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Why the Fuck?

raganwald.posterous.com

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Re: Why the Fuck?

#331

Post by mscarborough »

raganwald wrote: post #102

My fellow HNers: It does depress me, daily, that I do not have a career in physics or chemistry or biology or medicine where I could work on "big problems." The simple truth is, I'm not smart enough, I don't work hard enough, and I've been napping when opportunity knocked a few times in my life. That being said, sometimes a man in a saloon has a few drinks and yells at the television, telling the coach of some footba…

You're obviously a smart dude.

Nothing more annoying than a good person who wants to claim how bad they have it.

Re: Why the Fuck?

#332

Post by jisaacstone »

ihnorton wrote: post #297
jisaacstone wrote: post #264

I was thinking about this the other (past few months) Getting into _that_ industry, I mean. I was wondering specifically if it might be possible to get some existing medical devices to communicate via bluetooth with a central server; to build an adapter so everything that sent out a vital signal was logged on disc and remotely accessible in real time. I was in a hospital recently, and the vital signs were logged on p…

Getting access to devices is definitely a big hurdle, but there are people working in this area already. Maybe you could contribute to framework engineering in collaboration with groups who can get (or reverse engineer, more likely) communication protocols on specific devices. Here are a few links to get started: http://www.mdpnp.org/ http://conferences.sigcomm.org/sigcomm/2012/medcomm.php (google the speakers and or…

fantastic! thanks

Re: Why the Fuck?

#334

Post by thedamon »

Evbn wrote: post #145
thecosas wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for making the distinction. I've had Type I diabetes for over 20 years and occasionally get the "but you're not fat" comment. EDUCATE :o)

They need to change the stupid name already. Hypoinsulinomia and caloroglucitis, or something.

So totally agree. Especially when I learned of how many young type 1s have eating disorders because they think they must be fat :(

Re: Why the Fuck?

#335

Post by sliverstorm »

saurik wrote: post #307
pg wrote: post #166

Essentially he's asking why person-hours are expended on things that make the most money rather than things that are important, for some definition of important. There are several answers to that. 1. The most obvious is that people need to make a living. People can and do work at some discount in order to work on things they think are important, but it rarely stretches as much as 10x. I expect most workers either don…

Am I wrong in thinking that, if you actually did solve the kinds of problems mentioned in the article (obesity, diabetes, etc.) that your resulting business would make a lot of money? Is it really "makes more money" that keeps people working on ad-optimization, and not a simpler reason like "that is the kind of mathematical problem with an algorithmic solution that the analytical brain of a programmer can solve"? It'…

Actually solving diabetes would make you a lot of money. This is almost certainly accurate. But-

Let me put it this way. How many people do you know that have made it big selling out to a MegaCorp? Not many, I'm sure, but now how many people do you know that have cured diabetes?

Even though making it big in the startup world is not a sure thing, curing diabetes is even less of a sure thing.

Re: Why the Fuck?

#336

Post by [deleted] »

lukev wrote: post #81
benihana wrote: post #58

Oh goodie, another arrogant whine by raganwald where he can't understand why the greatest minds (implying people writing code are somehow the greatest minds) aren't doing what he thinks is important. This post makes two incorrect assumptions. First, that the things he derides (Google automating targeted content, Facebook introducing new search features that are tangential to their current features, Apple changing for…

I would hope it's uncontroversial that saving people's lives, health and sanity is categorically more important than making money or trivial social interaction.

[deleted]

Re: Why the Fuck?

#338

Post by hackingla »

sliverstorm wrote: post #329
hackingla wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I'm not smart enough" - this is not an excuse. I have no education, no college etc... and I created software that generates meal plans according to my Crohn's symptoms (made it from my hospital bed at SF General) and now I am off all my meds. Made an app for a friend that helped her identify that she had a Gluten allergy (later verified by doctor) And right now I am working on a way to help match patients and doctor…

1) "Smart" and "educated" are not the same. 2) Your successes are commendable, but they do not prove that any John Doe can solve the "Big Problems" your parent spoke of. Historically speaking, at least in physics the "Big Problems" have been solved by extremely smart people . Not just people who refuse to quit. We may be talking about different "Big Problems" though. I'm thinking of DNA, e=mc^2, the cure for cancer,…

When I mean big I am referring to problems that will help lots of people when solved. Things of a much more practical nature than Physics.

The Diet Crisis, Diabetes (which he mentioned directly) etc... are not Physics problems.

Not to be rude but your type of thinking is where part of the problem lies. A mother that wants her child to be healthy or a person that has diabetes does not give a damn about the God Particle or any other big physics issue. The statement that started this whole thread was directly related to diabetes, so with all due respect I believe that my "Apps and software" are a lot more applicable here than Physics research. If we were speaking about energy then you may have a point but we aren't.

BTW: w/ Hacking Crohn's a user can upload their 23 and Me data and generate a meal plan that helps them combat any genetic predispositions they may have to one or more illnesses (not cancer yet but give me time, i'll get there).

[edit] I see your point, but i think that you assume all "big problems" will be solved with a pill or a shot and i disagree. I think that we need a fundamentally different approach to solve some of these issues but I do understand and respect your position.

Re: Why the Fuck?

#339

Post by sliverstorm »

haberman wrote: post #273
haberman wrote: post #80

In my five years at Google, I am not sure I have met a single engineer who is "trying to figure out how to get Scott Hanselman to click on ads." I have met tons of engineers who work on interesting problems like building models of query patterns to detect spiking queries (Google Trends and Google Hot Trends, all publicly accessible: http://www.google.com/trends/ ), Gmail, Maps/Directions/Traffic, improving (machine)…

Just one thing to add: I think that driverless cars could be a huge force for good. At the top of the list IMO is obsoleting DUIs completely. Sure people can get taxis but there's much more of a logistical impediment. You have to call a cab (which will arrive in an unpredictable amount of time, especially on busy nights when you want it most). And you have to leave your car at the party and find some way back to it t…

They could be, but human tendency makes me cautious in my optimism. For example, as cars get more fuel efficient, rather than saving their money, people tend to simply drive further. As cars get safer, people tend to take more risk.

What, I cannot help but wonder, will be the proverbial fly in the ointment when self-driving cars take over the market?

Re: Why the Fuck?

#340

Post by sliverstorm »

hackingla wrote: post #338
sliverstorm wrote: post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) "Smart" and "educated" are not the same. 2) Your successes are commendable, but they do not prove that any John Doe can solve the "Big Problems" your parent spoke of. Historically speaking, at least in physics the "Big Problems" have been solved by extremely smart people . Not just people who refuse to quit. We may be talking about different "Big Problems" though. I'm thinking of DNA, e=mc^2, the cure for cancer,…

When I mean big I am referring to problems that will help lots of people when solved. Things of a much more practical nature than Physics. The Diet Crisis, Diabetes (which he mentioned directly) etc... are not Physics problems. Not to be rude but your type of thinking is where part of the problem lies. A mother that wants her child to be healthy or a person that has diabetes does not give a damn about the God Particl…

"Solving" diabetes implies acting on the biological root of the problem. This makes it a biology/chemistry problem, which is certainly not physics, but also not really the sort of thing apps are good at solving.

Now, an app might be able to help guide people to avoid or handle diabetes, but that is not "solve".

I'm not blowing off diabetes in the slightest, in fact I am saying it belongs with the other "Big Problems" which is why I discussed physics.

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