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Come here and work on hard problems – except the ones on our doorstep

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Re: Come here and work on hard problems – except the ones on our doorstep

#211

Post by freshhawk »

ardit33 wrote: post #132
MarkPNeyer wrote: post #84

i worked at uber and twilio in the city. I was so bothered by the homeless people I saw everyday that it seriously impeded my work performance. i'd walk by them and feel terrible for not being able to help, for having an easy time making money, and feel afraid that my bipolar disorder would get worse and i'd end up like them. it was hard to function properly at work when I'd start my day feeling guilty, powerless and…

How old are you? I used to have the same existential feelings as well when I moved in SF, but over time you just get used to it and don't care anymore. It is part of the maturation process and realize that the world is not a fair place, and no not everybody is equal and will live equally. One thing you realize is that a lot of the people on the streets have major mental conditions (usually schizophrenia, and major dr…

> It is part of the maturation process and realize that the world is not a fair place, and no not everybody is equal and will live equally

That realization is indeed part of the maturation process.

What you are talking about is both this and desensitization. The former is unquestionably necessary and a "good thing", the latter is a self defence mechanism humans have to being exposed to emotionally troubling things.

You/we could absolutely do a lot to alleviate this, it would just be a lot of work. You couldn't single-handedly solve the problem obviously, but that's a different question. I'm not even saying people have a moral obligation to act, but if you are going to decide not to then at least be honest about the reasons. It avoids a lot of painful cognitive dissonance at the very least.

It's definitely emotionally helpful to believe you can't do anything about it, but it's pretty definitively not true. Seems especially weird to suggest that here, in a community of self described "disruptors".

Re: Come here and work on hard problems – except the ones on our doorstep

#212

Post by tobinfricke »

peterhunt wrote: post #207

Anyone who's been around the US knows that San Francisco has one of the most visible homeless populations in the country. It's interesting to note that SF also has perhaps the strongest "social safety net" programs in the country. I don't understand how the author then makes the jump to "we need more social safety net programs." Maybe we should just run them effectively. Also the characterization of the social lives…

I think this just shows that homelessness must be addressed on a nationwide scale.

Re: Come here and work on hard problems – except the ones on our doorstep

#213

Post by roguecoder »

ownagefool wrote: post #156
dyno12345 wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not zero-sum. The US already spends more per capita on healthcare than every other country. It just does so extremely inefficaciously.

Are you talking about the states/fed? As that'd suprise me.

It's almost all the result of the extra administrative overhead from our fragmented insurance market, profits to the for-profit hospitals and insurance companies and the extremely expensive ineffective end-of-life care that is incentivized by that incredibly messed up system.

Re: Come here and work on hard problems – except the ones on our doorstep

#214

Post by freshhawk »

troebr wrote: post #53
jrochkind1 wrote: post #4

The guy's Scottish, he thinks it's about San Fran specifically, it's really about AMERICA. Maybe San Fran puts it even more in your face. But compared to most any other country even half as rich as America, the lack of social safety net in the U.S. is kind of shocking. People in Europe don't really realize the extent of it.

I'm French living in Jersey. I have been to San Francisco, even though it's blatant when you walk here, everywhere in the US I have that feeling that the poor are really forgotten. And they live in third-world country conditions. In France, the average rich is not as rich, and it's probably a lot harder to become successful and wealthy than here; but the poor are not left behind as much. It feels more like a society…

The US is pretty middle of the road if you are going to be born rich somewhere. Russia is certainly further along that path than the US.

Re: Come here and work on hard problems – except the ones on our doorstep

#215

Post by stuaxo »

CodeMage wrote: post #36
glesica wrote: post #18

I think that when people say "hard problems" they mean "problems that almost certainly have solutions if you are willing to put in the effort". Poverty on the other hand is a much, much harder problem than that. In fact, no one quite knows how to solve it in a general way (there are things that seem to work in certain contexts but not in others, many special case half-solutions). And on top of that, there probably is…

Poverty on the other hand is a much, much harder problem than that. In fact, no one quite knows how to solve it in a general way (there are things that seem to work in certain contexts but not in others, many special case half-solutions). Everyone keeps saying that, as if there were only two alternatives: 1) completely fix poverty in a general way or 2) keep the status quo (and allow it to get worse). There has to be…

There are some really good points on inequality in this vid too

http://www.frontlineclub.com/the-inequality-debate/

Re: Come here and work on hard problems – except the ones on our doorstep

#216

Post by orbital303 »

When homeless people can be monetized, they will be, and they will grow the GDP because as we know, this is the only measure of real progress ("economic 'progress'"). The more homeless, the more money, the higher the GDP. Welcome to America. Or the world for that matter.

The US is all about fuck you, I got mine. If it hasn't spread to your doorstep (I find this hard to believe as it's a general societal trend, not specific to the US) you aren't looking hard enough.

At least you don't have people arguing abou scala or ruby or language xyz on your doorstep. If you did, you might prefer the homeless too.

Re: Come here and work on hard problems – except the ones on our doorstep

#217

Post by detst »

greghinch wrote: post #192
zacharycohn wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"It is part of the maturation process and realize that the world is not a fair place, and no not everybody is equal and will live equally." I think the point of the article is that that's fucked up, and not how the world should be. And what I suspect the author realized is that it isn't the way he or she wants to be.

> I think the point of the article is that that's fucked up, and not how the world should be. That's the maturation process though: understanding that the world has been that way for all time . Look at nature, around you, some animals within any given group always do better than others. It's fine to be bothered by it, and want to do something to change it, but it's naive to think that a) you are the first person to n…

I suspect the person you're responding to understands this quite well; they are responding to someone that takes the next step to not caring:

  [...] over time you just get used to it and don't care anymore.
That's fine for you but don't excuse it as part of the maturation process. That's bullshit. Some of us choose to take a more practical approach.

Re: Come here and work on hard problems – except the ones on our doorstep

#218

Post by orbital303 »

onemorepassword wrote: post #183
tokenadult wrote: post #162

Places with good weather have huge visible homeless populations. (I have traveled all over the United States, and have been to all fifty states. AFTER EDIT: I have been in, and have lived in, gritty "skid row" neighborhoods of large United States cities, and have lived in Los Angeles.) Places with lousy weather, like the place where I grew up and now live, certainly have people who are "homeless" in the sense of not…

There is no Europe. I can only speak for my country, the Netherlands, and there is no such thing as people not having the personal funds to buy or rent housing. That's why we have minimum wages, social security, rent subsidies and regulated rent. The homeless here are people mostly people with mental health issues that reject or don't respond to treatment. It's by far not a perfect utopian system, but to have people…

This explains the lack of both decent housing and healthcare don't exist in the US. A country that cares so little about its citizens' human rights that it will publicly murder them is not a country that is likely to care about healthcare or housing.

Re: Come here and work on hard problems – except the ones on our doorstep

#219

Post by madaxe »

caseydurfee wrote: post #155
shpxnvz wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Obamacare" is not socialist, it's liberal, as a core concept of liberalism is that the state should fund things that people cannot or will not fund for themselves, like roads and healthcare. "More doubtfully compatible with the liberal conception of equality is another measure which also gained wide support in liberal circles, namely the use of progressive taxation as a means to effect a redistribution of income in…

Why are you conflating Obamacare with progressive taxation? Incredibly misleading. Hayek was clearly fine with social insurance programs. "Where, as in the case of sickness and accident, neither the desire to avoid such calamities nor the efforts to overcome their consequences are as a rule weakened by the provision of assistance – where, in short, we deal with genuinely insurable risks – the case for the state’s hel…

Thanks, that's precisely the passage I was thinking of.

Re: Come here and work on hard problems – except the ones on our doorstep

#220

Post by digitalWestie »

tokenadult wrote: post #162

Places with good weather have huge visible homeless populations. (I have traveled all over the United States, and have been to all fifty states. AFTER EDIT: I have been in, and have lived in, gritty "skid row" neighborhoods of large United States cities, and have lived in Los Angeles.) Places with lousy weather, like the place where I grew up and now live, certainly have people who are "homeless" in the sense of not…

I think a few things mainly answer your question about Europe:

- More social housing than the US

- Higher minimum wages (so fewer homeless)

- This is just a personal impression but Europeans are less mobile than Americans. Therefore there is more likely to be the family / friends safety net to catch you.

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