
Y Combinator becomes its own spoof - DyslexicAtheist
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/06/27/peak_silicon_valley_reinventing_cities/
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ovidnis
The sentiment of the article seems to boil down to "damn young people trying
new things! they're so stupid! so arrogant!" and only counters with the
prevailing conservative wisdom with no backing argument. The author is
sticking their fingers in their ears and shouting "you're wrong!" without
giving any reason.

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zck
Peter Thiel has said ([http://a16z.com/2015/01/18/12-things-learned-from-
chris-dixo...](http://a16z.com/2015/01/18/12-things-learned-from-chris-dixon-
about-startups/)):

> The best startups are good ideas that look like bad ideas.

Well, here we go. Certainly "improve cities" is a good idea. It's certainly
hard to do; it's certainly a giant task. But if YC can pull it off, it stands
to pay off handsomely.

So high risk, high reward? Sounds like a startup to me.

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sjg007
The real way to do this is to organize people at a grassroots level to vote
for policies, laws and referendums that reflect your values. The way to do
this is to develop media campaigns that clear away the FUD. You can also
probably do micro experiments under the radar that a city may approve. You
have to take mindshare. These are political problems not technical problems.
Much like a business isn't solely about its tech but about the problem it
solves.

~~~
toomuchtodo
And what if local citizens don't want what you're offering?

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sjg007
They vote, you start again.

~~~
toomuchtodo
That's a short-sighted approach.

~~~
sjg007
How?

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Arnt
It's a kind of praise, isn't it? He's saying "that's SO FAR from everyday
that's BOUND to be bad".

Personally I find it great that YC is spending money on venture³ and even less
likely to pay off than the average startup. Good people do something to
improve the future, not just line their own coffers, and if does line the
coffers, so much the better.

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DyslexicAtheist
@kierenmccarthy doesn't seem to understand how creativity works. No wonder
he's stuck writing for The Register (the tech magazine of choice for all Sun &
DailyMail readers).

~~~
dang
The article is bad but let's not turn that into a personal attack.

~~~
DyslexicAtheist
yes fair point. I did get carried away

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projectramo
They didn't make fun of
[https://www.sidewalklabs.com/](https://www.sidewalklabs.com/) in the same
way.

