Live data from Hacker News

Blood donors in Sweden get a text message when their blood saves someone's life

independent.co.uk

51–60 of 115 posts

Re: Blood donors in Sweden get a text message when their blood saves someone's life

#51
Hasn't the gamification and the application of Pavlovian behavior online gone already too far?

I mean this trend of employing FB notifications like Dopamine/Serotonin rewarding systems is getting out of hand and we need to address it properly.

Re: Blood donors in Sweden get a text message when their blood saves someone's life

#52
Blood donation is not very efficient charity and the service is homophobic and (in the US) nationalistic (no the entirety of Europe doesn't have mad cow disease). Instead of sending these feel good SMS messages they should work on solving those two issues.

Re: Blood donors in Sweden get a text message when their blood saves someone's life

#53
post #5

I wish I was allowed to donate blood. This is a great idea, I hope other countries adopt it.

Why aren't you allowed ?

One major reason is if you were in the UK for more than 6 months between 1980-1996. You can't donate blood in Australia afaik if this is the case.

This was due to the BSE, 'mad cow disease'

Re: Blood donors in Sweden get a text message when their blood saves someone's life

#54
post #7
post #4

The Gamification of saving lives! f k yeah! - "I AM LEVEL 3, yesssssss." (3-lives saved)

Many places already do that... counting the number of times a person has donated (not actually used) and giving them some status accordingly.

Except we now live in the Internet age...where nothing happens unless you can post it on Twitter or Facebook.

Re: Blood donors in Sweden get a text message when their blood saves someone's life

#55
post #47
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some countries in EU have 2% of income tax support, i.e. If you are a tax payer in Lithuania and would like to support the development of non-profit/school/academy or sport club, you can do so by transferring 2% of your income tax to the administrating enterprise. And you can change/donate it every year.

While that is very good, at the same time 2% is pretty much nothing. Why not make it so that 50% is payers choice? (I wouldn't make it 100% only because there are too many people who wouldn't want to fund the military).

According to a slapdash google search, the 2015 federal income due to taxes is $3.9 trillion, and about half of that comes from income tax. 2% of that is $20 million dollars.

I want to say that that's not nothing, but the Rosetta equipment alone cost €220 million. I'm not even sure how much of an impact $20m would have if you spread it across, e.g., the New York public school system.

Re: Blood donors in Sweden get a text message when their blood saves someone's life

#56

Might work for some people but not for me. I'd start worrying I'm not donating enough. With plasma you can donate every two weeks which is pretty often, I only go once every four weeks. However I liked the chocolates that were handed out at the blood bank around Christmas time last year (Australia). Oh and in case your wondering they used to offer beer in refreshment but that was cut out a couple of years ago. But th…

Interesting. In the US you can donate plasma twice a calendar week as long 48 hours separates the donations. I use to do red blood and double red as frequently as a I could, the day I became eligible again was the day I donated. When you do something like that you can't worry if you are donating enough - you know that you are doing everything you are allowed to do.

My friend, you may be suffering from ALAS.

http://www.davidbrin.com/givingplague.html

Re: Blood donors in Sweden get a text message when their blood saves someone's life

#57

Life hacks. On a date in Sweden? Arrange your buddy to send you a text message saying you just saved someone's life. Watch jealousy turn to desire when you get a text message (another girl??), and say, "Oh - I just saved someone's life. See?" I'm just kidding. My real point is that a mailed letter (or email) sounds more appropriate than a text message. But then again maybe not!

Wouldn't work in the US, I find that the social value of having saved someone's life is somewhere between zero and negative, unless that someone belongs to your interlocutor's subculture. You tell an investor in SF, in passing, "I talked a junkie off the bridge and took her away before the cops showed up, and let her stay at my place for six months until she cleaned up", and they'll think you are mad, not honorable.…

I'd probably think both.

Re: Blood donors in Sweden get a text message when their blood saves someone's life

#58
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While that is very good, at the same time 2% is pretty much nothing. Why not make it so that 50% is payers choice? (I wouldn't make it 100% only because there are too many people who wouldn't want to fund the military).

According to a slapdash google search, the 2015 federal income due to taxes is $3.9 trillion, and about half of that comes from income tax. 2% of that is $20 million dollars. I want to say that that's not nothing, but the Rosetta equipment alone cost €220 million. I'm not even sure how much of an impact $20m would have if you spread it across, e.g., the New York public school system.

($3.9T / 2) * 2% = $39 billion

Re: Blood donors in Sweden get a text message when their blood saves someone's life

#59
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While that is very good, at the same time 2% is pretty much nothing. Why not make it so that 50% is payers choice? (I wouldn't make it 100% only because there are too many people who wouldn't want to fund the military).

According to a slapdash google search, the 2015 federal income due to taxes is $3.9 trillion, and about half of that comes from income tax. 2% of that is $20 million dollars. I want to say that that's not nothing, but the Rosetta equipment alone cost €220 million. I'm not even sure how much of an impact $20m would have if you spread it across, e.g., the New York public school system.

It is quite something in terms of money but it feels like nothing? 2%? 3%? 0%? Those can be simplified to 0% which makes day to day living easier.

Re: Blood donors in Sweden get a text message when their blood saves someone's life

#60
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "How your job affects other people's lives" You mean, how a software developer might be helping companies be more efficient, meaning they can now lay off people with lower income jobs because their services are no longer required? I like this idea for blood donations though!

That assumes that those jobs would have existed without your software - and that the factory/warehouse wouldn't simply have closed and caused even further job loss.

It's like how the ice block men lost their jobs to the invention of the fridge. It's unfortunate but we got to move forward. Plus those people have free will to improve their skills and work somewhere else.
Post reply on HN