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While teaching entrepreneurship, I pointed out that since people don't try to make the world worse, many problems today started out as solutions. It follows th

by spodek 10y ago

While teaching entrepreneurship, I pointed out that since people don't try to make the world worse, many problems today started out as solutions. It follows that most of today's solutions will become problems someone has to solve later. It was one of those moments when all the students picked up their pens and wrote it down, like it was a big revelation. I hadn't planned on it being deep.

dmreedy 10y ago
I think it might be a little more nuanced than that. While I'll agree that most people aren't in the business of making the world actively worse, neither are they in the business of making the world better* . Therefore, a lot of problems today are caused by half-measures and optimization of metrics with questionable correlation to the betterment of things, rather than just 'solutions' of a general form. This also doesn't include the subset of problems that are deliberately introduced in order to create business. --- * according to some definitions of 'worse' and 'better'. The debate on which could render both of these comments meaningless with out consent on something operational.
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ssivark 10y ago
Paul Eddington was an acclaimed actor who played the "minister" on British TV series "Yes, minister" and "Yes, Prime minister". Quoting him (Ref: Wikipedia page [1] and references therein) PE: "A journalist once asked me what I would like my epitaph to be and I said I think I would like it to be 'He did very little harm'. And that's not easy. Most people seem to me to do a great deal of harm. If I could be remembered as having done very little, that would suit me." I found that quote moving when I came across it several years ago, especially given his life experience. His attitude makes me enjoy his acting even more. (To those who haven't seen the TV series I mentioned above, they're simply brilliant) [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Eddington#Final_years_and_death https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Eddington#Final_years_and...

by spodek 10y ago

dmreedy 10y ago

I think it might be a little more nuanced than that. While I'll agree that most people aren't in the business of making the world actively worse, neither are they in the business of making the world better* . Therefore, a lot of problems today are caused by half-measures and optimization of metrics with questionable correlation to the betterment of things, rather than just 'solutions' of a general form. This also doesn't include the subset of problems that are deliberately introduced in order to create business. --- * according to some definitions of 'worse' and 'better'. The debate on which could render both of these comments meaningless with out consent on something operational.

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ssivark 10y ago

Paul Eddington was an acclaimed actor who played the "minister" on British TV series "Yes, minister" and "Yes, Prime minister". Quoting him (Ref: Wikipedia page [1] and references therein) PE: "A journalist once asked me what I would like my epitaph to be and I said I think I would like it to be 'He did very little harm'. And that's not easy. Most people seem to me to do a great deal of harm. If I could be remembered as having done very little, that would suit me." I found that quote moving when I came across it several years ago, especially given his life experience. His attitude makes me enjoy his acting even more. (To those who haven't seen the TV series I mentioned above, they're simply brilliant) [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Eddington#Final_years_and_death https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Eddington#Final_years_and...