

Social Entrepreneurship Ideas? - wz3chen

Let's brainstorm here HN. 
In response to http://thenextweb.com/entrepreneur/2011/07/13/the-problem-with-silicon-valley-is-itself/. What would be some ideas that would solve "real world" or social problems?
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alissa
My brother Nathan Sobo, co-founder of Hyperarchy (a Ycomb finalist) is trying
to solve some of these real world problems. He sent me this earlier tonight...
probably the beginning of a blog post about Hyperarchy. I do indeed think this
is just what we need to solve problems of closed government, apathetic/removed
participants, and government of the elite for the elite. Here it is, hope he
doesn't mind me posting it here, as i think its really applicable.

______ If Thomas Jefferson and James Madison lived in the 21st century instead
of the 18th, what sort of government would they have designed? It took over a
week for news to travel from Monticello to Philadelphia by horse; now it
flashes around the world in seconds via Twitter. Yet our government still runs
on essentially the same horse-drawn design. If we look with fresh eyes and
discard analog assumptions, what kind of participatory democracy can we build
for the digital era?

Hyperarchy is our attempt to answer that question. __Hyper•archy __literally
means non-sequentially linked government. In a _hierarchy_ , power flows
upward through a rigid, slowly-changing structure. It's the Washington elite,
debating the fate of millions on the Senate floor. In a _hyperarchy_ , by
contrast, power flows through a complex network of personal relationships,
continually pooling and dispersing in an ever-shifting landscape of trust and
influence. Like an operating system for democracy, Hyperarchy strips away the
formality and procedure we normally associate with government, relying instead
on software to give structure and meaning to organic human conversation.You
start by raising a question, like "How should we balance the federal budget?"
Then you or anyone else suggests answers to that question. When you see an
answer you like, you can drag it to rank it above or below other answers. As
you and others vote by dragging answers, Hyperarchy uses a sophisticated
algorithm to compute a collective ranking of all answers that fairly reflects
everyone's opinions. Everything updates in real time, so you can quickly see
where the group stands, or drill into other people's rankings to see what they
think individually. It's up and running now at
<https://hyperarchy.com/organizations/1> We believe it can indeed solve "real
world" problems.

Even as simple as Hyperarchy makes voting, no one has time to contribute to
every question. So Hyperarchy recasts _representative democracy_ as _networked
democracy_. Instead of electing a Senator you've never met to represent you on
everything, you elect individuals you trust personally to represent you on
specific issues. I can give my girlfriend power to vote on my behalf for
questions about _health_ and _nutrition_ , while delegating to my coworker for
questions concerning _programming languages_ or _digital privacy_. So when my
girlfriend votes about health or my coworker votes on technology, they vote
for me as well.

But the real power is when influence flows through multiple connections in the
social network. My girlfriend might delegate _nutrition_ to her friend David,
who in turn delegates to Michael Pollan. So Michael Pollan might become an
emergent super-representative, voting on behalf on hundreds or thousands of
followers, all because of individual trust relationships. And you can change
your delegation at any time, meaning that people hold power only so long as
they deserve it. ________

I find the idea inspiring, and have found it inspiring since he first told me
about it 5 or so years ago. Anyway, it's online now, we could use any feedback
people want to give.

~~~
zmmz
I am looking forward to the blog post. Please post it on HN when it comes
around.

Until I read to the third paragraph of the snippet, I was thinking "this is
just another polling website", but the innovation that is proposed could
result in some interesting results.

After reading the snippet, I was excited to go visit the site, expecting some
thoughtful discussion on current affairs and politics. I was pretty
disappointed with the activity on the site.

I understand that currently the site consists of the core functionality, but
you should make that clear. If I was just a standard visitor I would have no
incentive to come back in a few months when the app actually has some meaning.

A final note: when I vote in elections, my vote is anonymous and private. On
hyperarchy I can see who voted on a topic, in 'real life' this information is
not available and I believe that many people would not want it to be known
what they are voting on.

~~~
nathansobo
Hey, thanks for checking it out. I'm the founder of the site. I myself have
had some qualms about the low-brow nature of some of the discussions. I think
as the site's interface evolves it's becoming easier to discuss deeper ideas.
Here's an interesting discussion on the federal budget:
<https://hyperarchy.com/questions/394>. But at first it was just my friends
talking about their favorite kind of nut. Not world-changing material to be
sure.

Was it the lack of delegation, or just the non-political / deep nature of many
discussions that was most disappointing? What would we need to change to make
it more interesting to you?

As far as anonymity, making votes public is a controversial choice but it's
important to us. We want to heavily favor transparency, and it makes for a
more social experience. Looking at other people's votes is actually the number
1 thing people do on Hyperarchy.

Thanks for your feedback!

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wz3chen
How about espn player profiles + wikipedia to track everything about
politicians? Politician scorecards.

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AndrewWorsnop
Improvements to education (expand the Khan Academy model beyond mathematics) -
Khan Academy already has a great model with the videos and exercises for
mathematics (go contribute at
[https://sites.google.com/a/khanacademy.org/forge/for-
develop...](https://sites.google.com/a/khanacademy.org/forge/for-
developers/getting-started-with-the-code)).

The exercises don't extend past maths, and i think would need some conceptual
tweaking to apply to e.g. languages or programming.

I'd love to get something up for this - anyone want to join up and
brainstorm/rapid prototype a project? Reply to this thread or find me on
Google+ and let's hangout.

Thanks wz3chen!

------
Mz
I have a serious medical condition and have learned to treat it effectively
with diet and lifestyle instead of drugs and surgeries. A great deal of what I
do to stay well involves effectively navigating the social landscape, for lack
of a better term -- ie people assume I should do things a certain way, I don't
because it exposes me to germs/chemicals/whatever so either makes me ill or
has a high risk of making me ill, and sidestepping the social expectations
without getting mired in ridiculous, big problems is much more challenging
than figuring out that I should avoid X because it makes me ill. I have
fantasies of learning to code and writing a simulation (aka 'game') to teach
other people how to get healthier/do some of the stuff I do.

Time will tell.

~~~
phyllotaxis
A game where you play Conventional Wisdom Slayer. I'm a fan already :) Shoot
some green-smoothie bombs and vitamin D3 bullets at carcinogenic cosmetics and
processed food-slimes. Hell yes. (The expansion packs into other false "common
sense" domains could be limitless.....)

Get to work!

~~~
Mz
Not what I am envisioning at all, lol. But I love the image.

Hey, get me between $50k and $100K (like donations, not investment -- getting
well was not cheap) so I can pay off my debts and quit my day job and I will
get right on it. Otherwise, well, I will get there when I get there.

But thanks for the encouragement. Really. :-)

~~~
phyllotaxis
My pleasure :) (maybe we'll get lucky and somebody else will develop it for
us)

~~~
Mz
No one else can do what I have in mind. But the challenges I have faced in
life have taught me a smidgeon of patience. :-)

------
phyllotaxis
I love the thought put into this, and I have done years of thinking on similar
topics... but let me ask you a point-blank question: do you seriously-
_seriously_ \- believe for one instant that clarity on majority desire would
be any less malleable than it is currently? Do you think that those that are
promised free <blank> or tightened regulation/penalty/restriction on whatever
their religious or cultural morals dictate would not do as they do now: vote
for what benefits them, and ignore the repercussions?

The answer of how to balance a budget is as simple for a government as it is
for you and me: don't spend more than you have. So what does your network vote
to cut? How can that be peacefully decided? What will those that claim
"disenfranchisement" do?

Please understand, I am heartened to see this topic here, and I, like you,
want to work toward a better system of government. I just see human nature
working against _any_ centralized power system, as those least deserving of
the power always work hardest to yield it.

Good conversation. Good group involved. I am glad to see your group thinking
on this incredibly important issue.

P

~~~
maxbRuns
It's true- no technology can change people's tendency to act in their own
self-interest and vote for what benefits them. Individuals can't be expected
to take into account the needs of the whole society. That's the the job of the
voting system; it should take as input a set of selfish individual
preferences, and produce the fairest possible group decision.

Our goal with Hyperarchy is to build a system that can achieve greater
fairness. Clearly, the current electoral process has problems that lead to
injustices. As a society, we need to move toward a more advanced system, and
it's not going to happen unless we build some and experiment with them.

I appreciate your thoughts very much. I hope you'll try our site, and share
any further feedback.

~~~
phyllotaxis
I think you're on the right train of thought. One suggestion I would offer
regards the intended result. How about taking the "set of selfish individual
preferences" and route them go a variety of _solutions_ both public and
private? Instead of attempting to channel everything through government in a
more optimal way, which is a laudable goal, give people more ways to solve the
issues that currently may seem confined to government intervention. I view
every person as an agent acting in their own best interest. Why not view the
answers given as avenues for groups and organizations to market their services
to? Maybe you're creating a democratic system that let's people say exactly
what they want, and define what they will pay for it.

Again, just musings- but I'm happy to have found you and your efforts.

