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New RFS – Breakthrough Technologies

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Re: New RFS – Breakthrough Technologies

#191

Post by JoeAltmaier »

ihnorton wrote: post #190
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Today is different of course. But the biotech example is surprisingly approachable. DNA processing equipment has come down about a millionfold in the last decades. MRI devices are handheld and available. Its more approachable than maybe its ever been?

> MRI devices are handheld and available Really? Did you mean NMR? edit: found this, https://pines.berkeley.edu/research/optical_detection which, although not yet handheld MR (imaging), could be quite a big advance.

Ha! Wrong TLA. I meant ultrasound scanners of course.

But there is this: http://www.medgadget.com/2005/04/handheld_mri_of.html

Re: New RFS – Breakthrough Technologies

#192

Post by chriswarbo »

Houshalter wrote: post #174
nakedrobot2 wrote: post #25

I hope someone is crazy enough for the Tall Tower project. It is the kind of project the Human Race needs to convince ourselves that we are still capable of getting Big Things done. If you don't know about it already, it is a project jump-started in part by Neal Stephenson, to build a 15km tall tower. http://hieroglyph.asu.edu/project/the-tall-tower/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TE0n_5qPmRM

What's the purpose of the tower? It seems like an incredible waste of resources.

The purpose is mainly the idea.

If such a tower were built, it would indeed be a huge waste of natural resources; but it would improve our engineering abilities.

Re: New RFS – Breakthrough Technologies

#193

Post by toomuchtodo »

aaronblohowiak wrote: post #60
toomuchtodo wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you want to do projects in robotics, DARPA has both money to give you, deep connections with the universities developing the basic science, and a program manager to manage the project that typically has a PhD in the field. The last head of DARPA now heads up Google X. SFBA has tens, if not hundreds, of billions of dollars available to it. Capability isn't the question. Its the will that matters. As an investor,…

Speaking of the profitability of the invention of the laser, you might enjoy reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Gould

I specifically used the laser as an example due to Mr. Gould's experience. :)

Re: New RFS – Breakthrough Technologies

#194

Post by djb_hackernews »

buckbova wrote: post #79
djb_hackernews wrote: post #21

Some ideas around transportation: - smart pothole patches. Currently patches barely make the road any more driveable and uneven road surfaces result in billions in economic loss due to accidents, repairs, and traffic. - drone machine equipment. Employ operators in the midwest in trailers while they control equipment all over the world. You'll get few accidents and utilize resources more efficiently. Put the operators…

On potholes, there is more recent technology called "infrared repair" that heats up existing asphalt instead of a cut and replace method. You have to get the government to adopt it. https://encrypted.google.com/search?hl=en&q=infrared%20repai...

I have seen that, which is what made me more convinced we need better pot hole repair and road construction. Those systems are expensive and complicated. What I envision is something even easier and fool proof than a large piece of equipment you need extensive training on. It should be dumber than cutting the pavement and filling it with new asphalt.

I'm imagining essentially a self leveling cement that untrained people can use that has the same lasting properties of the infrared repair solutions.

Re: New RFS – Breakthrough Technologies

#195

Post by djb_hackernews »

johngalt wrote: post #73
djb_hackernews wrote: post #21

Some ideas around transportation: - smart pothole patches. Currently patches barely make the road any more driveable and uneven road surfaces result in billions in economic loss due to accidents, repairs, and traffic. - drone machine equipment. Employ operators in the midwest in trailers while they control equipment all over the world. You'll get few accidents and utilize resources more efficiently. Put the operators…

re: potholes You already have millions of internet connected (gps localized) accelerometers on the roads daily. If you could convince enough drivers to record/report that information you'd have a decent map of any rough spots.

That exists, it seems to be a popular civic hack-a-thon project[1]. I'm not too worried about identifying pot holes, I'm more interested in road construction that avoids them completely or makes them easier to fix in a better way,

[1] https://www.google.com/search?q=pot+hole+detection+app

Re: New RFS – Breakthrough Technologies

#196

Post by ntoshev »

buro9 wrote: post #166
ntoshev wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The internet does rewire the fabric of society. Facebook has a big role in modern revolutions. I'm just skeptical that the forum format has the potential to bring further material advances.

I guess a question could be asked about whether Hacker News has had any impact at all. Has it brought people together, in ways that has fostered new innovation or the creation of companies or approaches to ideas, or resulted in any political lobbying whatsoever on any front? Almost regardless of how impact is quantified, the answer is going to be yes. Looking at any influential forum within any given vertical, that s…

Both HN and Facebook are not regular forums (they have distinct features). If you are trying to change politics with software, perhaps a good way to approach the problem is to try solving something specific, then build the community and write the code to do precisely that. One example is gathering support for specific campaigns. I live in Bulgaria, we have active protest movement against the current government, and a lot of the coordination and debate happens on Facebook. I had a specific campaign in mind that didn't happen for legal reasons, but it would have been very interesting otherwise. Send me a mail if you want to know more.

I think it's a mistake to think about real and virtual world as separate things. We live in a single world, and the online part grows more important with time. There are bits that are quite independent from the offline part, like interacting on HN with pseudonyms. Other bits, like Facebook, are typically much closer and interconnected with our offline life. Some mobile apps are even more integrated with the real world, although they are not very social.

Re: New RFS – Breakthrough Technologies

#197

Post by malandrew »

pg wrote: post #92
hooande wrote: post #85

There's a new sheriff in town. Previously YC treated some of these things, especially "AI" (whatever that means) as third rails. They've funded an extremely broad range of companies, but if you go back and check their past investments most of the areas listed in this RFS are underrepresented. Infrastructure, food and water, biotech, robotics...YC could be reaching much higher in terms of ambition than it has in the p…

You can't build part of an engine in three months and then show it off on demo day. You can't build a database in three months and show it off on Demo Day either, but we've funded many database companies. You don't need to have shipped by Demo Day. You just need to have achieved enough to convince investors to give you more money. What "enough" means depends on what you're building. Experienced investors know how muc…

What language(s) are the AI companies using?

Re: New RFS – Breakthrough Technologies

#198

Post by midas007 »

To build a huge, breakthrough company requires people that have or can master the road to get there. Can't just jump to that without any experience and expect to execute well. As such, I see YC reaching out to folks that would otherwise consider GSB, HBS or Haas by working with teams that have more experience, eg, putting aside some of the valley ageism.

Re: New RFS – Breakthrough Technologies

#199

Post by irollboozers »

ThePhysicist wrote: post #52

"Science. Science seems broken. The current funding models are broken and favor political skill over scientific genius. We need new business models for basic research. There are a lot of areas where scientific developments can have huge commercial applications — materials, neuroscience, climate engineering, and cheaper/better ways to get to space, just to name a few—and we’d love to figure out a way for it to happen.…

Check out Experiment (http://experiment.com).

Even in 'research', there are different types and different motivations. I believe the Science that we see today is more a reflection of the past decades' focus on commercial innovation. As opposed to the previous few centuries, where science was the product of exploration and curiosity. How we do science today will not be the same as how we do science in 10 years.

Re: New RFS – Breakthrough Technologies

#200

Post by iamwil »

zoba wrote: post #30

Am I the only one who doesn't know what RFS stands for? Its not clear from AcronymFinder either.

It stands for Request for Startups, which is a wink and nod (reference) to documents that describe internet standards, which are called RFC. For example, the document that lays out the HTTP protocol is RFC2616 https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2616

What does RFC stand for? "Request for Comments". Presumably, because standards have to be reviewed by other people and get their feedback.

I assume the spirit is same here.

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