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Thanks. Sounds like a ride. Glad you're able to have space to do work well-aligned with your values. I'm finding it really hard to do. Even if I wanted to make

Thanks. Sounds like a ride. Glad you're able to have space to do work well-aligned with your values. I'm finding it really hard to do. Even if I wanted to make the personal sacrifice (and thus sacrifice my future children's stability and environment..) for more virtuous pursuits for far less compensation, I have a hard time believing in any organization's ability to affect meaningful change. I'm trying to start small by helping my one friend who is a doctor to streamline her office tech. I think I could give her 20% of her time back performing repetitive tasks.

ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
> I'm trying to start small by helping my one friend who is a doctor to streamline her office tech. I think I could give her 20% of her time back performing repetitive tasks. Sounds like a worthy cause. The ten-year project that I mentioned was actually ready to go, after a couple of years. All the rest of the time, was spent, talking about it, and trying to help people use it, until it went viral, and was taken over by a fairly accomplished team. Thanks to them, it has become a lot bigger than I could have made it.
- wnolens 4y ago
  Awesome. If I may ask: what was this project?
  - ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
    I don’t really mention it in public, but it’s no secret. If you visit the littlegreenviper.com Web site, I tell the origin story, under “Miscellany.” If you contact me, I’m happy to share it. It’s aimed at a very specific demographic.
nonrandomstring 4y ago
> I have a hard time believing in any organization's ability to affect meaningful change. Organisations are generally pretty shit at achieving anything. But the good news is that individuals can and do make a difference and ultimately change things. It's the small wins that count. Changing one person's habits. Getting one more friend to drop BigTech. Getting one teacher to rethink the effect of over-connectedness on our children. Showing one person the problem of e-waste and seeing them jail-break an old phone instead of buying a new one. You overcome the myth of "the they" (the hordes of mindless "users" who just want convenience uber-alles that we always hear about on HN) one real person at a time. Then you start to see friends and colleagues reflecting good values back at you. Help your doctor friend streamline her time with real computing tools, but also make it clear that you're not a charity, or a mug and that what you're doing comes with a message that you expect her to pass on. The health message about harmful technology [1] should resonate with doctors. Encourage her politely to change her lifestyle just as you would commit to changing your diet and exercise if she told you to. [1] https://digitalvegan.net https://digitalvegan.net
- wnolens 4y ago
  > Help your doctor friend [...] but also make it clear that [...] what you're doing comes with a message that you expect her to pass on I don't really agree with this part. You can't demand that another adopt your morals, certainly not genuinely by offering conditional help. I avoid people like this, because they think they've figured out what's best for someone else and judge everyone who doesn't think the same. Just aim for the highest good, and course correct since chances are you don't know what that really is. Others will join or oppose you, that's feedback.

ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago

> I'm trying to start small by helping my one friend who is a doctor to streamline her office tech. I think I could give her 20% of her time back performing repetitive tasks. Sounds like a worthy cause. The ten-year project that I mentioned was actually ready to go, after a couple of years. All the rest of the time, was spent, talking about it, and trying to help people use it, until it went viral, and was taken over by a fairly accomplished team. Thanks to them, it has become a lot bigger than I could have made it.

wnolens 4y ago
Awesome. If I may ask: what was this project?
- ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
  I don’t really mention it in public, but it’s no secret. If you visit the littlegreenviper.com Web site, I tell the origin story, under “Miscellany.” If you contact me, I’m happy to share it. It’s aimed at a very specific demographic.

nonrandomstring 4y ago

> I have a hard time believing in any organization's ability to affect meaningful change. Organisations are generally pretty shit at achieving anything. But the good news is that individuals can and do make a difference and ultimately change things. It's the small wins that count. Changing one person's habits. Getting one more friend to drop BigTech. Getting one teacher to rethink the effect of over-connectedness on our children. Showing one person the problem of e-waste and seeing them jail-break an old phone instead of buying a new one. You overcome the myth of "the they" (the hordes of mindless "users" who just want convenience uber-alles that we always hear about on HN) one real person at a time. Then you start to see friends and colleagues reflecting good values back at you. Help your doctor friend streamline her time with real computing tools, but also make it clear that you're not a charity, or a mug and that what you're doing comes with a message that you expect her to pass on. The health message about harmful technology [1] should resonate with doctors. Encourage her politely to change her lifestyle just as you would commit to changing your diet and exercise if she told you to. [1] https://digitalvegan.net https://digitalvegan.net

wnolens 4y ago
> Help your doctor friend [...] but also make it clear that [...] what you're doing comes with a message that you expect her to pass on I don't really agree with this part. You can't demand that another adopt your morals, certainly not genuinely by offering conditional help. I avoid people like this, because they think they've figured out what's best for someone else and judge everyone who doesn't think the same. Just aim for the highest good, and course correct since chances are you don't know what that really is. Others will join or oppose you, that's feedback.