

An Open Challenge to Silicon Valley - bosshog
http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/haque/2008/04/an_open_challenge_to_silicon_v.html

======
1gor
>rebuilding a flawed, false global economy: one which actively transfers
wealth from the poor to the rich, from the sick to the healthy

This is self-righteous 'leftist' moralizing of the worst kind.

The global economy is not flawed. It is the way it is. Human interests,
interaction, history and habits are stronger than any amateur Marxist can
imagine.

You think world is unfair? Probably. However, the pathetic attempts to seek
high moral ground are futile. You have seen how One Laptop Per Child faired in
real life. You should also remember that there are tons and tons of _used_
computer equipment and especially mobile phones imported into Africa and other
poor countries every day. This used equipment is imported for money and put to
use immediately. Some of this technology is affecting how farmers in distant
African villages are managing their harvest sales, for example.

This is globalisation. It may sound humiliating (used clothes, used phones
etc) but it is wonderful, vibrant, living global economic organism which will
show some interesting emergent qualities in our lifetime. Who would imagine
South East Asia growing the way it does today?

You may see some surprises from Africa too. And no, it would be not because
some guilt-ridden guy has shown us, the masses, what to do. Some of the worst
damage to third world economies are done by Western donors.

So, basically, my advice to the author: stop preaching the need to change this
cruel world and go make something that people want to buy.

~~~
startingup
I am a libertarian capitalist, and I agree there has been a government-
inspired (Fed-inspired, really) transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich.

Let's say you are a smart hacker and I offer you this "deal": you put in $15K,
I will lend you $150-300K at very low interest rates, which you can invest as
you see fit. The gains (minus the low interest paid) are yours, and in the
meantime you can also charge me reasonable expenses. If you fail, you get to
walk away, with no personal liability. Will you take this deal?

That was the deal private equity, hedge funds got from the Fed & the banks
(aided and abetted by the Fed). In good years, they took great money home. In
bad times, many of them go bust, with no personal consequence to themselves.

End result: societal transfer of wealth, from the poor/middle-class to the
wealthy. This is _not_ a consequence of a free market. The original sin is the
easy credit, supplied to the financially well-connected.

~~~
1gor
It is funny how now hedge funds and bankers take all the blame, even though
millions of 'common people' speculated recklessly in real estate and picked up
up enormous debts without any second thought.

The Fed has tried to avoid post-2000 recession and to stimulate general
consumption by keeping low interest rates (and not objecting to the tax cuts).
This was obviously politically motivated and not very smart as we now see. It
did result in a credit bubble. But to claim that it was done to benefit a few
'well-connected' financiers is populism to my opinion. It was done to avoid
discontent among people. To appease the masses, so to say...

Interestingly, it is the capitalists who are suffering now, as their equity is
eroded by inflation, weak dollar and the bear stock market. The average Joe
just defaults on his debts and walks away from his 3 year old house. His
creditors take the loss. So it is actually a wealth transfer from the rich to
the poor.

~~~
rms
>it is the capitalists who are suffering now

lol

~~~
1gor
[http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/fortune/0803/gallery.bea...](http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/fortune/0803/gallery.bear_big_losers.fortune/)

~~~
colortone
1gor, you're douching up this thread.

That's fake money. As Marc Andreesen pointed out, U.S. taxpayers paid the Bear
Stearns CEO $60M in cash, directly:

<http://blog.pmarca.com/2008/03/congratulations.html>

PEACE

~~~
1gor
Hm... I though 'fake money' had something to do with social network
valuations... If so, Marc indeed should know everything about that.

Anyway, I just wanted to say a word in defence of poor hedge fund managers.
Some members of this forum will get rich enough to use their services (or
become one of them -- like Peter Thiel). Recycling populist cliches about evil
bankers and globalisation is soo like... Reddit? ;)

------
subwindow
The thing here is that big, immediate and obvious problems are almost never
solved in Silicon Valley.

Silicon Valley is good at two things: 1) Solving small problems 2) Solving
big, lingering problems that most people don't even realize are problems.

I work for a medical device startup that is hard at work trying to solve big,
immediate and obvious problems (heart failure, hypertension) that kill
millions of people a year. We're in Atlanta, not SV. Other medical device
companies are in Boston, L.A., or even Minneapolis. None of them are in SV. I
wonder why.

SV really only does three startup industries well: Software, Computer
Hardware, and Green tech. And even the third is pushing it. If you're looking
for innovation outside of those three areas, you should look outside of
Silicon Valley.

~~~
menloparkbum
This is a great observation. In regards to point 2, a former coworker put it
slightly differently: "I don't think trying to solve a problem is the best way
to win big. You want to build something that CREATES problems nobody ever had
before."

------
pg
_Food prices are skyrocketing. The financial system is melting down. Energy,
of course, is more and more toxic, and costly._

These are the problems we're being challenged to solve? The first two appear
to be random fluctuations-- possibly very bad ones, but due largely to
speculation and chance. The third is something investors and founders are
working on energetically right now.

~~~
wumi
"So here's my challenge. If you're a revolutionary, then be one: put your
money where your mouth is, and fix a big problem that changes the world for
the better - if you really have the courage, the purpose, and the vision, that
is."

isn't that essentially saying: "be good"?

~~~
bosshog
He was the original "be good" writer, 2004-2008 B.P (Before Paul)

[http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=site+b...](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=site+bubblegeneration.com+evil&btnG=Search)

[http://www.bubblegeneration.com/2008/03/edge-principles-
frie...](http://www.bubblegeneration.com/2008/03/edge-principles-friendfeed-
edition.cfm)

------
Tichy
"That is, when they're not too busy partying."

Stopped reading there, that is just stupid. So people are supposed to feel
guilty because they party now?

My suggestion: stop breathing, that way you can save Co2 output of your
country and aid the developing countries who will be the first victims of the
climate change.

Sorry that I can't express my anger in a more sophisticated way. I just think
contrasting world problems with party pics is an incredibly cheap shot.

~~~
stcredzero
What you're objecting to is a straw man. No one is requesting that you should
become a monk. But maybe just a little more energy and resources directed
towards global problems might be a more balanced position.

There is even money to be earned in doing so. (The Grameen Bank is a good
example. So is Dean Kamen's new distiller.)

See Bjorn Lomborg's Ted Talk on cost/benefit in solving global problems!

<http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/62>

And lastly, as Abbie Hoffman used to say: if someone ever says something to
get your goat, they struck gold!

~~~
davidw
I read the article, but came away with a sense of "go fix big problems" and
very little sense of what sort of thing he thinks people ought to be doing
besides

> rebuilding a flawed, false global economy: one which actively transfers
> wealth from the poor to the rich, from the sick to the healthy, from
> productivity to cronyism.

which, frankly, sounds like a _little_ bit more than I can handle at the
moment. It also sounds "hand wavy" - it would help if he specified some
details. In terms of actual poor people... it seems to me that the Chinese,
for instance, are actually getting a lot wealthier these days. But that's
happening due to their own opening up, and global trade, not because of some
entrepreneur in SV.

~~~
umair
guys,

0) if you want responses from me, it would help if you commented where the
original post is.

1) these shocks are distinctly not "random fluctuations". they are long-term
shifts.

2) what should you be doing? like i said - redress the imbalances these shifts
point to. whoever can find a solution to food or water imbalances, for
example, is going to be bidding on private islands with larry and sergey.

3) we are very definitely not fixing these problems: the level of cleantech
investment is tiny, etc.

4) i appreciate that it's a lot to handle. but aren't you guys supposed to be
revolutionaries?

thx to everyone for the comments.

~~~
SwellJoe
"3) we are very definitely not fixing these problems: the level of cleantech
investment is tiny, etc."

KP has $600mil earmarked for green/cleantech. Sequoia has stated numerous
times that they are actively looking for green/cleantech (McAdoo used the term
"browntech" in his talk at Startup School but no one else seems to know what
that means). These two are, admittedly, the top of the VC food chain, and
they've been so successful by being ahead of the curve just a wee bit more
than the rest of the industry. But, where they go, the rest of the industry
will follow.

I think you're underestimating how much people in the valley are thinking
about the big problems that they are able to solve--the global economy is a
two stage process, involving both government (the largest degree, and
something that startups can't have a notable effect on) and business (the big
ones that already have clout...startups don't have the power to affect global
economic change, though Google and Microsoft do to a degree). But energy is
definitely getting attention in the valley. Virtualization is a huge and
growing market, partly because it saves tremendously on power requirements in
the data center, and lots of money and time is being spent on it. Batteries,
boring old batteries, are getting funded.

I think the problem is that you're expecting software and hardware people to
move into a completely different field. Sure, some really smart people are
working on stuff that might not meet your definition of solving big
problems...but if they switch gears to a completely different field (which
most of your specified problems are) it'll take years for them to get up to
speed on those subjects. Big problems take a lot of research and a lot of
knowledge to solve. Most startup guys are not independently wealthy--they need
to make their startup pay quickly or they have to go back to their cubicle at
MegaCorp and solve even smaller problems and waste away wishing for what could
have been.

But, as I mentioned, the money is flowing into energy related startups, and
the rate of flow is increasing. Startups will follow the money.

~~~
rms
Browntech is energy technology that still has to do with fossil fuels, like
clean burning coal or new ways of extracting oil from shale.

<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/technology/16venture.html>

------
stcredzero
A good Ted Talk to look at concerning this is Bjorn Lomborg's talk on
cost/benefit and global priorities:

<http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/62>

It turns out there's a huge cost/benefit ratio to solving things like access
to clean water, malnutrition, and disease. The cost of tackling problems like
this is just a fraction of doing things like adopting the Kyoto protocol, and
the potential for increasing the economic potential of many countries is very
high.

------
mjnaus
People moaning "I am just a tiny hacker" or "You should be directing this at
people with money" are either lacking vision or are just not interested in
making the world a better place but prefer chasing the mighty dollar. Which in
it itself is fine, but then come out and be honest about it.

There are tons of ways even individual hackers can put their skills to use
while solving real world problems. No one is expecting you to solve the
problems of world hunger or poverty but bitching "I can't" is a self-
fulfilling prophecy.

Have a look at Kiva (kiva.org) for example. They did have a vision and they
are doing a pretty damn good job making the world a better place by working on
a real-world problem instead of finding a new and "revolutionary" way to
figure out what your friends are doing right now.

Gross of the people in the valley are probably to busy liking themselves and
praising their good-for-nothing ideas to actually sit down and look at the
world in a bit wider perspective.

The world is bigger then the sub-reality that is Silicon Valley.

------
justindz
If only widgets were edible.

------
patrickg-zill
Are we really "Dancing on the precipice of economic cataclysm" ?

~~~
colortone
Yes

Read the last 6 mos of Bubblegeneration for more details

------
jaybe
well, for a start have a look here:

www.betterplace.org

and if you like it, register and give me your feedback at jbe (at)
betterplace.org

