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This breaks my heart and reminds me of how fortune I am. I know it's an exhaustive question, but what can we, as hackers, do to help?

by joshmn 10y ago

idlewords 10y ago
There's lots of places in the Bay Area to donate time or money. If you work for a big company, they often have matching programs that will stretch your donation further. In the medium term, we have to get serious about electing local and state representatives who will help make sure everyone benefits from the prosperity of the tech industry in California.
rckclmbr 10y ago
My mom worked with homeless people for several years in Utah. Some are chronically homeless, some drug addicted, some lost a job or can't afford a home, and some are just plain lazy. To get out of homelessness you need 1) a place to live, and 2) a job. Those 2 are a chicken and egg problem. If you can find someone willing, and can provide one of those 2, then you can help. But until they have the desire to get out of it, I hate to say it but it's not going to happen. The best thing you can do is when you see them, treat them as an equal. Don't feel sorry for them, and don't feel like you can rescue them. Nod and say hi like you would anyone else. Don't look away. If you are near them and have a conversation, most of the time they will tell you how they they're just temporarily in a bad position. They will lie to you and say they had a housefire and that's why they're carrying all their stuff. That they plan on giving their kid the bike they are riding on for Christmas. But just smile and listen to them. You can help by helping their life be just a little bit better, because a lot of little things can hopefully lead up to a realization that they are where they are because of their own decisions (most of the time). If you have the extra time, you can volunteer at one of the many organizations that help them. Keep in mind that the homeless people we are talking about are the chronically homeless, not the ones with a family fallen on hard times, living in their car.
stagbeetle 10y ago
Forgive me if I come off as idealistic and aggressive, but this question is useless and dumb. The first question that should be answered is: "What can we do to actually fix the problem?" Not cover up the gangrene and pretend like something's being done. What you can do as a person who can't is contribute to discussions on practically solving the issue, to inspire those who can.
- spraak 10y ago
  I think you're fighting the superficial. The parent poster asked essentially the same questions you've posited, and I don't see any concrete answers from you, either.
  - stagbeetle 10y ago
    In denotation, but not connotation. > "What can we as hackers do" Implies a limited scope of vision and lack of initiative to fix the problem. Instead it's a half-baked plea to quench one's emotions. I'll reshape my answer: If you believe that all you can do is donate your time or money, you are in the "can't" category of doers. As harsh as it is, the best position for you to fill is, for lack of a better title, the "idea guy." By promoting discourse and idea generation, you may be able to aide those who "can" -- make an impact on the problem -- and contribute to a more important solution. What you can do as a person, and not the abstract and non-existent "hacker," is the above.
    - mercer 10y ago
      Perhaps this is the growing interest in zen buddhism talking, or perhaps it's something else, but I've grown more and more weary of this kind of reasoning. It's not that I disagree, it's more that it strikes me as a too-rational approach that doesn't really fit with what I learned about human behavior. All else being equal, theoretically, obviously taking on the 'big questions' and being an 'idea guy' is probably better than volunteering in a soup kitchen. But more often than not, based on my own thinking and conversations with friends, talking about the big picture leads to 1) a kind of analysis paralysis, and 2) the issue being too abstract for us to push through this paralysis. There are so many paths I can think of that lead a person to bigger, more structural 'idea' solutions via, as you put it, the "can't" type approach: frustration over 'mopping with the tap open', a friendship with an addict, homeless person, etc. Furthermore, by skipping the small stuff, we might end up coming up with 'idea guy' solutions that are not based on a proper understanding of the problem. I've seen a lot of that kind of non-solution in particular from 'idealistic highly-educated, idea-focused' people who sometimes even make the situation worse by not having spent enough time 'in the trenches'. Now to be fair I've also experienced the other end of the spectrum: a particular one that comes to mind is 'volunteer tourism' in developing areas that severely upset more structural efforts but made the tourist feel like they did something. But than even that end, looking back, serves a purpose. These 'tourists' often provided an optimistic energy that we 'non-local locals' had lost over time. I guess my point is that I think anything is better than nothing, but if you're gonna start somewhere, start with the thing that activates your emotion and only then put in effort to optimize for effect. Because I think the primary problem for many of us idea-people is that we don't care enough, or don't know what to care about, not a desire to 'do good'.

This breaks my heart and reminds me of how fortune I am. I know it's an exhaustive question, but what can we, as hackers, do to help?

by joshmn 10y ago

This breaks my heart and reminds me of how fortune I am. I know it's an exhaustive question, but what can we, as hackers, do to help?

idlewords 10y ago

There's lots of places in the Bay Area to donate time or money. If you work for a big company, they often have matching programs that will stretch your donation further. In the medium term, we have to get serious about electing local and state representatives who will help make sure everyone benefits from the prosperity of the tech industry in California.

rckclmbr 10y ago

My mom worked with homeless people for several years in Utah. Some are chronically homeless, some drug addicted, some lost a job or can't afford a home, and some are just plain lazy. To get out of homelessness you need 1) a place to live, and 2) a job. Those 2 are a chicken and egg problem. If you can find someone willing, and can provide one of those 2, then you can help. But until they have the desire to get out of it, I hate to say it but it's not going to happen. The best thing you can do is when you see them, treat them as an equal. Don't feel sorry for them, and don't feel like you can rescue them. Nod and say hi like you would anyone else. Don't look away. If you are near them and have a conversation, most of the time they will tell you how they they're just temporarily in a bad position. They will lie to you and say they had a housefire and that's why they're carrying all their stuff. That they plan on giving their kid the bike they are riding on for Christmas. But just smile and listen to them. You can help by helping their life be just a little bit better, because a lot of little things can hopefully lead up to a realization that they are where they are because of their own decisions (most of the time). If you have the extra time, you can volunteer at one of the many organizations that help them. Keep in mind that the homeless people we are talking about are the chronically homeless, not the ones with a family fallen on hard times, living in their car.

stagbeetle 10y ago

Forgive me if I come off as idealistic and aggressive, but this question is useless and dumb. The first question that should be answered is: "What can we do to actually fix the problem?" Not cover up the gangrene and pretend like something's being done. What you can do as a person who can't is contribute to discussions on practically solving the issue, to inspire those who can.

spraak 10y ago
I think you're fighting the superficial. The parent poster asked essentially the same questions you've posited, and I don't see any concrete answers from you, either.
- stagbeetle 10y ago
  In denotation, but not connotation. > "What can we as hackers do" Implies a limited scope of vision and lack of initiative to fix the problem. Instead it's a half-baked plea to quench one's emotions. I'll reshape my answer: If you believe that all you can do is donate your time or money, you are in the "can't" category of doers. As harsh as it is, the best position for you to fill is, for lack of a better title, the "idea guy." By promoting discourse and idea generation, you may be able to aide those who "can" -- make an impact on the problem -- and contribute to a more important solution. What you can do as a person, and not the abstract and non-existent "hacker," is the above.
  - mercer 10y ago
    Perhaps this is the growing interest in zen buddhism talking, or perhaps it's something else, but I've grown more and more weary of this kind of reasoning. It's not that I disagree, it's more that it strikes me as a too-rational approach that doesn't really fit with what I learned about human behavior. All else being equal, theoretically, obviously taking on the 'big questions' and being an 'idea guy' is probably better than volunteering in a soup kitchen. But more often than not, based on my own thinking and conversations with friends, talking about the big picture leads to 1) a kind of analysis paralysis, and 2) the issue being too abstract for us to push through this paralysis. There are so many paths I can think of that lead a person to bigger, more structural 'idea' solutions via, as you put it, the "can't" type approach: frustration over 'mopping with the tap open', a friendship with an addict, homeless person, etc. Furthermore, by skipping the small stuff, we might end up coming up with 'idea guy' solutions that are not based on a proper understanding of the problem. I've seen a lot of that kind of non-solution in particular from 'idealistic highly-educated, idea-focused' people who sometimes even make the situation worse by not having spent enough time 'in the trenches'. Now to be fair I've also experienced the other end of the spectrum: a particular one that comes to mind is 'volunteer tourism' in developing areas that severely upset more structural efforts but made the tourist feel like they did something. But than even that end, looking back, serves a purpose. These 'tourists' often provided an optimistic energy that we 'non-local locals' had lost over time. I guess my point is that I think anything is better than nothing, but if you're gonna start somewhere, start with the thing that activates your emotion and only then put in effort to optimize for effect. Because I think the primary problem for many of us idea-people is that we don't care enough, or don't know what to care about, not a desire to 'do good'.