

Ask HN: what would you like to see occur in the next 18 months? - adrianwaj

This question is about where you'd like to see changes occur in the next 18 months as relating to any aspect of the economy or society including in tech and finance, local or global.<p>A guy like Bob: http://www.youtube.com/user/drinkingwithbob has his own ideas of what he thinks should happen based on problems he identifies.<p>So what's bothering you? Where, what and how should and could things improve? There are some things that would be almost impossible, and they're best left out.
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jjs
The end of software patents in the US.

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runevault
I'm surprised this isn't being upvoted more, from a tech Entrepreneur
perspective that is the biggest thing to help small businesses not get
screwed.

Ungh I so hate the patent system.

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basu
I want to see Google get its act together and offer a unified open hardware
and software alternative to both Apple and Facebook. On the hardware front I
want a tablet device running Android that actually looks good and is a
pleasure to use (and comes with a 3G connection). On the software end, I want
to see them pull together Wave, Buzz and Gmail into an online communication
tool that can let me easily pull together all my online correspondence (and
keep it private).

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herval
so you'd rather have ALL your data AND hardware on Google's hands for the sake
of 'openness' instead of having parts of it on other companies' hands
(Facebook and Apple)?

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makecheck
1\. Reduce the paragraphs of fine print. Poorly-edited text is a waste of time
to read. It is deceptive: you either don't understand it, or don't remember
everything; and when it's changed, you're never shown a nice "diff". If you
need a lawyer to figure it out, you spend money. Many documents _can_ be
written as a few bullets of basic English, so they should be.

2\. Allow actual threat levels to dictate the allocation of resources. A big
one: _driving_. Statistically, car accidents hurt _many_ more people than the
other things that make the news, and yet there's no uproar over clueless
drivers and badly-designed intersections. A relatively small investment over
18 months could definitely improve this.

3\. Start reviewing the people put in prison for minor offenses, and review
the "sex offender" registries. Why are people in jail for _years_ on charges
like drug possession, people who didn't hurt anyone but themselves? Why are
17-year-olds who slept with their girlfriends on the same list as offenders
who are actually dangerous? In 18 months, a whole lot of people could have
their humanity returned to them.

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cabalamat
I would like to see Pirate Parties win elections and form governments
everywhere in the developed world that holds elections in the next 18 months.
They will then proceed to scrap bad laws as software patents, restrictions on
circumventing DRM, etc.

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petercooper
Just some personal dreams for the tech world: Apple buys Adobe, Yahoo! buys
Twitter, the "next" Facebook launches and grows quickly, Facebook suffers some
sort of severe problem/user flight, Google stops messing around with tacking
extra contextual trash on to its search results and actually finds a way to
get rid of most of the crap riddling their index, the Founders Visa is
radically improved upon and passed, Reddit becomes significantly more popular,
memristor technologies proven on realistic scales, I reach 10000 karma on HN,
err... :-)

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keefe
I'd like to see +$10,000/mo net without having to take a real job again

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jacquesm
In 18 months? Tough but doable, if you are willing to set aside everything
else, including a relationship if you have one.

It's all about choices with stuff like that. Personally I would not make that
choice.

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keefe
Pretty much everything else has been put aside for about 6 months now,
unfortunately. If I had a consistent net of like 2K from just my software I'd
be pretty excited, actually. I pretty well expect there will be another
contract before that happens, though.

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SandB0x
Political reform in the UK.

More scientists and engineers choosing to work in science and engineering
instead of finance and consultancy.

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3dFlatLander
I've got a lot of problems with news (world news, sci/tech, political, etc)
and how I get to it. It's hard to stay current with news. Articles are full of
fluff, information is spread across many different sources, and getting
updates on stories is tough.

The other thing on my mind lately is another content related problem. I feel
like more of my web searches are leading towards MFA sites with sub-par
content and irrelevant ads plastered everywhere.

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adrianwaj
What I'd like to see happen is a relaxation in the laws for private investing.
I didn't know, but those with a net worth of $1-2.5 million had been burned in
scams, so accredited investor status may or will be raised in terms of net
worth. I think the law should be changed so that at least 1 investor has to be
accredited at the new level, but the rest do not. Or, one's required worth is
contingent on what one actually plans to invest.

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Detrus
\- IE9 adopting HTML5, including Canvas

\- Chrome with NativeClient ready

\- NPAPI released so NativeClient can integrate with browsers

\- Serious consideration of NativeClient as a standard

\- Start replacement of plugins and browsers with NaCl modules of
functionality

\---

\- A theory of more things in physics

\- LHC finding something

\- A theory of more things in brains, social systems

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adrianwaj
Do many thinkers on the level of Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell or Leonardo
Davinci exist today, but are just not as widely celebrated? Is the advancement
of scientific knowledge held back by a lack of such individuals, or do teams
of researchers with technology make it less important?

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Detrus
It's probably the media that changed the way it covers things. Einstein became
a celebrity because his theories challenged that of another famous name,
Newton. Famous scientists almost didn't exist, so Einstein's celebrity was a
noticeable exception.

Leonardo was not a big celebrity in his day, he was known in the art world,
like the programmer who made Java is known in the CS world.

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orangecat
Recognition of the potentially enormous value of anti-aging research.

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thaumaturgy
A better accelerator/incubator/social network for entrepreneurs.

Nothing against YC or PG, but both are focused on a particular niche of the
market, and a particular strategy, and there's room for someone else in the
game for sure.

e.g., something with a mentoring system; something with well-defined series of
steps that can help introduce individuals with different kinds of businesses
to people that might be interested in partnering or investing in them;
something with occasional regional social gatherings; something that reliably
connects freelancers to the businesspeople that need them; etc.

(There are many other things I'd like to see, some more than this, but this
seems like the only thing that might have a chance of coming to fruition by
mentioning it here.)

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mahmud
A democratically elected government in Egypt and a clean departure of the
Mubarak regime. I am not Egyptian, but the example of peaceful transfer of
power, from dictator to the people will serve as an excellent role model for
the region.

After that, maybe by 100 years, a one-nation state in the Holly Lands; where
Palestinians are acknowledged as rightful natives of the land and taken into
the fold of the Israeli state as equal partners.

~~~
jacquesm
I can see the first, but the second is not going to happen in a 1000 years,
forget about 100.

It will take many generations before there is going to be some objectivity in
that dispute.

The end of oil might achieve it, as would a collapse of the US.

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BoppreH
\- More people reading books.

\- Less wishful thinking. Actually, no wishful thinking at all.

\- New flashmobs and fun projects.

\- Some consensus on the Linux community and actually fixing and improving
things (sorry if someone is offended, but that's my point of view so far).

\- No more "this service is blocked in your country".

That's quite broad, but I think covers everything I could expect to see in
such a time frame.

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jjs
_Less wishful thinking. Actually, no wishful thinking at all._

Recursive irony?

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BoppreH
Yep. I would say it was in purpose, but it would be wishful thinking again
expecting people to believe.

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wwortiz
In America: regarding politics a focus on actual issues and problems rather
than sensationalism especially in news outlets such as things like the new
"tea party" and socialism... but that isn't going to happen in the next 18
months sadly.

Tech: widespread broadband to more rural areas for reasonable costs

Economy: steady improvement, continuing incentives for housing are always
nice.

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mkramlich
Most of the things I really want to see happen in the next 18 months are
things I'm already working toward, and either involve my personal life, or,
are startup ideas that I don't feel like sharing in a public venue quite yet.

What I'd like to see happen in the next 3-5 years or so:

* switch to a more merit-weighted voting system in the US. (Examples: Dr. Smith's vote in a Presidential election should weigh more than Billy Bob. An astronaut more than an ex-con. Higher tested IQ's more than those with lower.)

* switch to a single-payer health system in the US

* complete withdrawal of US military forces from Iraq and Afghanistan; then massively reduce overseas deployment and positioning of US forces, then cut US military budget in 1/2 (to start)

* some _serious_ steps taken by the US government to truly start reducing the deficit and pay off the debt (with _serious_ consequences to those in power if they do not stick with it, such as leaders/politicians going to jail if they do not)

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nekopa
Yikes. I think introducing 'merit' based voting is a terrifying idea. People
with high IQs still can make stupid votes. How about trying to educate people
on what the issues are, and how their votes would change those issues.

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adrianwaj
I read this today: "Peace between Israel and the Palestinians is not possible
because Islam won't permit it and militates against it."

[http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/05/the_crux_of_isla...](http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/05/the_crux_of_islams_hatred_agai.html)

People everywhere just can't and won't swallow it.

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qw
To be fair, there are also a lot of fanatics who believe that Israel was given
to them by God, My wish for the next 18 months is a movement for removing
religion from politics.

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adrianwaj
Jewish fanatics, if that's what you want to call them, have nothing to do with
ultimate Muslim hostility toward Jews, no matter whether they be of the
fanatic (your term) or secular variety, especially in Israel or elsewhere. Why
is this so hard to grasp?

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awolf
Some actual results from stem cell research.

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stanleydrew
I'd like to see Google offer a VoIP solution based on the Gizmo5 acquisition,
integrated with Google Voice (on Android at least). I'm pretty sure it's
coming within 6 months though.

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derwiki
Wall Street to stop being a bunch of jerks.

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csomar
With Extrapolation my monthly net income from the Internet will go past the
yearly income of my father.

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swah
My stocks going up.

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DanielBMarkham
The use of technology to take people with radically different opinions and
worldviews and create and mold a conversation where both parties feel
emotionally rewarded for participating and that it was time well-spent. This
could be for any topic -- the business model works best for things like
corporate policy-making, but it would kick ass in things like local politics
and getting consensus in charity organizations too.

~~~
adrianwaj
I think you could mean Chatroulette, but without the roulette part, coupled
with a voting or survey system.

Also, it would be interesting to have sequenced conversations - where AI could
be used to string a sequence of conversations together to yield more informed
or more challenged viewpoints, based on the results of surveys performed
during the conversation flow. Users can see in advance the viewpoints they are
about to confront. Some conversations will be locked to say 2 minutes, others
the time is optional.

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J3L2404
Some sane form of electronic medical records. The foolishness I've witnessed
this last year has been enough to warrant a mandated return to paper charts
and clipboards. Until a reliable electronic format can be transferred within
and between institutions anyone admitted is at risk.

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incomethax
HL7 3.0 is a step in the right direction, and hopefully we'll see more modular
EMR systems with the new mandates for 'meaningful use.'

My cofounder and I are currently working on a start-up in this area, so I'm
curious to what 'foolishness' you've seen.

~~~
ebiester
Did they pull back some of the needless complexity later? I only remember
shuddering in 2003 or so when I first saw the drafts, and this was _after_
working on v2!

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rick_2047
Some improvement in the education system (at least in my university :) )

Things That can happen:

1)New course based on (and with help with) industrial requirements.

2)Implementation of a more research based curriculum.

3)Option to submit a undergraduate dissertation to obtain a B.Tech (Hons.)

Things that should happen:

1)Implementation of choice based credit system.

2)More option of research on campus.

3)Establishment of a HackerSpace.

