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The Unexotic Underclass

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Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#121

Post by gyardley »

ippisl wrote: post #90
gyardley wrote: post #89

Building products for markets you don't understand isn't such a great idea. Yes, I'm sure there's some nice opportunities out there among the underclass, but most developers in Silicon Valley simply don't have the ability to find them, because that's not what they know. The author would be better off looking for the small subset of potential entrepreneurs that are deeply rooted in the underclass and then encouraging…

That sounds like laziness. What about deeply researching the subject , connecting with people who know about such stuff, or partnering with some domain expert ?

That sounds like hubris.

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#122

Post by ktf »

mikecane wrote: post #81
krakensden wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

And they also run Hollywood. Which is why movies have become expensive amusement rides and hardly anything else.

This has been true since the beginning of film's history, with rare exceptions. Spectacle sells, even going back to the point when the technology of film itself was the spectacle. (See for example the always-thrilling L'Arrivée d'un Train à la Ciotat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dgLEDdFddk)

If you want "film as art," it's generally best to avoid studio mega-corps designed to make cash.

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#123

Post by snambi »

cdoxsey wrote: post #101
michaelochurch wrote: post #86

We actually pay dearly for what's happening to the so-called Unexotic Underclass. 1. Many of us will join them. Most people who join VC-istan and Wall Street in 2013 aren't going to make any money. By the time they're eligible to sit at the table, the money will be elsewhere. The vicious culture of VC-istan (with extreme deadlines, fast firing, and little investment in doing things right; so you end up not learning n…

What about Texas (with lots of job growth) or North Dakota (with really low unemployment)? There's been mass migration back to the South too. Maybe (NY, CA, DC, etc..) are dying, and maybe they'll bring the rest of the country with them, but there are other places in the US which seem to be OK.

The employment in north dakota is mostly due to oil/gas drilling. These are not long term jobs that pay well. These are very hard, dangerous jobs that can be performed only for short durations. Besides this is not good the country because of the pollution and damage caused to environment.

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#124

Post by kstenerud »

staccatomeasure wrote: post #12
kstenerud wrote: post #5

All of this moralizing and "solve big problems" talk is really getting old. On average, chances are pretty low that a particular individual will ever solve a big problem, so stop worrying about it! It's not for others to say how you "should" spend your energy anyway. The moralistic fluff is unnecessary. Those who aren't motivated will ignore it, those who are motivated don't need to be reminded, and the moralizers wi…

You said: 1. On average you won't solve a big problem, so don't try. 2. Other folks in your society should have no opinion on what you spend time on. 3. Don't try to change people's opinions because you can't. 4. Stop bringing up morality because it makes people think, not act.

"On average you won't solve a big problem, so don't try."

On average you won't solve a big problem, so don't worry about it. At what point did I say don't try?

"Other folks in your society should have no opinion on what you spend time on."

Other folks will have an opinion on what you spend your time on whether you like it or not. They'll talk and talk about how YOU (not they) should do such and such. It's easy to opine when you're not the one actually doing the work. So don't worry too much about what they think.

"Don't try to change people's opinions because you can't."

It's not that you can't per se, but rather that on average they won't. So don't worry if it doesn't work out.

"Stop bringing up morality because it makes people think, not act."

Don't let other peoples' moral platitudes paralyze you with the fear of acting.

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#125

Post by cbennett »

shadowcats wrote: post #76
ippisl wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First, people do talk about healthcare costs and education costs and housing costs as grand problems. And startups can do something about those. For example: 1. Co-Abode.com which connects single moms to share houses , while getting cheaper prices and better support from each other. 2. A recent YC startup , which helps people who are getting a divorce, settle without lawyers in a relatively peacefull and much cheaper…

Somewhat controversial idea: a startup that focuses on cognitive enhancement (IQ, mood, impulse control, mindfulness, stuff like that). Supplements, meditation, and brain training can probably have a non-negligible impact, but I don't see the "underclass" partaking in those currently. IQ and income: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence_quotient#Income Victorians smarter than us: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scien…

I like this idea quite a bit, although I'm not exactly sure it would be a startup in the end because the willingness (ability?) to pay amongst the target market here must be quite low, I imagine. Just free styling here, but the way to go about it would be to bundle a sort of 'package' of tools into a couple of various tiers, from easy (low input of time/funds) to challenging (more pricey/difficult). One wrinkle is that I think there is a spectrum from pretty clearly verified IQ boosters.. such as psychologically verified games like n-back, and proper nutritions (EPA+DHA, etc etc), to ones that are much more speculative or carry some baggage that 'underclass' folks (that sounds sort of bad ha) might be extremely reluctant to participate in.. eg meditative practice, nootropics, etc. (Brain) food for thought.. :P

With regards to the Victorian study, I read through that last week and it is not immediately clear to me from the literature that reaction time is really a reliable indicator of g. Conversely, the Flynn affect suggests that IQ has really been going up. And if you've read any of Flynn's stuff you'll find that he has quite a nice explanation here, which is that the more brilliant heuristics/words/thinking tools pioneered amongst scientists, inventors, so on are slowly filtering down into the masses generation by generation. Perhaps what this suggests is that education in a new way- introducing folks to a library of new 'thinking tools' rather than just memorization etc- might have to go hand in hand with the sort of biophysical/training ideas above. I highly recommend this video by Dennett to hear a bit more about this concept- minutes 5-14 specifically: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4...

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#126

Post by lsiebert »

This is crossposted from my comment in the MeFi discussion of this article.

I don't buy that startups are just targeting rich people. It's perhaps part of it, but not all of it. They are targeting people like them, young, single childless generally white guys.

I see a million dating sites, but very few sites for married people, which are still a huge chunk of the adult population. Though I seem to recall at least one quick divorce app. Oh, and that dating site for cheating with married people.

Childcare is a major concern, but I can't recall one startup doing babysitting/daycare recommendations/referrals.

Where is the trending site where you get a months supply of diapers on subscription?

I see a lot of sites for young urban people, but very few sites/apps targeting aging populations and people in the suburbs. I think the closest I am aware of is health care and legal service startups.

Aside from targeted dating apps, I can't think of very many startups that are trying to serve minority populations. Though I would point out that I saw a dating site for farmers, so that's at least some rural targeting.

Married people have money. Old people have money. People with kids have money. They should be being targeted.

Now maybe there are more systemic issues... maybe products targeting these areas all exist, and just lack publicity/funding (and the two often go hand in hand), or maybe the press just ignores them. But there are a million app/site/service ideas out there.

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#127

Post by kyllo »

jlujan wrote: post #105
vkou wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

"On February 5, 2013, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs announced that instead of building a single integrated electronic health record (iEHR), both DOD and VA will concentrate on integrating VA and DOD health data by focusing on interoperability and using existing technological solutions. This announcement was a departure from the previous commitments that both Departments had made to de…

Gee, that doesn't sound expensive at all.

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#128

Post by was8309 »

icebraining wrote: post #85
was8309 wrote: post #48

completely agree, but language matters, and so : "liberal ... (who believes) ... (the underclass) ... has to pull itself up by its own bootstraps". have we lost the meanings of our words?

Well, in a great part of the world, "liberal" is still associated with classical/neo liberalism. Some US right-wing libertarians will tell you that the word was co-opted by left statists and that it doesn't fit them, since they're not for freedom, as the word implies (their argument, not mine). See http://www.libertarianism.org/blog/liberal-is-not-dirty-word

thank you

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#129

Post by raylu »

IsaacL wrote: post #94
raylu wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On average, chances are pretty low that a particular startup will ever make even a hundred thousand dollars, so stop starting new companies! It's not for either your investors or your customers to tell you what to build anyway. And just never talk about morals, which I deem "fluff".

I read it the opposite way - your chances of having a big impact are low, so stop worrying and start a company anyway. This might sound paradoxical, but for a lot of people (myself included) being told "don't waste your time on something trivial" can be paralysing . You end up questioning every idea and never being able to settle on one. You can (and should) get a sense of which ideas are worthwhile, but you'll never…

> Whether or not you change the world is up to the gods.

No. Take some responsibility (and therefore, credit) for your actions.

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#130

Post by cboppert »

stephengillie wrote: post #112
michaelochurch wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your first year associates/analysts are pulling in 6 figures which I think is pretty decent dough, even though it may feel like a middle class wage in the "star cities" you rightly mentioned. Rent burns it all, and VC-istan and Wall Street both have ageism problems. It's the same thing as for athletes. A typical major-league professional athlete (which means we're already in the top When you consider how tight our wi…

To where goes the rent money? Is this all just making landlords richer?

Landlords, property taxes, repair men, accountants, doormen. There's probably a few other places, utility companies occasionally.
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