Are you KIDDING me??? We're all adults here and we all have varying degrees of understanding about what's going on in the world and we all have different levels of involvement in trying to make it better. I don't need that shit thrown in my face on this forum.
No, I won't volunteer how I'm making it better, because that's not why I come to this site. If you want to relate it to HN and ask if my work makes it better, then no, it doesn't. My software doesn't feed starving children in Africa. But it makes me money and there is no shortage of good to do with an extra few bucks. That has nothing to do with this site though, so there's no need to elaborate.
Welcome back to Reddit, everyone! After we stop for a minute to be aware of the world, can we then discuss how Ron Paul and Mike Gravell will fix it, and then compare pictures of kittens?
There's a whole big wide Intertube out there. Plenty of places to discuss politics and social justice. whalliburton, do you have a technical or entrepreneurial insight to share about this?
No. No, no, no. You do not "sucker up" and pretend like this has relevance by asking a rhetorical question. If you're going to preach, be honest about it, or better yet, find a different forum in which to preach.
There ARE start-ups designed to help the third world. I know of a few off-hand. Find them, link to them, start up a discussion. Do NOT spam this place. This is a place for programmers and hackers to discuss things they find interesting. That's kept it at a pretty high signal-to-noise ratio, even though that's slipping.
"The things of real value in this world are not monetary."
D'you know what? I'll treat you seriously here, if only to completely disagree. Money is a method of exchanging your ability for somebody else's. It's a bond between people when it's used right. You pay me to do what I do best, I pay you in return. It brings us together when we make a transaction. And so, when I'm making money, I know that I'm creating something of worth to people. And when I spend money, I spend it to improve life around me. Sound selfish? Sure. But my spending money gives somebody else money, and it lets them improve the world in their own little way. Everybody benefits.
We could debate this all day, and it would make for a nice little topic of its own. But you didn't start this thread for that. You started this thread either to gain karma or to distract people from actual HN-related threads, and you did it in the laziest way possible: by linking to a Google search for a generic term. No news article, even. That is NOT what this site needs.
One of the key trends over the last 20 years is how many countries have actually emerged from endemic poverty, with China being a fairly prominent example (yes, there's still poverty there, but there is in the US too). Most of them will attribute the success to 2 things. A market-based economy, and "trade not aid."
This strikes me as really inappropriate for HN, almost to the point of being offensive. Judging by the poster's comments, he/she clearly believes that the founders on HN are "contributing" to the problems the world is facing by pursuing their dreams and starting companies. I would argue that just the opposite is true, for three reasons:
1. People with large amounts of disposable income have the opportunity to have a huge impact in developing nations. Many charitable foundations and global health & poverty efforts were started by people who made their wealth in a tech startup. Look at the efforts of the Gates Foundation, for example.
2. Some startups have actually targeted problems that "really matter" and are trying to do their part to have a positive impact on the world. The first example that comes to my mind is CO2Stats.
3. Technological innovation actually creates wealth in the world, and as someone else pointed out, we are seeing many countries emerge from extreme poverty, largely due to the influences of technology over the last fifty years. People like many of those found here on HN have driven those technologies and I'm proud to hang out on a forum with so many people who are hungry for their chance to change the world for the better.
Regardless, the poster has obviously made a blanket judgment that none of us are aware or care. The truth is that many of us are aware and care deeply, but this is Hacker News, not Starving Children News. Welcome to contextual relevance.
No, it's not pretty and remaining optimistic about the hope for humanities future isn't easy. To a more fundamental level, remaining optimistic about the survival of these societies is difficult, but I think what's more difficult to swallow is simply stopping and acknowledging what's going on around us without actively doing anything about it.
"being aware" and "being aware" alone is a glorified bystander effect.
How about this for a startup idea -- software tools to help empower non-profits to help those around the world. Tools to help them communicate together, coordinate logistics, respond where aid is needed best.
I am very glad you made that last point. That's a major shift my company is about to take, we're focusing on non-profit organizations and government institutions that need to refocus and establish goals around evolving technology requirements and enhancements.
In the next few months we're going to be on a campaign to find as many pro-bono developers, designers, consultants and experts to fill the void between non-profit and relevancy.
This post might have started an interesting discussion if it talked about microfinance, ICT4B, or any of the other numerous ways in which entrepreneurship and technology intersect with social good. Instead, it casts the HN community as the enemy and pisses everyone off. Think about your context/framing next time you want to make a post like this.
