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Why the Fuck?

raganwald.posterous.com

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Re: Why the Fuck?

#61

Post by pud »

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…

This post makes a third incorrect assumption too. That the "greatest minds of our generation" work at Google, Facebook and Apple.

Re: Why the Fuck?

#62

Post by DanBC »

tunesmith wrote: post #29

I don't get the sense that there's an obvious, simple solution here that is just waiting to be implemented. I don't think it's that the only reason it doesn't exist is just because programmers are choosing to work elsewhere. Basically I think this question is probably built on faulty assumptions.

I was really excited when Gates announced his foundation. Smart people, lots of money, focussing on evidence based things that work or should work.

Even though they've done fantastic things it doesn't feel like we're much closer to a cure for Malaria being developed.

Would the world be a better place if smart people weren't sending private vessels to space or the deep ocean or around the world photographing every road or onto the public roads with no human drivers? Like actors working the lousy but well paid films to give them the cash to work on the good but low paid films we need the cat pictures and social buttons and advertising to give companies the funds to do exciting things.

Having said that, anyone facing burnout in the industry should really consider some humanitarian thing because there are problems looking for solutions there, and more smart people can't hurt.

Re: Why the Fuck?

#63

Post by jfb »

pud wrote: post #61
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…

This post makes a third incorrect assumption too. That the "greatest minds of our generation" work at Google, Facebook and Apple.

Perhaps the most laughable assumption of all.

Re: Why the Fuck?

#66

Post by clivestaples »

johnbender wrote: post #20

It appears that Diabetes research receives over a billion in funding each year just from the NIH [1][2]. As far as I can tell this doesn't include private funding for cures/treatments. Maybe I'm misinterpreting the data here, but it looks like many people and many millions of dollars are devoted to solving real world problems like the one Scott Hanselman has. [1] General Disease research numbers http://report.nih.gov…

I've had Type 1 diabetes for about 20 years now; it's a little bit of pain in the ass, but I don't get why people bellyache about it so much. Blood sugar meters? Check. Fast-acting insulin? Check. Insulin pumps? Check.

Blindness, amputation and kidney failure are no longer guaranteed and I'm grateful as heck for that. For now I'll count my blessings: one of which is the fact that my wife has yet to find me laid out in a diabetic coma -- something that was very, very common less than 50 years ago.

Re: Why the Fuck?

#67

Post by Ingon »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #44
glesica wrote: post #37

To launch a Facebook clone you sign up for Heroku or AWS, push some Rails code, and start promoting yourself. To launch a medical device you spend years cutting through regulation and red tape, negotiating with and marketing to an industry that is probably threatened by your existence and will do its best to stop you. Screw up at Facebook, you get yelled at on Twitter and your share price dips for a few days. Screw u…

> Screw up a medical device, you get sued out of existence. Or, you know, people die.

The most scary moment - one of the applications we've written was used to take life-saving medications on time. Scary stuff I'm telling you.

Re: Why the Fuck?

#68

Post by icebraining »

ryanjodonnell wrote: post #45

Diabetes isn't a problem that we need technology to solve. Sure it could help, but that's treating the symptom, when what we really need to do is use preventative care to treat the root of the problem - corn subsidies and education.

There are more than one million of Type 1 diabetics in the US alone, like the man mentioned in the post (Scott Hanselman). How would those measures improve their life?

Re: Why the Fuck?

#69

Post by untog »

"Reginald Braithwaite is a software developer at Leanpub, where he and his colleagues take the friction out of writing and selling books"

Why the fuck are the greatest minds of our generation toiling away on a book publishing platform? Oh, right, because you think it's important. Guess what- we all have different opinions. Is book publishing more important than dating? Before you laugh, think about it- finding someone to share your life with is very important to a lot of people. A lot more than will ever publish a book.

It's pretty depressing to see this upvoted as far as it has been on HN. What is it actually saying? It's like one of those stupid motivational posters (only negative)- all emotion-tugging, no depth.

Why are you making a book publishing platform and not following your own advice?

Re: Why the Fuck?

#70

Post by mikle »

Is the author of this is currently working on curing diabetes? I think the chances are small he is. What I'm trying to say is that he is a hypocrite.
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