

Ask YC: Are You Guilty of Not Solving World's Problems? - paraschopra
http://www.paraschopra.com/blog/personal/are-you-guilty-of-not-solving-worlds-problems.htm

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Tichy
If only it would be more obvious HOW to solve the world's problems.

Some photographs I recently saw really touched me, for example that series
about child marriage. How do you go about changing something like that, which
is going on in a completely different culture, in countries far away?

Not saying it is impossible, just that I don't know where to start (yet).

Maybe building shiny happy web apps also helps to solve those problems,
though, because it provides an incentive for "third world countries" to aspire
to our way of life.

Also, those touching photographs are being spread over phot sharing apps and
blogs...

Presumably poverty is also the root cause for child marriage? If the kids were
not poor, their parents would not have to sell them away.

~~~
paraschopra
Exactly! How I wish there was some HOWTO of solving the world's problems. But
there is none. So, it is upto us only to go out and solve the world. Very
little changes by sitting at the desk and making yet another new app.

I agree that indirectly we all are doing something to change the world. But
don't you think we should be keen on solving something more directly?

~~~
Tichy
I don't think that only solving the most basic problems is worthwhile. Like,
is it OK to make music? It doesn't help against hunger in the 3rd world, so it
is a useless activity? But maybe occasionally some guy who is working on
solving the hunger problem finds the strength to go on by listening to your
music. Or so I imagine...

Nevertheless sometimes I wish there was something more direct I could do. I
just think the original article was a bit short on suggestions.

Hm, that reminds me of an idea of mine, that some people gave me good feedback
about. Perhaps some people here like it and want to join in making it?
Basically, I envisioned a bug tracker for the whole world:
[http://www.cambrianhouse.com/idea/idea-promoter/ideas-
id/NcJ...](http://www.cambrianhouse.com/idea/idea-promoter/ideas-id/NcJhLLF/)
(I suggested this for the StartupWeekend in Hamburg, but unfortunately
something else was selected...).

~~~
paraschopra
Yes, I agree with you that it is _worthwhile_ to help someone by making music.
But that is a very indirect way. Wouldn't it be more helpful if a better
percentage of entrepreneurs worked on projects that help the world _directly_
and _powerfully_?

Your idea is interesting. Maybe <http://www.suggestionbox.com/> is something
like that?

~~~
Prrometheus
>Wouldn't it be more helpful if a better percentage of entrepreneurs worked on
projects that help the world directly and powerfully?

I think the world would be a better place if people in poor and starving
countries could sustainably enjoy a standard of living similar to what we have
in the west. Did the west get so rich because of people trying to help us, or
was our wealth a by-product of the capitalist system that we never consciously
strove for? I would say the second.

~~~
Tichy
There were a couple of bloody wars in history, too, some of them might count
as striving for something (freedom)?

I think most people in poor countries are also poor because they are being
held hostage by their government.

------
babul
The problems of the world are too big for me. I start trying to solve those
with the people and communities I am involved in and know something about
(i.e. _how_ to solve _their_ problems).

I hope, perhaps naively, the goodwill and network effect propagates and the
sum of the whole is greater than that of its parts and certainly that of my
initial action.

It’s the best I can do and stay sane.

~~~
paraschopra
_> The problems of the world are too big for me._ I would argue that the
problems might be too big but they do have simple solutions. For example take
microfinance. The problem this industry is attacking is lack of banking
facilities for the poor. The problem is huge but the solution is simple and
not too hard to scale. Similarly, don't you think that once we figure out the
right model at the fundamental level, it shouldn't be hard to scale up
rapidly?

 _> It’s the best I can do and stay sane._ I don't know how attacking bigger
problems prevents you from being sane. In fact, you become _saner_ as you get
out of your comfort shell and experience what world has to offer.

~~~
Tichy
I don't think setting up Microfinance is simple at all. I would rather have
studied the stuff in depth before I tackle it (economics, that is).

So far, I am not even fully convinced that Microfinance really improves
peoples lives. OK, the Nobel price for that one guy might be an indication,
but it is not proof. It could still just be a scam.

Then, how do I deal with legal situation on location? There might be civil
wars, communism, dictators and what not getting in the way. How do I estimate
who is worthy of credit? I don't even speak any weird languages, so I probably
couldn't even communicate with the poor..

~~~
paraschopra
Honestly, I don't know about the country you live in. But here in India there
are tons of problems needing to be solved. You name a problem - hunger,
poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, etc. - and India has it. But despite that,
it is surprising that many Indian entrepreneurs are focusing on web2.0 me too
startups. Perhaps they can better utilize their time by learning things and
doing stuff which helps the country _and_ makes money for them.

~~~
Tichy
I live in Germany. I don't think we have the kind of problems you have in
India, but of course there are plenty of problems to solve in Germany, too. We
do have some homeless people, for example, but I think the cause is usually
physical and mental illness, nothing I could help with (I think).

Another problem is that just because I have some money on the bank, doesn't
mean I am not still struggling for survival myself. I have wanted for a while
to dedicate part of my time to helping the needy, but atm I don't even find
the time for my startup aspirations while I work to pay the bills.

Also, I think if an Indian entrepreneur is successful with a web 2.0 startup,
it might still improve lots of people's lives, as it strengthens the economy.

------
mechanical_fish
Wake me up when you have an _actionable plan_ to solve _a_ problem. _That_
would be interesting.

Striking a dramatic pose, pointing a finger at your peers, and yelling
"sellouts!" is not a plan, unless you're a punk musician. Perhaps you should
start a band.

------
ericb
My life plan has been to succeed in business, then spend my time and money
trying to make the word better in innovative ways. Step one is just taking
longer than I hoped...

~~~
DanHulton
Hey Bill Gates from twenty years ago, how's it going?

Seriously, though. This is not a bad approach. I don't know anything at all
about bioengineering a more plague-resistant wheat crop. I don't know anything
at all about how to calm two nations dead-set on the destruction of each
other. And I sure don't know ANYTHING at all about how to practically and
easily reduce our dependance on greenhouse-gas-producing oil.

That said, if I put my knowledge about how the web works into an application
that people use and like and buy, then build up enough capital, I can fund the
people who DO know those things, or at least know how to approach learning
them. It's not a bad plan.

You're life's not wasted unless you waste it. I hardly consider what I do a
waste. It's all building towards a larger goal.

~~~
paraschopra
Maybe, we are just deluding ourselves all the way when we should doing stuff
that matters.

You know what the irony is. Even if some bioengineer makes a more plague
resistant wheat crop, it wont solve world's hunger problem. India produces
surplus crops. Even then it imports crops from outside. Even then people are
dying here from hunger. So, part of the solution is to come up with right
supply channels. This is just an example. We can always find ways where we
could contribute more directly instead of waiting for things to get lucky so
that we could fund other people.

------
rtf
It's something in our society that makes us feel obligated to save the world.
But it's not as if our lives can be played like a video game where whoever
does the most for others gets a high score. We just live in the world, and
pursue our goals as best we can.

Put another way: In general, you are probably effecting a positive change if
you are making money and are not in trouble for doing so.

------
jobeirne
Not my responsibility. I'll just do what makes me content without getting in
anyone else's way... Which coincidentally is creating products which benefit
the world, for profit.

------
martythemaniak
Quite so.

Its actually quite easy for those of us in technology to make ourselves sound
as if we're solving the world's problems, when doing nothing of the sort. For
example, my full-time job is working at a company that provides forex for
retail investors, yet I can say that (and this language is used in company PR)
I am democratizing the forex market and empowering millions of people!

A lot of web 2.0 companies are especially guilty. They've the long-term
importance and impact of a fashion house, yet their PR is all about
revolutionizing this or that.

------
rickasaur
The best we can really do is to live our lives in such a way as to minimize
the impact on others. This means a lot of work on your part, much more than
the average lazy American (including myself) wants to deal with.

Here is a short list of things you can do in your everyday life to help:

1) Research all brands before you buy in order to make sure they do not
support sweat shops or other kinds of unethical behavior. Don't buy Nike shoes
and stop drinking Coca-Cola.

2) Stay away from all big chain stores like walmart. They put huge economic
stresses on companies which cause these sweat shops to pop up in the first
place.

3) Make your carbon footprint as small as possible. This is not only for the
sake of the environment. Petrol cartels cause a huge amount of suffering and
damage to the countries they operate in.

4) Buy green. Not advertising fake green but as environmentally friendly as
possible. This can only be done with brand and product research.

5) Talk about these issues. By bringing them up in your every day life you
will help spread awareness. I know that you may not want to be "that guy". The
only way to change things really will be through social pressure and cultural
change.

6) Read. You have to be aware of what is really going on if you want to know
the right thing to do. I suggest John Perkins' newish book: The Secret History
of the American Empire. It really opened my eyes.

------
noodle
yes.

but only because the flexibility to solve the world's problems usually comes
from having a backbone of less useful or niche-driven apps to fund your world
solving work. imo.

------
gaius
I am guilty of not solving the world's problems.

On the other hand, the work that I _do_ do generates economic value, some of
which is taxed, some of which _does_ go towards making the world a better
place. Some more of that I donate myself directly. So I am not _completely_
useless... Just mostly :-/

~~~
Prrometheus
>On the other hand, the work that I do do generates economic value, some of
which is taxed, some of which does go towards making the world a better place.

When you weigh the negative effects of programs created from spending tax
dollars against the positive effects, I suspect the net result is something
close to zero or even below that. I wouldn't count on doing good for society
by paying taxes.

------
paraschopra
As Umair in his original article suggests, how about an open source list of
world's problems and then a wiki for their solutions so that people may
collaborate. Any takers for this idea?

PS: I understand the irony here that Wiki is sort of web2.0 technology. But
that's okay!

~~~
ph0rque
problepedia.com ?

~~~
paraschopra
yes, something like that. Or maybe, something like open source InnoCentive?

