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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

#201

Post by jalfresi »

angersock wrote: post #90
pc86 wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...what? I'm not even going to respond to that troll bait first point of yours, but as for the second, please give some insight as to how a programmer in charge of writing insurance claims processing applications can "fix the base system."

No, think it through. Poster said, "I've contributed to keeping prisoners in prison." This is in no way an inherently good thing--especially given the well-documented clusterfuck that is the judicial system in the US. Have you ever been through the wringer? I don't think that kudos for helping that system is in order, unless it was specifically something like "I wrote software to help schedule inmate times so that vi…

In what way is "keeping prisoners in prison" related to the "well-documented cluster-fuck that is the judicial system in the US"?

Keeping prisoners in jail is absolutely required. Determining if they should be in there in the first place is not the responsibility of the prison system, it is a responsibility of the judicial system.

It sounds to me like the OP hit the brief on the head.

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

#202

Post by sc0rb »

angersock wrote: post #90
pc86 wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...what? I'm not even going to respond to that troll bait first point of yours, but as for the second, please give some insight as to how a programmer in charge of writing insurance claims processing applications can "fix the base system."

No, think it through. Poster said, "I've contributed to keeping prisoners in prison." This is in no way an inherently good thing--especially given the well-documented clusterfuck that is the judicial system in the US. Have you ever been through the wringer? I don't think that kudos for helping that system is in order, unless it was specifically something like "I wrote software to help schedule inmate times so that vi…

OMFG YOU'RE TOTALLY RIGHT.

The op should have just started an insurance industry disrupting medical insurance startup rather than get paid to work at an already established insurance company where he's somewhat guaranteed(by law) to get paid......

I used to work at a telecommunications company. Maybe I should have created my own telco company so consumers could get cheaper mobile phones instead!?!?!?

You sound like a kid.

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

#203

Post by precisioncoder »

carocaro wrote: post #138
nooneelse wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you envisioning a monastic-like group dedicated to turning productive making toward eradicating human suffering and the like?

Well, I'm definitely up for being a part of said group

Yeah me too, where's the sign up sheet?

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

#204

Post by precisioncoder »

wildgift wrote: post #194
orangethirty wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I'm a middle class guy but for whatever reasons for the past 20 years or so I've lived largely in poorer communities. It's not some charity thing either. I just like to save money. And this dude is right, drug dealers don't make much money. They really lack options, like most people in their situation of being poor, minority, and young. The jobs like mowing lawns barely exist (often because there aren't many lawns).…

The other problem that I've noticed is a lack of emphasis on saving. I lived in a lot of poor neighborhoods as well and worked a lot of entry level jobs. I remember working at a catering job making $9/hour that was abusing the catering regulations to get the workers to work 60-70 hour weeks without overtime pay. (It was a shady but legal loophole) I loved it because I had just come out of a bad situation and had some debt to pay off. I worked there for about 9 months, saving $4000 which paid off all my credit cards and a loan I had taken to get myself out of a bad situation. Then I moved on. I knew a lot of people who had been there for years, working that punishing schedule and had saved nothing, in fact they were shocked that you could save money. They spent most of it on clothes, alchohol, and drugs. I feel like the main thing that is lacking in schools is a realistic money management course that teaches people how to manage their expenses and savings.

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

#205

Post by EvilTerran »

jzellis wrote: post #159

OP here. (Well, not "original poster", but "guy who wrote this".) If anybody's interested: this is not an essay, it's my notes for a speech I delivered at Inspire, a monthly talk series put on by Tony Hsieh's Delivering Happiness project here in Las Vegas. The talk itself was filmed and you can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moO2EfWQOTE It looks like an essay because I'm a writer, and I write my talks li…

Just an aside, but I gotta say: the line "it's hard to tell if madness drove them into the drains or if it found them down there in the dark" gave me goosebumps. That's a beautiful turn of phrase.

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

#206

Post by eli_gottlieb »

enraged_camel wrote: post #116
duaneb wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's stop with this this 'real hacker' bullshit. There's nothing wrong with being motivated by wealth; gates was and now he's the largest charity on the planet.

To me, there is little difference between the terms "real hacker" and "real American." Both exist for one purpose: to make the elitist feel good about themselves while giving them a chance to look down on plebes.

Oh, but "real American" serves the opposite purpose: the whip the ignorant plebes into a frenzy of tribal pride in order to justify policies that serve the elite.

Of course, the question, and the issue of where "real American" comes from is: which elite? "Real American" talk is when the capitalist class talks to the blue-collar working class and demonizes the white-collar working class, the intelligentsia, the professional working class, academia, the culture industry, and any petite bourgeoisie associated with the aforementioned.

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

#207

Post by MicahWedemeyer »

From what I can find, this is the author's company: http://openfi.re/

"A crowdfunding platform for long-term, socially valuable projects."

Perhaps the author does not mean iterator in a derogatory way? Obviously, his own company is an iteration on the existing crowdfunding wave.

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

#208

Post by calinet6 »

theorique wrote: post #136
freshhawk wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good point, but teaching them that "your position in society" is a thing that should be thought about and has a huge effect on your worldview is step one.

That's true - it's good that people don't take their life situation for granted. What concerns me is when it's presented as a predigested, one size fits all "conclusion" - e.g. "Straight White males are oppressors, females and minorities are oppressed, no exceptions ever".

Of course not, the important thing is that they understand and respect the complexity of the situation they live in, and understand how to think about it—not what to think about it, but how.

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

#209

Post by orangethirty »

precisioncoder wrote: post #204
wildgift wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a middle class guy but for whatever reasons for the past 20 years or so I've lived largely in poorer communities. It's not some charity thing either. I just like to save money. And this dude is right, drug dealers don't make much money. They really lack options, like most people in their situation of being poor, minority, and young. The jobs like mowing lawns barely exist (often because there aren't many lawns).…

The other problem that I've noticed is a lack of emphasis on saving. I lived in a lot of poor neighborhoods as well and worked a lot of entry level jobs. I remember working at a catering job making $9/hour that was abusing the catering regulations to get the workers to work 60-70 hour weeks without overtime pay. (It was a shady but legal loophole) I loved it because I had just come out of a bad situation and had some…

Most people can't save. The poorer you are the more expensive things get. Food costs have doubled. So has fuel, which in turn increases utilities. They barely scrape by.

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

#210

Post by gridmaths »

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…

Do kids in the Barrios these days have access to Android phones?

It would be good if at least some of them can get to information and bootstrap some education / skillset from there.

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