping up an awful system? Wouldn't it be better to actually try and fix the base system?

~

As for the rest, good work!

Re: We call ourselves innovators, but most of us are really just iterators

#55

Post by czr80 »

lelandbatey wrote: post #16
austenallred wrote: post #6

I see every innovation as a conglomeration of different things one has experienced. Or in other words, iterations. This goes to the core of creativity: Creativity usually comes from combining things or ideas that are normally compartmentalized in others' minds. Have you ever noticed how most of the startup founders you know have a wide diversity of experiences to draw upon? Most of them have lived in foreign countrie…

It's true. It is very hard to draw a line through what is "innovation" vs what is "iteration." All the tiny things we build sit on top of the other tiny things built by those before us, and in the grand scheme, everything is quite small. However, this makes me wonder if maybe we shouldn't be focused on "innovating." Maybe it's not the goal (or it shouldn't be the goal). But then, what should? What should we aspire to…

Aspire to solve problems.

Re: We call ourselves innovators, but most of us are really just iterators

#56

Post by ja27 »

orangethirty wrote: post #37
cllns wrote: post #10

> A few months ago, a startup developer friend said to me "I don't understand why poor kids, ghetto kids, don't do startups to get out of poverty." I've got just about zero tolerance left for people who don't acknowledge their privilege.

But they do. Let me explain. I grew up in a barrio , which is a latin ghetto. Junked cars in front lawns, domestic disturbances every night, shootings, drugs, all of that stuff. Every kid in there made money by pure hustle. There were no jobs available for any of us. Some kids cut hair (then went on to become barbers), others worked on cars, but most sold drugs. There were startups, but all were of the illegal variet…

Those jobs are gone these days.

I grew up mostly in an upper middle class neighborhood, but for high school, we were bussed to a school in a more lower class area. There were a lot more trailer parks in the area and the auto body program at my high school was pretty popular. Just last week I was driving through that area and saw business after business with signs outside looking to hire CNC machinists, HVAC installers, etc. Those skilled jobs aren't gone. They're getting harder and harder to fill. I don't think my high school even offers auto body classes any more, but there are two college-track magnet programs there.

Re: We call ourselves innovators, but most of us are really just iterators

#57

Post by cllns »

pnathan wrote: post #43
cllns wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe. This is a tough point. The 'system' obviously sucks but I don't want to skirt personal responsibility. It's the upper-middle class straight white cisgendered male's fault if he doesn't take the time to learn about his privilege. He has the resources, but chooses to ignore it. (Note: I'm not saying the person from the article necessarily fits this description; I'm speaking more generally)

At the extreme risk of starting a flame war, why do you seem to posit that he should do that as a moral obligation? (I'm reading that you posit that, perhaps I misinterpreted) If I read that correctly, under what strictures do you interpret reading about the idea of privilege (noting that this word in and of itself has contested and differing meanings) as a moral obligation?

Very good question. I'm not sure I have a good answer. I haven't though about it in terms of it being a moral obligation.

My intuitive, immediate response is that it has something to do with (most?) privilege being an unfair, oppressive institution: one that is self replicating unless it's actively fought. I'm not sure this actually addresses the question you asked though.

Re: We call ourselves innovators, but most of us are really just iterators

#58

Post by jdminhbg »

> But technologists used to work on big problems. Not First World problems, but whole world problems -- sending humans to the moon, ending poverty, ending disease.

Having enough surplus capital that we can take a three day trip to the Moon seems pretty First World to me.

Which technologists worked on "ending poverty" as a primary goal? Did we stop working on ending disease? We can't seem to decide whether we are spending way too much on ending disease or way too little.

Articles like this keep popping up but they don't really seem to have any point other than being self-congratulatory to the author and likeminded audiences for how much they care about Important Things instead of Uber, which is just for taking a car from SFO to Moscone (oh wait except it's not, it actually turns out to have side effects that are significant benefits to immigrant women who would otherwise be shut out of the cab industry: http://transpoplanner.tumblr.com/post/40777853649/is-uber-em...).

Re: We call ourselves innovators, but most of us are really just iterators

#60

Post by zobzu »

edw519 wrote: post #45

We call ourselves innovators, but most of us are really just iterators... That's a fine line. The most significant innovations are often iterations. (Google comes to mind.) Why do we do this? Because we want to get rich, of course. I disagree with "Because we want to get rich". And I definitely disagree with "of course". Real hackers do this because we just have to . It just so happens that currently it's also a grea…

the issue is that people expect innovation to mean "something new, useful" and it generally actually means "something different" and not necessarily new or useful.
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