

Hacking For Good - robbiet480
http://rix.si/2013/07/07/hacking-for-good-1/

======
jayfuerstenberg
Cats sleep 16 hours a day so if you get them addicted to social networks
you'll be creating a rat population problem.

In all seriousness though the author here just took the time to write what
most of us have thought... that technology has been getting us to look down at
stupid things on our smartphones too much and not enough up at the sky or
around us at each other and our cities.

We don't think enough about the bigger problems, we only come up with new
filters/effects for our food pics.

------
tptacek
You should think twice before applying to YC with a social network for cats or
cars if only because if you do that you're unlikely to get accepted.

~~~
foobarbazqux
What about a social network for cat-driven cars? Or a car network for social
cats? Heck, a social cat alone must be worth a patent or two.

------
qznc
I think the problem with the Big Problems (tm) is that solving them is not a
One Solution Big Reward job. It is millions of different tedious little
problems. Solving a few of them will not give you anything.

Example: Decreasing energy consumption of mobile devices. Is that a Big
Problem? I think so. How do you do that? Lots of little tweaks and fixes on
various layers (software, hardware, interdependencies, etc). Lots of 0.1%
improvements. After a few years you get the new iPhone and it is 10% better
with energy. Of course, you only see 5% improvement, because additional
features ate up the rest. Note that those little efficiency improvements
enabled those additional features. However, nobody really appreciates the
junior engineer who was responsible for 11 of those 0.1% improvements. Not
even she herself finds that amazing.

Am I too dark?

(disclaimer: I know nothing about actual iPhones)

------
sneak
> Paul Graham recently wrote that the next big place for startups to disrupt
> is in startup investing.

Startups are experiments in efficiency: Who can solve a problem for a large
(or valuable) market the fastest, with the least friction, and the highest
margin? As pg's pointed out, it's all about growth, and that comes from
applying efficiency to a place nobody's thought to do so yet.

The long-term impact on the world doesn't factor in to it at all, initially.

My reading of that essay was that there's a lot of money to be made, quickly,
by solving that particular problem.

Of course, the argument could be made that by addressing inefficiencies in the
communications between early-stage founders and investors, you are giving more
opportunities to more people to make the sorts of changes you desire - people
who would not have otherwise had those opportunities to build things like
that.

These ideas aren't necessarily at odds.

------
radge
I have one issue with this article.

You don't "think about getting prescribed antidepressants". You go to the
doctor with a health issue which he treats you for.

Antidepressants aren't pills for when you're a bit cheesed off to pick you up.

------
lightyrs
As evidenced by your 'hug request' anecdote, it seems your time could be
better spent AFK in general and learning how and why people interact with one
another. For example, hugging is a spontaneous gesture (aside from
greeting/farewell hugs) meant to convey a feeling of connectedness between two
people. It sounds like you are actually suffering from feelings of alienation
and in your confusion, projecting these feelings onto society and the YC/HN
community at large. Furthermore, increase in the use of prescription
antidepressants is only a correlation between time and prescription
antidepressant use. That is to say, it doesn't prove that people are more
depressed nowadays.

~~~
nsomaru
This.

I get the feeling that 'the West' is looking for 'pop-a-pill' solutions for
everything. I've seen it said many times in HN comments surrounding depression
that these drugs are not the answer to depression. I tend to agree.

The solution must be born subjectively. Unfortunately, this true 'solution' to
an individual's depression is inadvertently missed when one's mind has been
deadened to believe that 'everything is Ok' by the presence of a drug.

~~~
sillysaurus
_I 've seen it said many times in HN comments surrounding depression that
these drugs are not the answer to depression. I tend to agree._

It'd be good if you'd explain an alternative.

------
ohwp
Very good article.

But in the end it's just a job. We all have to make money because we don't
grow our own food.

I thought about this a long time and I'm just going to use hacking to make
money and spend it on a social project that has nothing to do with hacking and
can't be fixed with (computer) hacking.

------
onedev
Ahh yes the Real-Problems(TM) paradox and moral high ground.

I take issue with that last paragraph.

You know what? I want a social network for cats. You know why? Because that
sounds awesome. Come on guys and gals, whatever happened to being _human_ and
having a sense of humor?

Let's solve the hard problems too! We don't ONLY have to do one or the other.
Let people work on what they want to.

I think people's motivations are the more concerning thing about these kinds
of things. Is the person building a social network for cats because he or she
is a huge pet lover and wants to see something like that exist or just because
he or she is trying to make a quick buck? If it's the former, then I'm
completely fine with it. Let them try, and if it fails it fails.

~~~
rantanplan
Well how many social networks do you need? How many cat photos and videos? How
many i-fart applications? Humor is nice. Laughing is nice. How much do you
need to laugh? 100% of your waking time?

How many real problems have we solved for every ifart application? Somehow I
don't think that the numbers add up.

~~~
Chris2048
I think it was found that looking at cat picture increased motivation? Maybe
we could start a gtd site based on sharing cat pictures?

~~~
rantanplan
> I think it was found that looking at cat picture increased motivation?

The motivation to kill more cats? :P

~~~
Chris2048
:-O

------
antiheld1n
Okay.. your article is of course a good reflection of our distorted social
interaction.. But what are your _concrete_ proposals for solving it apart of
negating social networks for cats?

------
morgante
Wonder how this relates to Random Hacks of Kindness?
[http://www.rhok.org/](http://www.rhok.org/)

