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The Unexotic Underclass

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Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#221

Post by tedunangst »

msmillie wrote: post #213
DanBC wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> An example would be, after my brother created several successful startups using ex-cons, he wanted to turn the program over to the City. He quickly learned without a politician attached and 'sitting on the board' you couldn't do this. The price of this? Paying him 70% of the donations coming in to support the program. I have numerous examples more blatant in 2nd and 3rd world nations. That sounds like an excellent…

Guess who's more important to the newspaper: this one guy who encountered some "you were naiive to not expect this" corruption, or the senior city hall politico? And what did he do, anyway, ask for a seat on the board in return for his help? and that position comes with a salary? We can't run that story, quit wasting our time.

"Corruption in city hall" is front page news all the time.

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#222

Post by Nursie »

aianus wrote: post #40
3pt14159 wrote: post #17

Let's take a look at the real problems facing America and the rest of the developed world: 1. Mismanaged IT in critical infrastructure. 2. Misallocated funds in programs helping the destitute. 3. Cyclical loops of depression-lack of opportunity-lack of skill building. 4. Health disorders on a massive scale, like metabolic disorder, that can be solved with very simple things like diet and exercise. These places are no…

> Show me the path to get people off of sugar diets. http://www.soylent.me/ I think we'll start seeing a difference when the economics improve making it a lot cheaper than fast food.

Mmmm, yeah, that'll hit the spot, flavourless goop in a glass. People will definitely want that.

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#223

Post by marcosdumay »

jamesdelaneyie wrote: post #140
aianus wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All progress is aimed at the rich. The first people with light bulbs were rich, the first people with indoor plumbing were rich, the first people with cell phones and automobiles were rich, etc, etc. It's not nearly as much fun to solve poor people's problems since often the solutions already exist; they just can't afford or otherwise access them.

If they can't afford it, then it's not really a solution to their problem is it?

At the plus side, differently from money, innovation tricles down quite well.

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#224

Post by akgerber »

tragomaskhalos wrote: post #75
scythe wrote: post #8

>entrepreneurs have stopped chasing and solving Big Problems What is strange to me is that people believe entrepreneurs ever solved "Big Problems". Who in history falls into this class? Thomas Edison? Alexander Graham Bell? Henry Ford? Guglielmo Marconi? Nonsense, I say. These men didn't solve the "big problems" of their era -- they didn't attack issues that were popular in the public consciousness. They were really…

We did need cars - the problem of horseshit in cities was becoming unmanageable. But the rest of your point is well taken.

That, too, was as much a political problem solved politically; here is Harper's illustrating the effect of NYC getting a well-run Sanitation Department: http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/... from: http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/when-new-yorkers-li...

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#225

Post by tsunamifury »

heironimus wrote: post #199
tsunamifury wrote: post #164

I built language learning applications that reached over 10 million users in the developing world and my brother built a startup that employs only ex-cons in one of the worst neighborhoods in America. We learned a few things from actually doing this: TL;DR its really expensive to make products for the 'forgotten underclass' due to many unforeseen issues. 1) Poor areas are overrun with corruption and graft. Its very h…

Very well said. I greatly respect you for what you are doing/have been doing. It's obvious from your comments that you are not just talking nice, but have been there. I'm pretty sure no one has responded because no one knows how to respond to your bleak ending. Probably because it exposes our selfishness. I know I don't know what to say. Do you have any further info about the work you and your brother are doing/have…

I couldn't continue, partly because I had predetermined risk going into this (Strongly recommend a dollar figure in loss and time limit before you try helping society) and partly because I just burned out.

Google reached out to me, and after a short interview made me an offer.

My significant other and I are now officially 1%er DINKS over night and are constantly working on what it means to continue to do good in our situation. She has focused on using her position in management to find unemployed talented folks to add to her teams. Right now she distributes nearly $1m in total yearly income to very talented individuals who also tried to do good but found themselves unemployed and in the same position as myself.

I have been trying to do honest work and learn at Google, while studying a society that is post-resource -- specifically how it reduces conflict and issues. I try to think about how some of these structures could be applied in places with need.

My brother, with a family, is walking on water. Over the last 2 years he has put over 100 ex-cons and homeless through his program with 0% recidivism. At a total cost of 40k per person this reduces their cost to society by 50% in the first year then often 100% by the second year.

He is, however, burned out and looking for an exit. His real world meaningful labor doesn't map as well to easy Silicon Valley hiring and he continues to try to find a way to move forward.

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#226

Post by tsunamifury »

dkarl wrote: post #218
tsunamifury wrote: post #164

I built language learning applications that reached over 10 million users in the developing world and my brother built a startup that employs only ex-cons in one of the worst neighborhoods in America. We learned a few things from actually doing this: TL;DR its really expensive to make products for the 'forgotten underclass' due to many unforeseen issues. 1) Poor areas are overrun with corruption and graft. Its very h…

Do you think it's safe to target smart phones on the assumption that they'll be reasonably ubiquitous reasonably soon? And is there any major price threshold where a decision goes from being a casual purchase (only requiring reasonable confidence that the product might be useful) to being a serious decision that might be nixed even if the product is attractive?

Yes, the market is shifting towards affordable smart devices, but there is still a lot of fracturing that makes development hard enough even for premium audiences.

I think that finding this classes problems, a good solution, and mapping them to software is the real problem -- the device proliferation and connectivity is just a compound issue.

There are others that believe the inverse though, devices and connectivity proliferation are the primary problem and solving it will allow for the next generation of startups to address this classes real-life issues without the hardware overhead.

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#227

Post by aeturnum »

tomjen3 wrote: post #187
graeme wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately, this is the future. I say unfortunately, because I think if we could see the final version, we'd recoil. The sharing economy, at heart, is about the monetization of spare capacity. So far it's mostly been physical assets, but spare time is next. Anywhere you find a poor person watching TV (or, god forbid, reading a book) there's spare capacity ready to be monetized. And, why are they sleeping so much?…

I ask this because I have never seen a decent answer to this question: how does that make the poor people worse of? I mean I can sorta see it with the spare room (rent goes up because your neighbor has a little extra cash, now you _have_ to rent your room out too) but your car? Swinging by with my groceries on your way home from work? Swing by with some ready-to-freeze homecooked dinner for me[1]? [1]: Yes that is il…

Your question makes sense. It is more work for people who desperately need work.

The problem is that dollars have marginal utility. The first $X you make per month is your housing and your food. People who are not getting that livable minimum are at a huge disadvantage in negotiations. They will do almost anything to get that $X. This means they will accept low pay, poor conditions, awful hours - anything you can think of - to make it. This also represents a massive subsidy to businesses that have good economies of scale.

This kind of brinkmanship with total collapse has very personal consequences. If a parent can't do it for more than one or two days a year (if that), their kid(s) may become homeless or stuck in the foster system. You should care about that because society bears a large portion of the costs (the costs are high). That level of stress causes people to make mistakes, sometimes about things you care about.

The goal of labor protections is to ensure some minimum level of human decency and allow people time to improve their lot. Aside from the risks to us outlined above, the risk of a population that is too beset with surviving to pay attention or vote should be pretty obvious.

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#228

Post by tsunamifury »

msmillie wrote: post #213
DanBC wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> An example would be, after my brother created several successful startups using ex-cons, he wanted to turn the program over to the City. He quickly learned without a politician attached and 'sitting on the board' you couldn't do this. The price of this? Paying him 70% of the donations coming in to support the program. I have numerous examples more blatant in 2nd and 3rd world nations. That sounds like an excellent…

Guess who's more important to the newspaper: this one guy who encountered some "you were naiive to not expect this" corruption, or the senior city hall politico? And what did he do, anyway, ask for a seat on the board in return for his help? and that position comes with a salary? We can't run that story, quit wasting our time.

Its more that its never explicitly stated at any point in time or by any individual.

But if you've ever worked at this level, you know the connections made by those brokering deals or in close proximity to dealmaking is often the only way to find success. You need these people to connect you with the wealth or opportunity, and they charge for that connection.

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#229

Post by ceejayoz »

aianus wrote: post #186
JabavuAdams wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Organ donation 2.0 and prostitution 2.0. But we're helping the poor to make their own decisions about how to generate wealth.

Let me understand how I'm supposed to see this: A-OK: Rich Americans die from kidney failure while poor Africans die from malnutrition/AIDS/TB/whatever. Reprehensible exploitation: Rich American buys a kidney from a poor African, feeding his family for a decade in the process. Nobody dies.

> Rich American buys a kidney from a poor African, feeding his family for a decade in the process. Nobody dies.

Until the poor African's one remaining kidney goes bad, he can't get a transplant (nor the lifetime of expensive drugs to retain one), and his family starves for lack of a breadwinner.

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#230

Post by coldtea »

tedunangst wrote: post #221
msmillie wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Guess who's more important to the newspaper: this one guy who encountered some "you were naiive to not expect this" corruption, or the senior city hall politico? And what did he do, anyway, ask for a seat on the board in return for his help? and that position comes with a salary? We can't run that story, quit wasting our time.

"Corruption in city hall" is front page news all the time.

Which goes to show that exposing it in the "frong page" doesn't do much to stop it.
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