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Interface Design with a Homeless person

delian.io

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Re: Interface Design with a Homeless person

#61

Post by kephra »

hdkmraf wrote: post #48

Being homeless myself I can say most homeless people I have met do it on choice. Not sure about the USA, but here in Tokyo people become homeless after realizing they are wasting their lives working for goals and objectives that benefit nobody. Eventually you realize you don't need most of the "commodities" and "comfort" of modern life. Maybe it is my engineering background speaking, but you learn to maximize output…

Moin,

> Being homeless myself I can say most homeless people I have met do it on choice.

I had been homeless, both by choice, and without choice. Its good to know that all you need fits into an army sidebag. Being homeless, travel around, playing revolutionary, is a necessary step in youth. imho. The next step after squatting was owning a trailer and tractor. I'm living in a flat now, close to water, and own a boat. ouch I'm getting old lol

We had several squatted houses, and an area called Weidedamm where about 300 people lived in trailers and garden huts. This changed 1995 when the green party became a member of our state government. We currently have 3 much smaller trailer parks in Bremen. One for the ecologic people, one for the punks and alcoholics, and one for trucks and electronic music. We don't have any political squatter scene anymore, no houses, so those who can not afford a trailer, are left on the street or to state help.

So most homeless people don't have a real choice between alcohol, drugs, and state help in our days. This destroys independence, and therefore the freedom you/we remember.

ciao,Michael

Re: Interface Design with a Homeless person

#62

Post by lgieron »

hdkmraf wrote: post #48

Being homeless myself I can say most homeless people I have met do it on choice. Not sure about the USA, but here in Tokyo people become homeless after realizing they are wasting their lives working for goals and objectives that benefit nobody. Eventually you realize you don't need most of the "commodities" and "comfort" of modern life. Maybe it is my engineering background speaking, but you learn to maximize output…

IMO homelessness doesn't really set you free, as you still need to provide for your body's needs (basic safety, food, protection from weather, hygiene, medicine). I can imagine it being a constant source of stress.

Re: Interface Design with a Homeless person

#63

Post by jschuur »

anigbrowl wrote: post #23

Larry had actually been the messenger for the first documents in the Barry Bonds perjury case. Larry had been the first member of the public to know about the doping. He told me how reading those documents had ruined baseball for him. I find this a bit unlikely. Then again, it might explain why he doesn't have a job as a bike messenger any more.

On the other hand, he could have just heard about the contents without reading them at the time, and later read them when they were publicized.

Re: Interface Design with a Homeless person

#65

Post by alex1 »

chmike wrote: post #37
MIT_Hacker wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know, I thought about this throughout the entire encounter. I wasn't sure if I could believe any of his stories. He seemed so genuine and so excited throughout the conversation that I gave him the benefit of the doubt. In terms of how much money I gave him, I decided that $100 was probably the minimum amount that could actually help him pursue the idea and as a college intern, I'm not sure I could have spared muc…

What are the odds that such guy would be given a chance to share a piece of himself like he did ? I really don't think the OP was naive. I think there should be more people like him. Y Combinator gave a chance to people who would never have a chance at seed investors or Angle investors. It appeared that YC found few very valuable gems though. Surprised ? You shouldn't because seed investors and Angel investors have s…

> Y Combinator gave a chance to people who would never have a chance at seed investors or Angle investors.

Do you really believe this? I think most, if not all, YC founders are capable of raising a seed round and making connections in the Valley with or without YC. YC just expedites this process.

Re: Interface Design with a Homeless person

#66

Post by jschuur »

mmcnickle wrote: post #60

Am I the only one who found the whole thing extremely patronising? "A homeless man who could teach me something, who would've thought. I went to MIT!"

The post _does_ come from someone who felt they needed to refer to their school in their username here: MIT_Hacker.

Re: Interface Design with a Homeless person

#67

Post by bambax »

Why be surprised that a homeless person knows a lot of things. Many homeless people are not "losers" -- they're winners of sorts.

Not winners in the sense of being successful or in control of one's destiny, of course, but in the sense of being slave to no one and fooled by no ideology. They're real-life Diogenes.

Re: Interface Design with a Homeless person

#69

Post by sathishmanohar »

weego wrote: post #20

This rather confused me. Even more so because some of the details seem to being live edited. A cycle courier for legal documents that gets to read the documents. He crewed on a sub (initially im sure it said commanded) yet doesn't get on with computers yet even though he is homeless he knows about the square product, and also having never worked in design knows about Dieter Rams, someone with almost no designers I've…

Well, I'm not an economist, never worked on anything related to it. But, I like "Pareto principle", I think it is brilliant. If I talk with some economist, I might bring that up in a conversation. What is so weird about it?

Also, being homeless and jobless (I have no experience with the earlier, and I don't recommend it) is great to improve ones intellect, because, the person has no stake in anything, and can come to unbiased conclusions on subject matters. Also he/she can dive in and learn anything, just out of curiosity.

Re: Interface Design with a Homeless person

#70

Post by ctdonath »

MIT_Hacker wrote: post #14
wilfra wrote: post #12

I'm sure he was a really smart guy with an interesting story but you sound a bit naive in believing everything he said i.e. about the Bonds papers and his tours and all of that. Likely a lot of exaggeration, some straight bullshit and a little bit of truth. Great story though. And kudos to dropping a c-note on him. Giving a lot to them rarely is far better than $2 here and there, which will likely just go to beer or…

You know, I thought about this throughout the entire encounter. I wasn't sure if I could believe any of his stories. He seemed so genuine and so excited throughout the conversation that I gave him the benefit of the doubt. In terms of how much money I gave him, I decided that $100 was probably the minimum amount that could actually help him pursue the idea and as a college intern, I'm not sure I could have spared muc…

A thing is worth what another gives for it. He gave you $100 worth of advice and entertainment.
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