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A Magical Time to Start a Movement

dennybritz.com

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Re: A Magical Time to Start a Movement

#21

Post by smacktoward »

dkuntz2 wrote: post #7
smacktoward wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Building a world with technology in mind means that the role of humans will shift away from traditional positions to something different. In the long run, this may create more jobs that it makes go away. Unfortunately, as John Maynard Keynes famously observed, "in the long run we are all dead." ( http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Maynard_Keynes )

That just explains the appeal of Keynesian economics to corporations and the government. The problem is that we kinda need to worry about the long term affects of things, because not doing so is what got us in our current mess with the environment. Dealing with the short term is really appealing, but it typically has the worst long term affects.

It's not an argument for only dealing with the short term, it's an argument for not hand-waving away problems like "X million people can no longer earn a living" with responses like "oh, in the long run that will sort itself out."

Re: A Magical Time to Start a Movement

#22

Post by dragonwriter »

dkuntz2 wrote: post #7
smacktoward wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Building a world with technology in mind means that the role of humans will shift away from traditional positions to something different. In the long run, this may create more jobs that it makes go away. Unfortunately, as John Maynard Keynes famously observed, "in the long run we are all dead." ( http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Maynard_Keynes )

That just explains the appeal of Keynesian economics to corporations and the government. The problem is that we kinda need to worry about the long term affects of things, because not doing so is what got us in our current mess with the environment. Dealing with the short term is really appealing, but it typically has the worst long term affects.

> Dealing with the short term is really appealing, but it typically has the worst long term affects.

At the same time, focussing only on the theoretically-projected long-term effects while neglecting the near-term effects is really appealing, but then we keep getting changes motivated by long-term (=infinite horizon) effects that never are acheived because what we are always dealing with the short-term results of the most recent change that come from real-world friction on the way to the theoretical infinite horizon effects.

To deal with the real world, we need to concern ourselves both with the long-term effects and the path to them.

Re: A Magical Time to Start a Movement

#24

Post by gopher1 »

Government more or less created Silicon Valley (government subsidies, guaranteed government contracts, direct government investment), yet it is now "powerless"? If anything, Silicon Valley is a great example of the power of government.

Silicon Valley has yet to solve any of the big problems in the world; poverty, healthcare, climate change.

The idea that there's no war going on the world, or that you don't need universities is complete nonsense.

For sure some things are changing, but that's always been the case. This blog post, and the bizarre idea that everything must be "disrupted" (nobody knows exactly what that means) is a perfect example of the insular, ignorant, and shallow attitudes that pervade Silicon Valley.

Re: A Magical Time to Start a Movement

#25

Post by felipe »

thetylerhayes wrote: post #12
zwieback wrote: post #2

"The government ... disrupted by a group of people building something on their laptops in Silicon Valley." Right below this quote from your blog, in the "From around the web" section: "Obamacare could soon cause massive layoffs." I think it's a magical time to get people wasting time on their phones, maybe solve some minor efficiency problems around the edges of Obamacare but SV is the worst possible choice to solve…

I haven't read OP's piece yet, but I agree with @dennybritz that there are plenty of us here in SV who care about solving the big problems. For example we just launched Prime, an iPhone app that allows you to download your medical record from any doctor and share health activity with friends and family. http://stayinyourprime.com . We're not the only ones in healthcare. There's also Practice Fusion, drchrono, DoctorB…

> an iPhone app that allows you to download your medical record from any doctor and share health activity with friends and family

I mean no offense to you personally, but I fail to understand how this problem fits in a world in which 2.5 billion people lack basic sanitation.

Re: A Magical Time to Start a Movement

#26

Post by oscargrouch »

thetylerhayes wrote: post #12
zwieback wrote: post #2

"The government ... disrupted by a group of people building something on their laptops in Silicon Valley." Right below this quote from your blog, in the "From around the web" section: "Obamacare could soon cause massive layoffs." I think it's a magical time to get people wasting time on their phones, maybe solve some minor efficiency problems around the edges of Obamacare but SV is the worst possible choice to solve…

I haven't read OP's piece yet, but I agree with @dennybritz that there are plenty of us here in SV who care about solving the big problems. For example we just launched Prime, an iPhone app that allows you to download your medical record from any doctor and share health activity with friends and family. http://stayinyourprime.com . We're not the only ones in healthcare. There's also Practice Fusion, drchrono, DoctorB…

The bigger problems arent being solved because the people (or animals, plants) dont have money to pay back..

SV is solving problems for who can pay.. and that crowd already has too many people with their brains working all day to solve their problems..

The problems that are let unsolved, are the ones from marginalized people.. people smashed and invisible to the society.. the ones called the "loosers"..

Even if not targeting social issues.. the big problems and really cool innovations come from passionate human beings.. and not form short-circuit ideas; or money-traps companies.. this is just noise..

The passionate ideas may find a way to be profitable latter.. but it hardly start that way..

I agree with people that say that its hard to believe that really "disruptive" stuff will come from SV now.. because the culture that created the good things for start its constantly getting killed by the people who lend the money for the projects..

it need a long-term thinking, it needs to take a real risk.. the sort of thing banks and angels dont like to invest.. these are traditionally things that the state has invested in.. and the capital folks only get to the party later, when theres no risk..

So unless SV try to get back to its roots, and achieve that.. it wont be that magical place anymore..

Re: A Magical Time to Start a Movement

#27

Post by VladRussian2 »

gopher1 wrote: post #24

Government more or less created Silicon Valley (government subsidies, guaranteed government contracts, direct government investment), yet it is now "powerless"? If anything, Silicon Valley is a great example of the power of government. Silicon Valley has yet to solve any of the big problems in the world; poverty, healthcare, climate change. The idea that there's no war going on the world, or that you don't need unive…

>The idea that there's no war going on the world, or that you don't need universities is complete nonsense.

...

> the insular, ignorant, and shallow attitudes that pervade Silicon Valley

these ideas and attitudes pervade only very young or very rich heads. It is also natural that such heads are the most vocal ones, especially when they are both - very young and very rich - at the same time.

Re: A Magical Time to Start a Movement

#28

Post by VladRussian2 »

felipe wrote: post #25
thetylerhayes wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't read OP's piece yet, but I agree with @dennybritz that there are plenty of us here in SV who care about solving the big problems. For example we just launched Prime, an iPhone app that allows you to download your medical record from any doctor and share health activity with friends and family. http://stayinyourprime.com . We're not the only ones in healthcare. There's also Practice Fusion, drchrono, DoctorB…

> an iPhone app that allows you to download your medical record from any doctor and share health activity with friends and family I mean no offense to you personally, but I fail to understand how this problem fits in a world in which 2.5 billion people lack basic sanitation.

>I mean no offense to you personally, but I fail to understand how this problem fits in a world in which 2.5 billion people lack basic sanitation.

some of the people making big on some app will become the next Musk (though unfortunately some will become the next Thiel) and will work on the big problems our civilization faces. That is is the beauty of SV - it allows people doing business here (or even merely employed) to generate resources to try to tackle something bigger. It is like springboard.

Re: A Magical Time to Start a Movement

#29

Post by oscargrouch »

>We build things, convince people to use them, and fight the status quo

How the status quo would fight the status quo?

Paraphrasing what a wise man once said:

How can a kingdom divided against itself survive?

The people behind all these cool new projects are the same people from the old industries, if thats not the reality in the beginning that soon will change as long its a profitable business.. the status quo may not be in the seed phase, or even in the initial funding, but definetly will be a part of it on the IPO.. and thats how even the cool projects end to serve the status quo..

The only way to really fight the status quo, the establishment is decentralizing profits and power.. otherwise, its always the same story, since the beginning of the civilization

Re: A Magical Time to Start a Movement

#30

Post by gopher1 »

oscargrouch wrote: post #26
thetylerhayes wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't read OP's piece yet, but I agree with @dennybritz that there are plenty of us here in SV who care about solving the big problems. For example we just launched Prime, an iPhone app that allows you to download your medical record from any doctor and share health activity with friends and family. http://stayinyourprime.com . We're not the only ones in healthcare. There's also Practice Fusion, drchrono, DoctorB…

The bigger problems arent being solved because the people (or animals, plants) dont have money to pay back.. SV is solving problems for who can pay.. and that crowd already has too many people with their brains working all day to solve their problems.. The problems that are let unsolved, are the ones from marginalized people.. people smashed and invisible to the society.. the ones called the "loosers".. Even if not t…

Which is of course how SV got its start, through government investment. Socialize the risk, privatize the profits, it's the American way.
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