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Ask HN: Projects for social good?
I am a university professor but I feel deeply unhappy that I am not working on any of the real world problems. I work on machine learning and distributed systems to some extent. But I feel I am wasting my time solving problems which could either benefit big companies or irrelevant for anyone. What can I do to make the world a better place with all the talent and time I have. I also have number of students who can help me in these projects while earning their credits.
- tapiok 7y agoPlease check merit.world and see if it is something that might interest you. Ideally the system (which has been successfully tested "in vivo" with ~ 1000 participants) should be implemented as a decentralized app and AI would be useful to detect abuse. More use cases might crop up down the road. Use the contact info on the site if you want to get in touch.
- jimmyvalmer 7y agoA university professor does not generally express underspecified professional discontent, even anonymously. HN readers should construe this request as coming from a "plebe" masquerading as someone with greater influence.
- yesenadam 7y agoThanks to HN I just discovered this website, which may be right up your alley. It seems the guy is involved in a lot of the sorts of things you mean. https://chrisalbon.com/ https://chrisalbon.com/ https://chrisalbon.com/about/chris_albon/ https://chrisalbon.com/about/chris_albon/
- vinni2 7y agoThanks for the link. One obvious suggestion I often get is working on health and medical domain. But one issue in this domain is lack of publicly available data. Unless you have special deals with hospitals or health authorities bootstrapping research in this direction is hard.
- anotheryou 7y agoI got a related question: how well do you manage a good work/life/doing-good balance? - working on something interesting - working to earn money - working on something for greater good - having time to rest, learn and for my partner, friends and family (for me that means having to work less than 5 days/week) I managed to get to a 4 day work week. Though I'm now not sure If I can keep that privileged while changing jobs (as a product manager, or anyone with "lead" or "manager" in the title it seems harder to get this from the get go).
- fulafel 7y agoMachine learning probably has applications in NGOs that you feel sympathetic towards? You could work with them outside or inside your academic role.