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Is finding gaps just hard now? As a 24 yo, everything seems to be done already

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Re: Is finding gaps just hard now? As a 24 yo, everything seems to be done already

#41

Post by throwaway14356 »

s1gsegv wrote: post #27
d--b wrote: post #20

Let's see: maybe try writing sentences that starts with "I wish I could".

To add to this, you must try to do something beyond being a software engineer to encounter more low hanging fruit. Most of the easy “I wish I could” problems that are directly related to what a typical software engineer does on a day to day basis are indeed well solved, because that’s the lowest of the low hanging fruit. Even going to mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, whatever, you’d immediately be like “…

Only slightly less lower: Make tools for unskilled labor. Go do the labor until you are familiar enough with it then talk with people who did it for decades. They found ways to make the simple things into impossible puzzles and solved them for the most part into a convenient step by step process. The software then assists the proverbial noob (without being annoying or getting in the way) and smoothens the learning curve.

How many ways are there to wash a car and when should you pick which?

Re: Is finding gaps just hard now? As a 24 yo, everything seems to be done already

#42

Post by throwaway14356 »

incomingpain wrote: post #6

https://www.fastcompany.com/3001329/how-move-past-everything... Here's an article from 2012 on the subject of "everything seems to be done already" A few years after this article was published. Google did "AlphaGo" and later "Alphazero" for chess. OpenAI was founded in 2015. OpenBCI kickstarter was in 2014. They are: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkWJem3LY5E >I'm trying to find good problem statements and gaps to s…

>fully automated road construction that doesnt need employees?

I vaguely remember a solar road concept with tiles with a bunch of electronics in them. I suppose decent computers are cheap enough now. They could have some means of locomotion and drive fly or walk from the factory to their destination.

> unmanned blimps that can move heavy cargo.

nothing wrong with hydrogen. A tow boat with a long sausage behind it with containers hanging under it.

Re: Is finding gaps just hard now? As a 24 yo, everything seems to be done already

#43

Post by ozim »

Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #30
ActorNightly wrote: post #25

There is a whole SHITLOAD of inefficiencies in the way companies are run. You have to be tapped in and talk to a bunch of people and network to see this, but once you do, and you have technical knowhow to solve these problems, you can easily make 1 mil a year selling these solutions to companies because in turn it saves them money. And most of them don't even require AI. There is a reason why Zapier has 5 billion dol…

> There is a whole SHITLOAD of inefficiencies in the way companies are run My jaded and cynical ass assumes those inefficiencies are deliberate so that middle managers can justify their jobs. Everyone claims to hate bureaucracies, but there are some people that are profiting from maintaining them.

Well there are still pen and paper companies doing fax. There are some old timers running not so small companies just because they don’t know better.

Re: Is finding gaps just hard now? As a 24 yo, everything seems to be done already

#44

Post by ozim »

softwaredoug wrote: post #21

It’s hard to find problems without hands on experience in a problem space. Then what you’ll see is there are A LOT of snake oil salesman (just pour some AI on it). There is also just a lot of bad quality/ limitations in almost all products. Solving practical, sometimes boring, problems, in a way that actually consistently delights users, is actually by far the exception. Only by learning the domain, and trying to sol…

That and also having connections in business area.

From what I have seen in startup I worked for we most likely did not get a customer that my boss did not work with earlier.

Other ones were most likely choosing competition based on who they knew and worked with earlier.

Mind you we still had to go through due diligence before they signed, but getting foot in the door by knowing someone who can propose us as a vendor was big help.

Re: Is finding gaps just hard now? As a 24 yo, everything seems to be done already

#45

Post by atomicnature »

randomdata wrote: post #16
atomicnature wrote: post #10

OK - a big problem for starters - how to get people off of their screens and focus on something else - like life in general? Given the way digital infrastructure exists as is today, this is a freakishly difficult problem. In other words - how'd you make digital systems all around you "attention-enhancing" rather than "attention-diluting"

Isn't life in general effectively a solved problem by now? What more focus does it need?

How come? Basics such as lack of nourishment is not a solved problem in many parts of the world. And of course thats the bare minimum of material existence. Human potential offers way more, right?

Re: Is finding gaps just hard now? As a 24 yo, everything seems to be done already

#46

Post by incomingpain »

throwaway14356 wrote: post #42
incomingpain wrote: post #6

https://www.fastcompany.com/3001329/how-move-past-everything... Here's an article from 2012 on the subject of "everything seems to be done already" A few years after this article was published. Google did "AlphaGo" and later "Alphazero" for chess. OpenAI was founded in 2015. OpenBCI kickstarter was in 2014. They are: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkWJem3LY5E >I'm trying to find good problem statements and gaps to s…

>fully automated road construction that doesnt need employees? I vaguely remember a solar road concept with tiles with a bunch of electronics in them. I suppose decent computers are cheap enough now. They could have some means of locomotion and drive fly or walk from the factory to their destination. > unmanned blimps that can move heavy cargo. nothing wrong with hydrogen. A tow boat with a long sausage behind it wit…

>I vaguely remember a solar road concept with tiles with a bunch of electronics in them. I suppose decent computers are cheap enough now. They could have some means of locomotion and drive fly or walk from the factory to their destination.

Solar freaking roadways! This was almost 10 years ago now. Feel old!

Re: Is finding gaps just hard now? As a 24 yo, everything seems to be done already

#47

Post by incomingpain »

throwaway14356 wrote: post #35
incomingpain wrote: post #6

https://www.fastcompany.com/3001329/how-move-past-everything... Here's an article from 2012 on the subject of "everything seems to be done already" A few years after this article was published. Google did "AlphaGo" and later "Alphazero" for chess. OpenAI was founded in 2015. OpenBCI kickstarter was in 2014. They are: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkWJem3LY5E >I'm trying to find good problem statements and gaps to s…

if they are good or not depends on your perspective. Say, is good only profitable to you? > Fully automated agriculture building that takes water and electricity in and outputs food. i've pondered that one. it seems mostly a self- maintenance apparatus. > clean enough water production, less then 1% of the world's water is sort of clean enough what to do with the crap left behind? > Plastic alternatives are in major n…

>if they are good or not depends on your perspective. Say, is good only profitable to you?

Ive never even done bake sale. I have better ideas that I could likely make into a business but I have no idea how.

>what to do with the crap left behind?

Sell it? Bill gates open sourced a design for this. Easy enough to put together enough cash to build one. Unfortunately its just not viable.

>we have bioplastcs they are just not popular. why i don't know.

Same problem. I mean not-paper-straws. Like an alternative of plastics that is simply superior.

>There is some cool tech that squeezes your legs to compliment heart beats. It apparently does miracles for health.

I have experienced that for a brief time. No idea how good it was.

Re: Is finding gaps just hard now? As a 24 yo, everything seems to be done already

#48

Post by xucian »

education

is there anything that improves people's lives in the long-term as much as fixing education? there are plenty of niche sectors to excel on, feels like taking a candy from a baby

angels/VCs tell me it's too big of a market, thus competitive, thus you'll get eaten. I disagree with the last part -- we all say execution is key, but few of us realize what that means: the whole collection of decisions a company makes defines its 'execution', so each company is unique, even if they're redoing something that already exists. you can specialize so much no one will care competing with you early

as long as the inefficiencies in edu everywhere scream for help and the access to edu/work opportunity is not evenly distributed world-wide, there's huge room for innovation, and I'd add it's even a mandatory mission for us crazy visionaries to fix that

Re: Is finding gaps just hard now? As a 24 yo, everything seems to be done already

#49

Post by throwaway14356 »

incomingpain wrote: post #46
throwaway14356 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>fully automated road construction that doesnt need employees? I vaguely remember a solar road concept with tiles with a bunch of electronics in them. I suppose decent computers are cheap enough now. They could have some means of locomotion and drive fly or walk from the factory to their destination. > unmanned blimps that can move heavy cargo. nothing wrong with hydrogen. A tow boat with a long sausage behind it wit…

>I vaguely remember a solar road concept with tiles with a bunch of electronics in them. I suppose decent computers are cheap enough now. They could have some means of locomotion and drive fly or walk from the factory to their destination. Solar freaking roadways! This was almost 10 years ago now. Feel old!

bicycle paths seems a lot easier.

They did build a road in China in 2017 but it's not modular it seems.

https://www.nsenergybusiness.com/features/china-solar-highwa...

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