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Ask HN: What are the problems that are willing to pay more than $1000 to solve?
Same as Title.
- chovybizzass 5y agoSolar batteries that last a week instead of a day.
- Jugurtha 5y agoDiseases, wars, pollution, hunger, crime, mental illnesses, racism, mobility/passports that suck or give you access to practically nothing, terrorism, poverty. The list goes one.
- mbg721 5y agoThat reads like a laundry list of problems that money alone can't solve. (I guess you left off education.)
- krageon 5y agoAre you really implying money cannot solve poverty, because that's genuinely hilarious but I cannot imagine it to actually be true
- theandrewbailey 5y agoThe US government has spent trillions to fight poverty for over 50 years, but poverty rates are the same as back then.
- api 5y agoThere has been a decline, but it has not been huge: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States
- nine_k 5y agoAbsolutely. Money can only solve poverty when property rights are respected and enforced, when there is an open market of sorts to spend the money for useful stuff, when the bearer does not spend the money on useless stuff (lotteries, payments to cult leaders, etc), and when the bearer is not addicted (to substances, games, etc). All the above are not problems money alone can solve.
- krageon 5y agoAddiction doesn't have to mean poverty, so clearly with enough money addiction does not (have to) result in poverty. The same goes for all the other issues, really.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- freemint 5y agoA branch and bound solver framework that accurately measures the impact that one component/heuristic has on time to proof of global optimality and any time behaviour under the optimal portfolio of those components and builds portfolio solvers
- max93 5y agoWhat do you mean by accurate? Deep learning may helps for non-convex space? But it may be no solution for global optimality.
- freemint 5y agoWell if i make the simplex iteration 20% faster what does do that performance and any terms performance of my mixed-integer linear programming solver one might implement in the framework. Due to parallelism and shared state the answer is non trivial. Let's say you want to people to cooperate in writing such a solver with payout proportional to speed up the solver got over a certain family of problems then accurate estimates how much contribution a new component has for the performance would be really helpful and would be an alternative having big companies bank roll closed source solver development. Deep learning is uterly irrelevant for the famework but it is a heuristic that could be employed ...
- aeharding 5y agoLiving in a US city that has no cars for personal transport
- BjoernKW 5y agoYou'd be hard-pressed to find an actual city anywhere in the world that's entirely car-free for personal transport. Venice probably is the only place that matches that criterion. On Malta, there also is Mdina, which is largely car-free but still allows for limited car usage by residents. Still, although it's called a city, at a population of less than 1,000 it doesn't really qualify by any modern definition of the word. As for the US there's this list, for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Car-free_zones_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Car-free_zones_in_the... However, probably none of these places could be called a city in the narrow sense of the word.
- amusedcyclist 5y agoWill pay >> 1000$ a year in taxes for this.
- ivanvanderbyl 5y agoThat sounds relatively cheap, given the benefits
- rocketpastsix 5y agohuge plus one there.
- zzzzzzzza 5y agothe villages in florida is somewhat golf cart centric
- jpwright 5y agoMackinac Island, MI. Not a city, but probably the closest you'll get.
- dt123 5y agothis but in the UK
- mickjagger 5y agoThis comes across as a lazy attempt to find business ideas.
- geoduck14 5y agoI have to get a bunch of data into prod.
- max93 5y ago?
- sesuximo 5y agoI would pay that much for a programmable automated refactoring tool that actually worked on real code bases (I suspect some ppl would pay even more)
- nefitty 5y agoYou say "that actually worked". What tools have you tried?
- jobigoud 5y agoA retail level device capable of seeing inside one's body.
- mbg721 5y agoAre you thinking more along the lines of an x-ray, or a colonoscopy camera?
- jobigoud 5y agoI'm thinking anything non-invasive that could be good enough to reconstruct the internal structure. Ultrasounds for example. Of course the more accurate/high def the better.
- max93 5y agoInteresting. I think the technology is not that expensive. But it was banned because uncontrolled x-ray dose is harmful to human body.
- amusedcyclist 5y agoNever having to do paperwork ever again.
- nefitty 5y agoAn assistant that fills forms out for you?
- RedBeetDeadpool 5y agoThis is just turbotax for x. X being whatever you hate doing paperwork in.
- mbg721 5y agoExactly; "paper" aside, there's a cost-of-regulation that's never factored into law.
- cinntaile 5y agoSo you lobby legislators to keep the paperwork flowing and then you sell a solution to deal with the paperwork? That's more akin to the broken window fallacy than to actually solving a problem.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- nefitty 5y ago- Fully-guided health plan: diet, supplements, exercise, preventative measures, etc... SelfDecode gets very close, but I'm thinking of those reports analyzed by an assistant that would schedule and plan medical interventions, meal plan, provide accountability, be an advocate, etc. - A system to build knowledge more effectively than whatever it is that people do now. This would go along with some sort of training to improve idea synthesis, factual integration, etc. Basically, activate my inner savant for the low, low price of $999.99. - Direct training-to-employment pipeline: Employers provide the service a list of skills they need, the service generates a training plan, the employer approves the plan, vetted students pay to join with a guarantee of employment if they meet some milestones, successful students are refunded then employer pays the service a commission. - A car service that shows up to do routine maintenance, clean your car and track major issues
- ID1452319 5y agoRegarding your "Direct training-to-employment pipeline" I've been thinking about a very similar idea. Do you think people would actually pay upfront to join on the promise they'll be refunded if they complete the course syllabus successfully? I have assumed you'd have the offer the course for free and then make your money by placing successful "graduates" with employers who pay a commission for each one.
- nefitty 5y agoI think the upfront + refund + commission structure balances the incentives. It's something that is missing with ISA structures, which unevenly optimizes the school incentive. An upfront cost is table stakes. The trainer is incentivized to perform because the collected tuitions might only represent a fraction of what could be earned. The commission is where the profit is. I would personally be super motivated to sign up, especially if the curriculum and employer partnerships were attractive. I'm riffing but I know it's a super hard problem. I wonder if game theory could or has helped here.
- ID1452319 5y agoI really like your idea, it would certainly eliminate the timewasters.
- benibela 5y agoSolving one of the Millennium Prize Problems would pay $1000000
- Karupan 5y agoCompletely getting rid of online ads for life.
- max93 5y agoThats very difficult. I believe many online contents are actually ads.
- claudiulodro 5y agoElectrician work, plumber work, mechanic work, tree trimming, etc. Skilled trades where once you need them, they have you over a barrel!
- alexfromapex 5y agoIt seems the key is some level of gatekeeping from doing it yourself. Need a MD degree to get medicine prescriptions, need the town to sign off on electrical work permits, tree cutters need insurance and have up-front cost of equipment, etc.
- ampdepolymerase 5y agoAnd they are the reason why we have a housing and healthcare crisis.
- shrike 5y agoWhen my phone rings I want to know, with a high degree of confidence, who is calling me. The only way I can think to do this well is by giving everyone a different phone number, like many of us do with email addresses. Implementing this would require a way to create and vend phone numbers quickly, similar to creating a password with a password manager. There would need to be a way to associate each number with who I gave it to. When my phone rang that identity would need to be surfaced in some way. I would need a way to make outbound calls using these numbers. I'd happily pay $100+/month for <some number of> phone numbers (50-100?) plus $x/month for each number above that. If the service was metered by call minute there would need to be a generous number included in the monthly flat rate and excess minutes should be inexpensive. I imagine the user experience would be similar to what Sidecar/Flyp/Cloud SIM deliver.
- cl42 5y agoQuestion: what if you got a screening service where someone calls a # and we do multiple checks... For example: (1) if it's a blocked # or a # from a known blacklisted source -> straight to voicemail, and we notify you by text if a message was left (or we transcribe it) (2) new # you've never discussed -> you can set up the options here, e.g. if commercial or otherwise, go to VM or enable to "ring" for you (3) if the call a known caller to you -> pass through Would you use something like this?
- datavirtue 5y agoAntiquated real estate agent system and realtor (TM) guild.
- thebrowncat 5y agoA wearable head massager/tickler. It's possible to buy head massagers which are hand-held, but that completely defeats the purpose. I'm aware this is a male-dominated community, but as a woman, I know other women would pay a LOT if this product existed.
- max93 5y agoFound some on Amazon. Not sure if its sth you are looking for. https://amzn.to/3pN4NZm https://amzn.to/3pN4NZm https://amzn.to/2ZxUz3X https://amzn.to/2ZxUz3X
- mr337 5y agoSomething to fold the never ending chore of laundry.
- akudha 5y agoI'd like to not deal with recruiters and middlemen, at all (excluding the HR department of the actual company that is hiring). Just this week, I had a recruiter tell me that they won't tell me the end client, until after the interview happens. They are expecting candidates to interview with them, without telling them who they would be working for (also, pay is shit). Another recruiter sends a ridiculous legal document that I am supposed to sign (it was a long, scary document, I didn't understand most of it), before even revealing who they are hiring for. Yet another recruiter wanted to edit my resume and lie, before they'd proceed with the process. Those are just a few examples. In case you are wondering if these are for high level positions, they are not. These are run of the mill, ordinary developer jobs. I do not want to deal with recruiters, at all, ever. Even a 5 min phone call with these upstanding people is enough to ruin one's day. So yeah, I'd pay for this "privilege"
- max93 5y agoInteresting. I think many people face the same problem and many people are trying new ways to solve it, but don't know why all failed.
- akudha 5y agoThe only way to solve it is to cut out the middlemen, that is unlikely to happen though. I tried it in a couple of places that I contracted at, but was quickly shot down. From an employer's perspective, it is very convenient for them to outsource everything except the actual interviewing, even if costs them more. They just don't want the hassle of looking through resumes, arranging interviews etc. It is understandable.
- bradlys 5y agoDating app that actually lead to dates. Preferably with people who are of interest to me and of who I am of interest to. Dating has been an issue my entire life - I’ve only ever managed to be in one relationship and that wasn’t until I was 26 (I’m 31 now). I’ve never even really had so much as a conversation on a dating app and I’ve used them for years! It’s not like I do well in real life either - it’s ultimately that most dating apps just amplify what I already experience in real life. I’m not physically attractive (5’10”, 120-135lb) and so I have always had a very large uphill battle trying to combat traditional western beauty standards. But if someone could figure out an app that got me out on dates - I’d pay that $1000+.
- vermasque 5y agoGreat question! Some mechanism to significantly improve intelligence. This could be in any form: book, coaching, game, etc. Some examples of benefits: - Avoiding making mistakes that cost time among other things (an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure). Programming bugs are on my mind at the moment but could be in other areas as well. - Make faster decisions with more confidence - Crush programming interviews