We have the potential to solve the biggest problems of today • Hacker News Board

Re: We have the potential to solve the biggest problems of today

#111

Post by rfrey » Mon, Jun 23, 2014, 9:30 PM UTC

jal278 wrote: post #90

pdabbadabba wrote: post #51

There's a lot that I dislike about this article, but I'll start with this: it is probably self-refuting. Someone could just have easily written: "I find it difficult to see individuals who could focus their time and effort solving [problems like energy, food, water, health, education], instead put their efforts into something like a takedown of the moral priorities of the people behind Yo on a their personal blog." A…

"The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads. That sucks." [0] The reason why this article resonates with many readers is that it expresses frustration with the triviality of how our economy allocates resources to start-ups. The promise of tech is huge, but following the money often leads to optimizing ads, machine learning algorithms competing with each other in HFT, or other appl…

That quote is dripping with hubris. There's a few high profile cases where it's true -- Ng at google and now Baidu, for example -- but I guarantee that the bulk of the "best minds" of the generation are not programmers at Google or Facebook.

Re: We have the potential to solve the biggest problems of today

#112

Post by LoganCale » Mon, Jun 23, 2014, 9:30 PM UTC

rajbala wrote: post #15

andrew_null wrote: post #9

The future is tricky to predict. A lot of things look like toys, until all of a sudden they're not. Worth reading the counterpoint: http://avc.com/2013/04/return-and-ridicule/ "This notion also plays into Clayton Christensen's framework for disruptive innovation. Many of the most disruptive technologies started out as what Clay calls "toys". The PC is a great example of that. PCs came out of the homebrew computer mov…

Precisely. Who would have predicted that Twitter would have been used to organize people in a meaningful way during the Arab Spring? The overthrow of tyrannical regimes is a noble cause that a startup would almost certainly never been able to focus on as a solution to a big picture problem.

…and then rejected that noble use by allowing other tyrannical regimes to censor content so it can't be used that way again.

Re: We have the potential to solve the biggest problems of today

#113

Post by timr » Mon, Jun 23, 2014, 9:31 PM UTC

jal278 wrote: post #90

pdabbadabba wrote: post #51

There's a lot that I dislike about this article, but I'll start with this: it is probably self-refuting. Someone could just have easily written: "I find it difficult to see individuals who could focus their time and effort solving [problems like energy, food, water, health, education], instead put their efforts into something like a takedown of the moral priorities of the people behind Yo on a their personal blog." A…

"The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads. That sucks." [0] The reason why this article resonates with many readers is that it expresses frustration with the triviality of how our economy allocates resources to start-ups. The promise of tech is huge, but following the money often leads to optimizing ads, machine learning algorithms competing with each other in HFT, or other appl…

"It's not that EVERYONE should be working on the big problems -- just that the incentive systems seem to lean towards triviality over deep human benefit."

Yes, exactly. And even more importantly: we can fix it, but we choose not to. I know brilliant people with extremely specialized training in chemistry, physics, biochemistry, and so on. People who should be developing new drugs, or high-speed trains, or improving solar energy, or creating new ways to generate hydrogen or ethanol from plants.

You know what? They can't get jobs in their field of training, and if/when they do, the jobs are crap. The sad truth is, it's not (currently) economically rational to devote your youth to these high-minded pursuits. In all likelihood, you will be rewarded with a lifetime of insecurity and low income, followed by an uncertain potential of a comfortable life in old age.

This is a societal problem. We're currently spending all of our resources on short-term wealth accumulation and neglecting longer-term technological development. We could stop it with the right set of financial incentives, but we don't.

Re: We have the potential to solve the biggest problems of today

#114

Post by jabits » Mon, Jun 23, 2014, 9:32 PM UTC

digz wrote: post #79

pdabbadabba wrote: post #51

There's a lot that I dislike about this article, but I'll start with this: it is probably self-refuting. Someone could just have easily written: "I find it difficult to see individuals who could focus their time and effort solving [problems like energy, food, water, health, education], instead put their efforts into something like a takedown of the moral priorities of the people behind Yo on a their personal blog." A…

>> And, by the way, who appointed Christoph McCann arbiter of what it good and valuable in this world? This is such an important point, and why free markets work best. If people derive value out of Yo, then terrific. If they don't, it goes away. Don't need a moral crusader to decide what is worthy.

Kind of a blanket statement, free market works best. It works adequately in many cases, at best. Completely ignores non-transaction, external participants, like the environment.

Attempting moral persuasion ("moral crusading" seems an extreme interpretation) is essential for society to progress. Not much of a future if value is only determined by some business-genius decision maker deciding that, "Hey, I can make a million bucks off this. Must be worthwhile!"

Re: We have the potential to solve the biggest problems of today

#115

Post by VolatileVoid » Mon, Jun 23, 2014, 9:33 PM UTC

Every time you talk about "Yo" an angel loses its wings or a kitten dies or... whatever.

If you stop talking about it, it will just fade into obscurity like Doogie Howser - only to appear years later as a successful, charming actor that can --- wait, where was this going?

Right. Stop talking about it and it'll go away. Don't be bitter about Yo; there's no point in it. Just let it go. Keep calm and carry on.

Re: We have the potential to solve the biggest problems of today

#116

Post by onewaystreet » Mon, Jun 23, 2014, 9:34 PM UTC

digz wrote: post #86

digz wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> And, by the way, who appointed Christoph McCann arbiter of what it good and valuable in this world? This is such an important point, and why free markets work best. If people derive value out of Yo, then terrific. If they don't, it goes away. Don't need a moral crusader to decide what is worthy.

Also, I'd venture a guess that if you sum up the total cost that has gone into Facebook's Poke feature (development, maintenance, deciding whether or not to turn it off), it would dramatically eclipse the 1.2M that everyone is so up in arms about. No one is losing their marbles over that stuff. Look, I agree it's a ridiculous app.. but if people use it and derive value from it, good! Utility created!

If you told someone a top 10 app with over 300,000 users raised $1.2 million they probably wouldn't bat much of an eye. That's what Yo is now. It probably wont last, but that doesn't mean its creator can't take advantage of its success right now.

Re: We have the potential to solve the biggest problems of today

#117

Post by acconrad » Mon, Jun 23, 2014, 9:34 PM UTC

pdabbadabba wrote: post #51

There's a lot that I dislike about this article, but I'll start with this: it is probably self-refuting. Someone could just have easily written: "I find it difficult to see individuals who could focus their time and effort solving [problems like energy, food, water, health, education], instead put their efforts into something like a takedown of the moral priorities of the people behind Yo on a their personal blog." A…

I think the issue buckles down to someone saying "I'm working on this important thing and I can't raise $1MM, while this trivial, non-important app just raised $1MM, WTF?!"

It just doesn't seem fair that a pointless app could raise 7 figures while others are struggling, but it does point back to the idea that fairness and judgment are human-made, and not absolute.

Re: We have the potential to solve the biggest problems of today

#118

Post by phillmv » Mon, Jun 23, 2014, 9:35 PM UTC

digz wrote: post #105

gfodor wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I believed you missed the point. Someone lamenting the fact that smart people are working on stupid problems is not the same thing as them saying that smart people should be forced to work on hard problems. Hamming put it best: "Over on the other side of the dining hall was a chemistry table. I had worked with one of the fellows, Dave McCall; furthermore he was courting our secretary at the time. I went over and…

While I have some sympathy for your point of view (after all the guy is free to say what he wants) I still think the argument is facile. A few thoughts: - As others have pointed out, talent is not fungible. Just because you can program Yo, doesn't mean to can solve other issues. - If everyone is so convinced that Yo is such a dumb idea, do you really want the founder who's "capable" of doing something so stupid worki…

Skills are not fungible - just because I can make a web app doesn't necessarily mean I can learn how to perform surgery - but most people with certain skillsets certainly are.

How else would people build products by hiring more developers?

So, in so far that there are more socially useful problems that iOS developers can help resolve it remains a valid critique to say that those developers could have worked on something else.

Re: We have the potential to solve the biggest problems of today

#119

Post by imgabe » Mon, Jun 23, 2014, 9:35 PM UTC

I disagree with the premise that being able to create an app that sends "yo" to somebody implies that you should be able to solve any of the various health crises around the world.

For one thing, this is incredibly insulting. Do you think that nobody is working on solving these already? Do you think that the people conducting medical research are just so unbelievably stupid that they couldn't comprehend how to write an app that says "Yo"? Maybe these problems are a little harder than you think.

Re: We have the potential to solve the biggest problems of today

#120

Post by pg_is_a_butt » Mon, Jun 23, 2014, 9:38 PM UTC

pdabbadabba wrote: post #51

There's a lot that I dislike about this article, but I'll start with this: it is probably self-refuting. Someone could just have easily written: "I find it difficult to see individuals who could focus their time and effort solving [problems like energy, food, water, health, education], instead put their efforts into something like a takedown of the moral priorities of the people behind Yo on a their personal blog." A…

the "yo" app took 8 hours to create. "we" have 8 hours to spare.

"you" are nothing.