3 ms·

I don't like any of these ideas but dismissing only the most pressing problems is a silly way to judge ideas. It is easy to pick apart ideas, look: - cost of

I don't like any of these ideas but dismissing only the most pressing problems is a silly way to judge ideas. It is easy to pick apart ideas, look: - cost of housing in cities: Convince home owners to vote against their own self interest. Not a great business idea - urban transport: Everyone else is trying to do this. Self driving cars might solve this - Infrastucture in the developing world: Hard for outsiders to actually know where the infrastucture should be. Also, who pays? - fixing 'fake news': The issue isn't fake news, it is filter bubbles. Just fix human nature. - new (non-ads) business models for the web: There are other business models but ads are a pretty great option for the rest of the planet. This a non problem that only for hacker news posters care about. This is one of the most pressing issues on the planet?

ahussain 9y ago
> dismissing only the most pressing problems is a silly way to judge ideas You are correct, but if you don't judge ideas on this metric then you risk becoming irrelevant to the vast majority of people, and you are not taken seriously when you say things like "we are going to revolutionize the world" And yes, it is easy to pick apart those ideas, but that's exactly why more people (especially those who consider themselves talented, fortunate and ambitious) should be tackling them head on - because all the simple, naive approaches don't work.
- 1024core 9y ago
  > but if you don't judge ideas on this metric then you risk becoming irrelevant to the vast majority of people, Not really. What "pressing problem" was Zuck addressing? Or Dorsey? Taxis have existed for a century, and still Uber sprang up. Sometimes it's equally valuable to create something that people can't live without, even though the need may not exist at the time
- canes123456 9y ago
  Whatever you think about Facebook, it is not irrelevant to the vast majority of people. What was the pressing issue it was solving? Even the personal computer was not solving a pressing issue at the time. New products create the demand for it and the influence of it only makes sense in retrospect. There are not many solutions that are both achievable and solve obviously huge problems. If there were clear ways to solve these problems, tons of people will have already done it. We solve huge problems by first solving small ones and laddering up.

ahussain 9y ago

> dismissing only the most pressing problems is a silly way to judge ideas You are correct, but if you don't judge ideas on this metric then you risk becoming irrelevant to the vast majority of people, and you are not taken seriously when you say things like "we are going to revolutionize the world" And yes, it is easy to pick apart those ideas, but that's exactly why more people (especially those who consider themselves talented, fortunate and ambitious) should be tackling them head on - because all the simple, naive approaches don't work.

1024core 9y ago
> but if you don't judge ideas on this metric then you risk becoming irrelevant to the vast majority of people, Not really. What "pressing problem" was Zuck addressing? Or Dorsey? Taxis have existed for a century, and still Uber sprang up. Sometimes it's equally valuable to create something that people can't live without, even though the need may not exist at the time
canes123456 9y ago
Whatever you think about Facebook, it is not irrelevant to the vast majority of people. What was the pressing issue it was solving? Even the personal computer was not solving a pressing issue at the time. New products create the demand for it and the influence of it only makes sense in retrospect. There are not many solutions that are both achievable and solve obviously huge problems. If there were clear ways to solve these problems, tons of people will have already done it. We solve huge problems by first solving small ones and laddering up.