
Ask HN: Interesting problems that should be solved but aren't being worked upon? - abhimskywalker
What are some of the most interesting problems from you respective domains that you feel should be solved but which aren&#x27;t in focus areas of decision-makers and not being worked upon by enough people?
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giantg2
The government's lack of uniform application of the law and disregard for rule
of law. I'm tired of the hypocrisy and corruption.

Unionizing or creating a standardized contract for software developers across
the industry. I'm tired of companies breaking their own policies, eroding
benefits, and having unrealistic expectations.

Political parties need to be refreshed and probably add more so there aren't
just two mainstream ones. I hate that this election will be a choice between
two corrupt, senile, old a __holes.

Restructuring government spending and taxes. For example, property taxes
funding education - it provides uneven funding based on the socioeconomic
status of the locale and also provides a mechanism to throw the elderly out if
their homes, or prevent that transfer of 'wealth' to the next generation (who
likely need it). And the spending side is ridiculous with their turf fields,
fancy new buildings, etc.

I could go on and on.

~~~
trcarney
>Unionizing or creating a standardized contract for software developers across
the industry. I'm tired of companies breaking their own policies, eroding
benefits, and having unrealistic expectations.

Why on earth would software developers unionize? There probably isn't a
profession where the workers have more power. If you don't like the way a
company is treating or compensating you, leave!

Standardized contracts would also not be positive. The problem with
standardized anything is that is where things stay, they don't get better.
Competition in the marketplace is how contracts will get better.

So if you are tired of companies breaking their own policies, eroding
benefits, and having unrealistic expectations, leave when your company does
those things. By staying, you are voting for those things to continue.

~~~
matt_s
The vast majority of software developers don't have leverage over their
employer. There are some in high demand tech hubs that do.

Some interesting things that could happen:

\- We software developers create a hierarchy/training program much like trade
workers (electrical for instance) where your title in the union is dependent
on mentoring and peer reviews.

\- Silly interview leet bullshit disappears. Union people interview and assess
candidates/new union people. Titles are earned via a formal process.

\- Specializations could emerge that have more stringent requirements to
attain a title/modifier.

\- A company wouldn't need recruiters, they would be part of the union. If
unionized software devs work at company ABC, then the union rep would know the
contract is being expanded and they need 10 more devs and at what levels.

\- Union representatives would negotiate contracts for pay and benefits. They
would be uniform across devs at that company, possibly that region.

\- Union workers could go on strike if they determine they find the employer
doing morally questionable business practices.

\- A bunch of software nerds will make a lot of poor attempts at jokes and
memes like they are union mobsters so it should be called a guild, it suits us
better :)

------
manx
A "Wikipedia of Arguments", one can refer to in public discussions.

Relevant links: [https://github.com/canonical-debate-
lab/paper/blob/master/RE...](https://github.com/canonical-debate-
lab/paper/blob/master/RE..).

[https://www.societylibrary.org/](https://www.societylibrary.org/)

~~~
koliber
This reminds me of a joke.

\---

After years of training to be a monk, John left his monastery to travel the
world and visit other places of worship. One day, he ended up at a monastery
high up in the Himalayas. After exchanging pleasantries with his fellow monk
brethren, they all gathered for their evening prayer followed by supper.
Afterwards, the monks got to telling jokes to pass the time.

“Who would like to tell the first joke?” Said the lead monk.

“I would!” Replied brother Jacob. After some thought, brother Jacob said:
“35!” Suddenly, all the monks began to laugh hysterically. John was confused
as to why everyone found this so funny, so asked the monk next to him, who
replied: “we monks have lived together for so long that we tell each other the
same jakes over and over again, so we decided to number them to make things
simpler.”

After a few more jokes, John was called upon to tell a joke. After thinking
hard, John said: “126.” John then witnessed the monks laugh harder than he had
ever seen before. John was both proud of himself and somewhat confused at the
same time, so he asked the monk next to him “why is everyone laughing so hard
at that joke?”

The monk turned to John and said: “because we’ve never heard that one before!”

\---

Imagine in future arguments, a discourse that sounds like:

Person A: The sea levels are rising. Person B: 4,512 Person A: but 125 Person
B: Yes, and also 51.

~~~
manx
Haha, good joke and indeed very related!

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paulz_
Fusion! We know it's possible. We have some half working proof of concept
projects. I was shocked when I learned that research spending on fusion energy
worldwide is something like $1.5B. Thats basically a rounding error compared
to the gains of solving it.

Room temperature superconductors also come to mind but I think that venture is
somewhat better funded than Fusion.

~~~
muzani
It seems like something really hard to do lol. Maybe one step is also
improving education to funnel more people into it. Energy in general is the
basis of economic health. Even if we got more people into fission, that's a
huge step forward.

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rapjr9
All kinds of medical cures, for flu, for colds, for acne, for Lyme, for West
Nile, for chronic fatigue syndrome, the list goes on. They say the flu is too
difficult to cure because it mutates, but they also said DNA was too difficult
to sequence. For many of these there is no research funding at all and no one
is really even trying.

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manx
News aggregatores, where the voting score actually correlates strongly with
the quality of the content.

All aggregators I know are driven by feedback loops, which lead to false
negatives (good content with bad score) and chaotic behavior of what actually
bubbles to the top.

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desi_ninja
Clean drinkable water from ocean water and dirty water. most of the world
suffers from lack of clean drinking water. create a tech to clear sewer water
without needing much electricity in a cheap way

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impendia
How can we slow, stop, mitigate, and/or reverse the effects of global warming
---- in a way that aligns with capitalist incentives and the natural human
inclination to be lazy?

