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I’m Done Pretending SF Tech Is Visionary

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Re: I’m Done Pretending SF Tech Is Visionary

#121

Post by patothon »

brandonb wrote: post #68

I hear this sentiment a lot, and don't entirely disagree with it... but it oversimplifies our community massively. If you want to work on big, meaningful problems, here are some compelling options. Do you think our government is broken? Join Nava (a new type of government contractor working on helping the VA fix its backlog and helping CMS move our healthcare system toward value-based-care) or 18F (a new agency withi…

I've been working on the Omada engineering team for more than 3 years. The mission is amazing, as well as the team.

If you've always been wondering if you should join a company that is trying to help people, send me an email at vincent [at] omadahealth.com, we'll grab a coffee!

Re: I’m Done Pretending SF Tech Is Visionary

#123

Post by jvandonsel »

objectiveariel wrote: post #109

Strong, much-needed words here: "Right now, entrepreneurs are trying to fix things that aren’t broken. And we can all name a lot of things that are broken: healthcare, education, homelessness and poverty, food waste, climate change…" Damn right. Those are real problems. But then the author praises Elon Musk for sending people to Mars. For prioritising space exploration over alleviating famine, poverty, illiteracy, wh…

Well, one could argue that spreading humans outside this single planet is a requirement for long-term survival of the species, and thus as important or more important than those other causes you mention.

I don't personally subscribe to this belief, but many people do.

Re: I’m Done Pretending SF Tech Is Visionary

#124

Post by noobermin »

eli_gottlieb wrote: post #113
sp527 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a passion for tech. Then it was beaten out of me by large, successful tech companies. Some day, the majority of us who are relegated to inane, shitty work will wake up and acknowledge that. So what do you do when you are a capable programmer who isn't rich enough to work on something challenging/interesting/meaningful like electric cars or rockets? Maximize expected value. That's not immoral. That's the shitty…

Fuck passion. There are people who work passionlessly on revolutionary things. Accomplish something you care about, sure, but supporting yourself and a family is also worth caring about .

You don't need to have to work on something revolutionary to support a family however, or even be a super rich guy. There is wallstreet after all.

Re: I’m Done Pretending SF Tech Is Visionary

#125

Post by noobermin »

sp527 wrote: post #66
refurb wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's all about people who've seen how absurdly rich you can get, and want a piece of that. That about sums it up. If people suddenly became rich through farming, you'd see people flocking to the mid-west. A lot of people claim a higher calling or passion for tech, but it's mostly just dollar signs in their eyes.

I had a passion for tech. Then it was beaten out of me by large, successful tech companies. Some day, the majority of us who are relegated to inane, shitty work will wake up and acknowledge that. So what do you do when you are a capable programmer who isn't rich enough to work on something challenging/interesting/meaningful like electric cars or rockets? Maximize expected value. That's not immoral. That's the shitty…

>So what do you do when you are a capable programmer who isn't rich enough to work on something challenging/interesting/meaningful like electric cars or rockets?

Why do you have to be rich to work on electric cars or rockets? Many companies are hiring specifically for these technologies.

Re: I’m Done Pretending SF Tech Is Visionary

#126

Post by noobermin »

radicsge wrote: post #117
ec109685 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously? A billion+ people use Facebook products, many hundreds of millions very happily.

Yet if facebook would disappear, nothing would be lost. Somebody would overtake the position in no time. This is not true for real value added companies.

By that logic, Ford produces no "[added] real value." It seems like only monopolies can add real value in your criteria.

Re: I’m Done Pretending SF Tech Is Visionary

#127

Post by bitantics »

brandonb wrote: post #68

I hear this sentiment a lot, and don't entirely disagree with it... but it oversimplifies our community massively. If you want to work on big, meaningful problems, here are some compelling options. Do you think our government is broken? Join Nava (a new type of government contractor working on helping the VA fix its backlog and helping CMS move our healthcare system toward value-based-care) or 18F (a new agency withi…

Regarding green tech, there a lot of different approaches where tech can contribute! Where tech = software or hardware.

Hardware heavy companies include places like SolarCity (solar power) and Tesla (battery company with a car side business :)). These tend to be more direct in their impact by actively replacing "dirty" technology.

More on the software / data side include places like PlanetLabs (satellite imagery with data) and Aclima (dense sensor networks) which tend to be more indirect by helping people make informed decisions.

Full disclaimer and shameless plug: I work at Aclima and we are totally hiring :) https://boards.greenhouse.io/aclima

Re: I’m Done Pretending SF Tech Is Visionary

#128

Post by HillaryBriss »

grondilu wrote: post #38

> And we can all name a lot of things that are broken: healthcare, education, homelessness and poverty, food waste, climate change... Successful people in Silicon Valley are not concerned by these issues. They can afford to pay physicians without relying on public generosity, they can send their kids in private schools if they're not happy with public ones, they're neither homeless nor likely to become so (by hypothe…

healthcare is really difficult to fix because of laws that get in the way. how can an app or a website change, say, FDA regulations, physician licensing rules, and the insurance rate approval boards?

do other countries and health care markets have lower costs and better results because they have better websites, apps, data sets and machine learning algorithms?

Re: I’m Done Pretending SF Tech Is Visionary

#129

Post by drakonandor »

lucaspiller wrote: post #78
jwatte wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Twitter, Facebook, Google, and a bunch of other previous startups do have value. Also more, like Electronic Arts, Oracle, Intel, Salesforce, Apple, ... It's just that the 1000:1 ratio between startup and final enterprise is brutal!

Twitter and Facebook may have value in dollar signs (OK maybe not Twitter right now), but I'd really question how much value they have provided to society as a whole. It seems like all Facebook wants to do is built an ecosystem, lock you in it, and milk you for data they can sell to advertisers.

Twitter had over $2B in revenue last year.

Re: I’m Done Pretending SF Tech Is Visionary

#130

Post by drakonandor »

M_Grey wrote: post #52
Retric wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on what problem your solving. If you want the oldest 10% of the population not to die in poverty that's actually fairly easy to solve. In you want ~0.00% deaths from starvation that's also easy to solve. However it's cheaper to provide basic heathcare to everyone than it is to provide top quality heathcare to the elderly. Reducing drug use to some significantly lower level is very possible, ending it is not.…

>Going to Mars is easy, colonizing Mars is a pipe dream. I can't tell you how much I appreciate hearing this position from someone on this site. I've tried to make that argument here and elsewhere, and it's met with an almost religious fury. I really appreciate that I'm not alone in my intense skepticism of this "colonies on Mars: coming soon!" nonsense. I'll believe it when we've solved, or at least even begun to ad…

Perhaps the attitude of "Let's do it!" is exactly what's needed for the first step of solving big, difficult problems?
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