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Wow! Another stupid project from tech geniuses. In place of taking care of the initial problems (« soaring rents and the difficulty of treating substance abuse

by m_b 8y ago

Wow! Another stupid project from tech geniuses. In place of taking care of the initial problems (« soaring rents and the difficulty of treating substance abuse, mental illness, and other health concerns » as mentioned in the article), let’s create an app to track people whereabouts! Everything is fine... At least the article tell us this shit doesn’t work.

myspy 8y ago
Yeah, better establish a great system of universal healthcare and built social housing mixed with normal housing everywhere around the city. And get the poor a small basic income to get them off the streets until they find a new dignified job themselves. Europe does stuff like that in case they need some examples to copy.
- briandear 8y ago
  And yet Europe still has a lot of homeless people. Europe hasn’t “solved” homelessness either. It’s unsolvable.
- hopler 8y ago
  And we should ignore the plight of starving and dying people until those systems magically appear here?
wgerard 8y ago
Eh, I don't think it's stupid it's just not going to solve homelessness. I'll preface this by admitting that I'm not well-versed with the problem (other than what I see), so this could be off-base and I'll feel stupid for having written this. Understanding the who/when/where of homelessness isn't stupid - Epidemiology is a well-respected field built around just that (for health and diseases, obviously). Certainly part of solving the problem is understanding the distribution of the problem. Does anyone currently track that information with any appreciable amount of accuracy? If so, I could definitely see this as being pointless. If not, sounds like really useful information to know. Obviously lots of questions and suspicion here makes sense, like why it's a private company and not an NGO, why they can't anonymously track this information, etc. but "tracking whereabouts" is also a feature of many epidemiological studies.
Kalium 8y ago
You're right! SF needs to address housing, treatment, and health care! SF doesn't need another iOS app shat out by some smug prick with no clue. One of SF's problems is that it's been impossible for the city to meet needs and coordinate care over a sizable population when it can't figure out who needs what and where reliably. The idea here is basically a medical record system so that SF can deliver all the items you so wisely and correctly point to! When you know someone's history, what has and hasn't worked for them, you can figure out how to compassionately delivery to them the treatment, housing, and care they need. Not only are you right about what's needed, San Francisco is right there with you.

by m_b 8y ago

myspy 8y ago

Yeah, better establish a great system of universal healthcare and built social housing mixed with normal housing everywhere around the city. And get the poor a small basic income to get them off the streets until they find a new dignified job themselves. Europe does stuff like that in case they need some examples to copy.

briandear 8y ago
And yet Europe still has a lot of homeless people. Europe hasn’t “solved” homelessness either. It’s unsolvable.
hopler 8y ago
And we should ignore the plight of starving and dying people until those systems magically appear here?

wgerard 8y ago

Eh, I don't think it's stupid it's just not going to solve homelessness. I'll preface this by admitting that I'm not well-versed with the problem (other than what I see), so this could be off-base and I'll feel stupid for having written this. Understanding the who/when/where of homelessness isn't stupid - Epidemiology is a well-respected field built around just that (for health and diseases, obviously). Certainly part of solving the problem is understanding the distribution of the problem. Does anyone currently track that information with any appreciable amount of accuracy? If so, I could definitely see this as being pointless. If not, sounds like really useful information to know. Obviously lots of questions and suspicion here makes sense, like why it's a private company and not an NGO, why they can't anonymously track this information, etc. but "tracking whereabouts" is also a feature of many epidemiological studies.

Kalium 8y ago

You're right! SF needs to address housing, treatment, and health care! SF doesn't need another iOS app shat out by some smug prick with no clue. One of SF's problems is that it's been impossible for the city to meet needs and coordinate care over a sizable population when it can't figure out who needs what and where reliably. The idea here is basically a medical record system so that SF can deliver all the items you so wisely and correctly point to! When you know someone's history, what has and hasn't worked for them, you can figure out how to compassionately delivery to them the treatment, housing, and care they need. Not only are you right about what's needed, San Francisco is right there with you.