
What’s Better: Saving the World or Building Another Facebook app? - jasonlbaptiste
http://techcrunch.com/2010/02/13/what%e2%80%99s-better-saving-the-world-or-building-another-facebook-app/
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patio11
_Yet we have the greatest minds and the deepest pool of investment capital in
the world focused on building Facebook and Twitter apps._

While it certainly may appear that way if one's only source of exposure to the
world is Techcrunch, all venture capital in the Valley (a fraction of the ~$30
billion per year in the entire US) is, ahem, literally less than rounding
error next to world investment capital.

I mean, fixed income securities in the United States have face value of about
$30 trillion. That's one asset class. (The biggest one, granted.)

Ditto the brainpower thing, although that is less instantly measurable.

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neilk
Just a side note, my friend Andy McKay did a gig in Kenya building a
Django/SMS system that helped fight malnutrition.

<http://djangozen.com/blog/11-days-in-kenya>

<http://blip.tv/file/3041374>

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mlinsey
I think a big reason people are more focused on Facebook Apps (and consumer
web apps in general) to the exclusion of more pressing world problems is
because those problems are _hard_.

I think it's well understood that one of the driving forces behind the boom in
internet software entrepreneurship is that the barriers to entry are extremely
low- historically low compared to other developing fields.

For most of the readership of this board, "barrier to entry" does not just
mean financial resources but also domain knowledge. I would find it enormously
rewarding to work on many of the "grand challenges" listed here, but I lack
the basic science background to do so. Maybe if I had been a physicist or a
bioengineer and picked up hacking on the side. I may be able to find a
scientist to collaborate with, but I would still be a little out of my depth,
and they certainly don't hang out at the same startup gatherings.

Or am I being too defeatist? Does anyone have success picking up biotech or
solar cell design or neuroscience on your own, like some people pick up
programming or sales on their own? What resources would help you do so?

~~~
Herring
I think two, maybe three are within reach of a programmer - secure cyberspace,
personal learning, & scientific discovery.

Anyway some problems might have relatively easy solutions. I'm reminded of the
mosquito-laser article on slashdot yesterday
[http://science.slashdot.org/story/10/02/12/176220/Directed-E...](http://science.slashdot.org/story/10/02/12/176220/Directed-
Energy-Weapon-Downs-Mosquitos)

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dsspence
I've learned two things today:

1\. Don't read techcrunch comments (if article insinuates humanitarianism)

2\. Don't read wallstreet journal comments (if talking about the President)

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fnid2
Funny that they expect a contest partially judged by a gaming organization,
which is also arguably one of the shadiest money makers on the web, to produce
anything of social value.

Not only are the people making the decisions not concerned about the planet
and human welfare, but they are actually making lives _worse_ off. It'd be
like arguing for a little common courtesy in the pits of _hell_.

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gridspy
I believe that Gridspy is helping at least partially with 2. Make solar energy
economical.

It helps like this: Gridspy can measure the power usage of a building, helping
you to specify a system that will satisfy that particular building's energy
footprint and timing. Choices such as size of the battery bank, size of the
battery array and capacity of the inverter bank depend on how power is used.

The Array itself needs to generate enough power over the course of a week or
so to power the building for that week. Knowing exactly how much power is used
helps you to specify the correct size so you don't spend too much on panels.

The Batteries need to be large enough to handle any difference between the
power used when the sun is poor and the solar array's yield at that time.
Knowing exactly when during the day power is used helps to specify how many
batteries to install.

Finally, the peak power usage of the building determines how large the bank of
inverters should be. Inverters convert battery power to usable mains - if
there are not enough inverters, you will need to fall back on other power
sources (generators / the grid) when you need lots of power for HVAC or
lighting.

Gridspy can help you choose the right amount to spend on each of these
different subsystems since it monitors your power usage at high resolution.
Once the system is installed, Gridspy can monitor the solar yeild, the battery
levels and the current demand to show you how well your solar installation is
performing. This helps to prove that the investment in solar power was
financially sound.

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nhebb
Is there a place where people can post their ideas for software applications?
I'm constantly thinking up things that I don't have the time, skills, or
knowledge to implement. Reading the techcrunch piece I just thought of this
one...

Crop tester; An application that lets farmers and agricultural scientists
share techniques to increase crop yields. Inputting crop type, soil, climate
information, the farmer could get ideas to test on a small portion of the
crop. Feeding the results back into the system would help create a massive,
public database.

Maybe the ideas is good, maybe it sucks. But it would be nice to have a site
where ideas could get posted, then voted up or down.

~~~
vinutheraj
Your prayers have been answered - <http://wappr.com/>, surprisingly it was
posted on HN _just before_ you asked this question -
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1123173>

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petercooper
_This brings me to the point of this post. What if we challenged these
students and Silicon Valley to build businesses that do good for the planet
and make a healthy profit doing so?_

What if the writer stopped writing utter drivel on TechCrunch and instead got
out and volunteered to make the world a better place? If you're going to
preach high and mighty, you should be coming from a place of height and
mightiness.

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mseebach
It's a bit of a false dichotomy. While I'm not completely familiar with the
setting, a "hack-a-thon" seems to be a place where cool solutions are applied
to cool problems. Using computers and the internet. Quick and fun, forgotten
next year.

"Saving the world" has a completely different set of challenges to be
addressed. The SMS idea is a very good idea, and using one of the very few
vectors in third world countries that aren't bogged down by systemic issues.

I'm not at all sure that a "save-the-world-a-thon" focusing on SMS solutions
in the third world wouldn't have very interesting outcomes. Maybe TechCrunch
can't see the forest for their eagerness to call the youth of today shallow?

~~~
cfinke
> It's a bit of a false dichotomy.

Exactly. It is just as valid to ask "What's better: Saving the world or
writing for another tech blog?"

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chuhnk
The one thing to take away from the article. The next time you decide to build
an app, do something that benefits the world. Note: Social Networking does not
benefit the world.

~~~
neilk
Social networking is an enormous benefit to the world.

Social networking _companies_ , on the other hand...

~~~
corruption
Your definition of benefit is different to mine.

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deyan
I am surprised this thread didn't grow larger.. Or perhaps I shouldn't be..

As someone who only came to the valley recently, I agree with the majority of
observations in the article. I wrote a short article with my comments here:
[http://dvitanov.posterous.com/innovation-and-the-
interdiscip...](http://dvitanov.posterous.com/innovation-and-the-
interdisciplinary-challeng)

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anamax
The author seems to think that saving the world is a technology problem.

It isn't.

Technology can make it easier to save the world, but technology is neither
necessary nor sufficient for saving the world.

~~~
thomaspaine
Would you mind backing up that assertion? I would argue that technological
advances are a large part of what makes the west's standard of living greater.
Just look at the huge leaps in GDP made by the Four Asian Tigers, China,
India, etc, for examples of how technological inflows have increased standards
of living.

As an example, inventing a cheaper, scalable, and distributed (unhindered by
corrupt central governments) way to sanitize water in the third world seems
like a pretty good technological challenge to me.

~~~
anamax
> I would argue that technological advances are a large part of what makes the
> west's standard of living greater.

While that's true, it doesn't contradict my assertion.

> As an example, inventing a cheaper, scalable, and distributed (unhindered by
> corrupt central governments)

The parenthetical comment concedes my point.

The West has provided enough resources to solve those problems a couple of
times, yet they're not solved. Why would solving them more efficiently make
any difference next time?

Yes, I realize that you're putting a lot of weight on distributed, but the
relevant people mastered retail theft and corruption - that's how they got
into a position to do wholesale.

And yes, it's a fantastic technological challenge. My point is that solving it
won't solve the problems.

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tomkinstinch
The two needn't be mutually exclusive. The masses and networks of Facebook
could be leveraged for public good.

