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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

#31

Post by ajross »

bluedino wrote: post #8

Not everyone can create, whether it's a website or designing the next iPhone. Very few people can. Those people that do are rewarded very well. Besides, if we were all trying to cure hunger or house the homeless who would be creating all the fancy computers we use every day? And why blame 'programmers', there are plenty of doctors, lawyers, and financial workers in SF that have to 'step over' the homeless every day o…

Curing hunger and housing the homeless doesn't, the last time I checked, require creativity or programming talent. Growing food and constructing buildings are what we geeks like to call "mature technology", and thus not something we concern ourselves with except at the margins where changes in efficiency have economic impact.

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

#32

Post by jarjoura »

There is a disparity between rich and poor in this country, sure, but come on. Most of the homeless in SF actually want to be on the streets.

So many of them are young and it used to make me sad but I have just learned to accept it. I always make a point to package up leftovers and hand them out. I'll even reach into my wallet and hand out a few dollars too.

If there were more I could do though, I would be more than happy to donate some of my time, as I'm sure many in this city would too.

Also, is more public housing the answer? Not sure about that one. They all look like government buildings with horrible fluorescent off-green lighting filled with junkies and drug addicts far from being cured.

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

#34

Post by beatpanda »

nsxwolf wrote: post #30
beatpanda wrote: post #16

I make a point of maintaining a clean separation between my work and my social life for exactly the reasons this author describes. The biggest problem San Francisco has right now is a bunch of people who came here for money, with no interest in being part of its social fabric. Many of whom loudly complain about how much San Francisco sucks, and how it should change to meet their needs. You either need to start actual…

Every city is the way it is because of the people that come into it. Now different people are coming in and things are changing. San Francisco is a place that people historically migrate to when looking for gold. The aspects of the culture that creates, the ones you like, anyway, are unpredictable and subject to change.

You could also say that "San Francisco is a place that people historically migrate to to subjugate native populations and force them to adopt a new culture and religion". Does that make it ethically defensible? Or did we not learn anything from the last few hundred years?

I should also point out that the reason companies started coming to San Francisco in the first place was because of the culture that is currently being displaced, largely by people who don't care about the culture at all.

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

#35

Post by downandout »

jarjoura wrote: post #32

There is a disparity between rich and poor in this country, sure, but come on. Most of the homeless in SF actually want to be on the streets. So many of them are young and it used to make me sad but I have just learned to accept it. I always make a point to package up leftovers and hand them out. I'll even reach into my wallet and hand out a few dollars too. If there were more I could do though, I would be more than…

Most of the homeless in SF actually want to be on the streets.

That is perhaps the most ignorant sentence I have ever read on HN. Most homeless people don't have a choice. If they do have a choice, the fact that they choose to live on the streets likely speaks to the horrific situation they would face at their home. I can assure you that no one wants to be homeless.

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

#36

Post by CodeMage »

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 some way to get from the current wealth inequality [1] to something more humane.

[1]: http://www.upworthy.com/9-out-of-10-americans-are-completely...

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

#37

Post by noonespecial »

downandout wrote: post #19

This speaks to a larger problem: The world simply doesn't need many of the people born into it. Parents in the US have children for recreational purposes - child birth rates do not fluctuate with the demand for labor. These kids grow up, and many of them wind up sleeping on the streets of their chosen city or more commonly just barely living paycheck-to-paycheck, because there is no societal need for them. This bears…

You need a great number of many to create a pool large enough to get those precious few that can advance humanity enough to do all of that providing by the few.

Humanity could be two people living in a grass hut finding just enough berries to eat each day, but it wouldn't be much fun.

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

#38

Post by madaxe »

hsitz wrote: post #24
madaxe wrote: post #9

"Last night, someone told me “In California, there isn’t a conflict between being a Capitalist, and a Liberal”, with a wry grin on his face." Of course there isn't. Liberalism in its purest form (as espoused by Hayek, say) is, in effect, free market capitalism with a light but universally applicable (no "special cases", as those lead to totalitarianism) set of regulations to prevent bad actors (e.g. hey, let's put he…

"There's this odd commingling of the concepts of socialism and liberalism in the general populace's minds, for some reason. The two could not be more antithetical." The reasons for this are historical. What you call the "socialist" elements result from the idea that part of being truly "free" (i.e, liberty) requires that people be treated equally, thus liberals in this sense have a focus on social justice. (See this…

Indeed - perfectly familiar, have read my share of Tocqueville, Hayek, Hobbes and all the rest, but the fundamental point that divides socialism and liberalism is that of freedom of people, vs. freedom of the people - i.e. individualism vs. socialism.

Liberalism has always been about social justice, and the idea that each and every human should be free to run or ruin their own lives (Positive vs. Negative freedom), with a slant towards the positive through regulation and the rule of law.

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

#39

Post by bearmf »

ajross wrote: post #27
woodchuck64 wrote: post #7

> Stepping over the homeless, weaving between the street corner schizophrenics Imagine having a chronic disease simultaneously with an absolutely intolerable fear of doctors, hospitals, institutions and the social safety net. That's a hard problem.

I can't tell exactly the point you're trying to make. Obviously there are specific cases ("schizophrenics" here, I guess) who are going to be very hard to treat in any safety net, and the US has no monopoly on them. But the point was broader, that relative to the rest of the industrial world the US has far more people at the "bottom" , falling out of the net. Walking around cities in Europe, you generally don't find…

There are plenty of people sleeping on park benches in Europe, especially in large cities like London and Paris.

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

#40

Post by gdonelli »

jarjoura wrote: post #32

There is a disparity between rich and poor in this country, sure, but come on. Most of the homeless in SF actually want to be on the streets. So many of them are young and it used to make me sad but I have just learned to accept it. I always make a point to package up leftovers and hand them out. I'll even reach into my wallet and hand out a few dollars too. If there were more I could do though, I would be more than…

"Most of the homeless in SF actually want to be on the streets."

I have heard this from many americans, for some reason my european mindset cannot get why someone would not want shelter or food.. a reliable manner.

Most of these people have not had the opportunity to do any better. It is not their fault.

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