Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Unexotic Underclass

miter.mit.edu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 154 posts

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#61

Post by pvdm »

csallen wrote: post #57
overgard wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_companies_by_re... Judging by that list, the notion that you can't make money off the unexotic underclass seems suspect. Even excluding Oil and Gas, the vast majority of the companies are not exactly luxury brands for the upper class.

True, but very few of the companies in that list are in industries that entrepreneurs feel confident about entering.

Why would you want to enter the Oil/Gas industry when you can disrupt them thru Green industries ala Elon Musk ?

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#62

Post by kyllo »

mikeash wrote: post #6
kyllo wrote: post #3

I noticed that devs on HN often sneer at CRUD apps because they're boring to build, but meanwhile a simple CRUD app could do something like make all these veterans' medical benefit claims paperless so that they can get filled out and approved in minutes rather than months , and they could get the care they need sooner. One could do a lot of good by just making CRUD apps for people who need them and can't afford to pa…

All the technology in the world won't make those veterans' benefit claims go through any faster. The problem there isn't the technology (it's not all that hard of a problem) but getting it into the right place, past all the gatekeepers who want to keep it out. It's not that nobody is building the technology because they're concentrating on other things, but rather nobody is building it because they know it won't sell…

You're right, you're right. The VA thing is a bad example. Enterprise software is expensive because big companies make themselves expensive to sell to. And the government is the biggest company of all. I'm sure they spend seven to eight figures on the cruddiest of CRUD apps from companies like Oracle.

On the other hand, something like a basic CRUD app could really help out a charity or non-profit that serves disadvantaged populations, and that could be built in Rails or Django for just a few days of developer time.

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#63

Post by kyllo »

pvdm wrote: post #61
csallen wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, but very few of the companies in that list are in industries that entrepreneurs feel confident about entering.

Why would you want to enter the Oil/Gas industry when you can disrupt them thru Green industries ala Elon Musk ?

When is Elon Musk going to make an electric car that costs < $30,000 new though?

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#64

Post by kyllo »

vkou wrote: post #20
mikeash wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All the technology in the world won't make those veterans' benefit claims go through any faster. The problem there isn't the technology (it's not all that hard of a problem) but getting it into the right place, past all the gatekeepers who want to keep it out. It's not that nobody is building the technology because they're concentrating on other things, but rather nobody is building it because they know it won't sell…

From what I understand of Veteran's Affairs, the technology has been built, and it does sell. The only problem is that the government's being fleeced for all its got by the vendors in question. VA's got no end of computer systems, where its staff hand-enter information in one system, print out its report, only to scan it, fax it across the country, where someone else will hand-enter it into... A different system. Eng…

Do they not even use EDI to communicate between the systems?

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#65

Post by krakensden »

pvnick wrote: post #43

Awesome article, but, > If you’re under 30 and in finance, you’ve definitely noticed the radical migration of your peers from Wall Street to Silicon Valley and Silicon Alley My heart sank. I don't want those sociopathic Wall Street bros infesting the tech scene.

Let's be honest- that ship sailed years ago.

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#66

Post by Crake »

kyllo wrote: post #63
pvdm wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you want to enter the Oil/Gas industry when you can disrupt them thru Green industries ala Elon Musk ?

When is Elon Musk going to make an electric car that costs < $30,000 new though?

He's actually working on it. You'll notice that the Roadster was super expensive ($90,000), but they rolled the money over into R&D to make the Tesla S ($60,000), money from which they will then roll over into R&D for an even cheaper vehicle. Elon's goal is to bring affordable EVs to the masses, which I think is pretty cool.

http://www.teslamotors.com/fr_CH/blog/secret-tesla-motors-ma...

^--This is from way back in 2006. You'll notice that they've since produced the Model S, and seem to be following the plan pretty well so far.

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#67

Post by Crake »

mikeash wrote: post #6
kyllo wrote: post #3

I noticed that devs on HN often sneer at CRUD apps because they're boring to build, but meanwhile a simple CRUD app could do something like make all these veterans' medical benefit claims paperless so that they can get filled out and approved in minutes rather than months , and they could get the care they need sooner. One could do a lot of good by just making CRUD apps for people who need them and can't afford to pa…

All the technology in the world won't make those veterans' benefit claims go through any faster. The problem there isn't the technology (it's not all that hard of a problem) but getting it into the right place, past all the gatekeepers who want to keep it out. It's not that nobody is building the technology because they're concentrating on other things, but rather nobody is building it because they know it won't sell…

Plus the people who do the paper apps processing probably don't want to have their jobs eliminated and have an interest in refusing new (if computers can be considered "new") technology. Even if it means letting vets die due to the needlessly extended waiting process.

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#68

Post by Crake »

greghinch wrote: post #22

Before you can fix any of the problems that would require you to be a US government contractor, you first have to fix the problems of how US government IT contracts are awarded. There is an entire sub-industry of IT service firms who have perfected the art of bidding on government contracts, and win them regardless of their ability to build the best solution. They just have to present the lowest cost solution that me…

If you think the IT contracts are bad, you should see the process they have (or in some cases, had) for DoD matters. Absolutely crazy.

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#69

Post by Crake »

It's really great to see poor white people considered as people in need. (It would have been even better if the article considered poor asians, too. They're not all rich doctors.) It's a huge demographic that's desperately in need of help, but it doesn't score you any brownie points to help the "unexotic"--just as the article highlights. As a result, many languish in poverty instead of fulfilling their full potential.

I know a lot of people who are poor, rural, and white, and they really struggle while resources are freely given to far more affluent peers of a different color. It's really sad to watch someone's dreams of college die before their eyes due to race based discrimination.

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#70

Post by jvoorhis »

Crake wrote: post #66
kyllo wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When is Elon Musk going to make an electric car that costs < $30,000 new though?

He's actually working on it. You'll notice that the Roadster was super expensive ($90,000), but they rolled the money over into R&D to make the Tesla S ($60,000), money from which they will then roll over into R&D for an even cheaper vehicle. Elon's goal is to bring affordable EVs to the masses, which I think is pretty cool. http://www.teslamotors.com/fr_CH/blog/secret-tesla-motors-ma... ^--This is from way back in 2…

A Tesla representative gave a talk at my company recently, and supposedly the plan is to produce an EV at around $30,000. Tesla's supply-side partnership with Toyota still gives me hope for more affordable, ubiquitous EVs.
Post reply on HN