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Food scarcity, poverty, clean water, basic health care. These are IMO excellent examples of people problems, not tech problems. If it were tech problems we wou

Food scarcity, poverty, clean water, basic health care. These are IMO excellent examples of people problems, not tech problems. If it were tech problems we wouldn’t be drinking clean water, driving Teslas and eating fancy food now would we? These are more or less solved issues. Now what we have not solved is how to share our toys. Of course, tech could help to lower barrier(s), making access so cheap even “they” can have it, but the fundamental problem here is: why do “we” have “it” and “they” do not? These are deeply political problems with exceedingly thin ties to technology. I feel focusing on tech distracts from the true issues which are again political and cultural, related to, say, the economy and its underlying philosophy itself, education, geography, history, etc. I don’t know where exactly tech ends up on this list of major factors, but it’s not on the first few pages. Interestingly I think it is the diplomacy and activism that enabled the resources to open up and drives activity in tech that then eventually winds up where it needs to.

sameoldtune 2y ago
It’s the trickle down theory all over again. If our toys are /extremely/ nice then surely global poverty will be relieved!?
- msandford 2y ago
  Well I mean folks in the developing world now have mobile phones which is really changing the way things work. It doesn't immediately install a new government and raise everyone instantly out of poverty but it's likely a big improvement to quality of life. I'm sure it's not all upside either. But I suspect that this is one case if trickle down actually working.
  - saturn8601 2y ago
    And eventually the Chinese will sell every person in the third world a dirt cheap electric mini car. Sounds like in some areas the technology solution is changing lives and improving the situation despite poor governance.
    - Eddy_Viscosity2 2y ago
      Everybody having a car (electric or otherwise) just creates new problems. Can we use technology to get governments to invest in fast and efficient public transportations and divest in car infrastructure? Is there technology that can do that?
      - saturn8601 2y ago
        This same stupid idea came up at this years Chaos Communication Congress to thunderous applause. Its a very European mentality. The first government that imposes that people take the bus will be the first government that gets voted out in record time. The left wing activists cannot seem to internalize that many people generally like the car and want the freedom of personal transport. These groups are now paying for their disregard as left wing governments are starting to get booted out or are on the verge of getting booted out.
        Eddy_Viscosity2 2y ago
        Interesting that you see giving people the choice of efficient public transportation is 'imposing' but building ever bigger freeways and interchanges is somehow not imposing a system on people. For your info: https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/07-10-2024/traffic-is-made-of-cars https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/07-10-2024/traffic-is-made...
      - erik_seaberg 2y ago
        Transit sacrifices speed for efficiency--long headways, meandering routes, sometimes cumbersome crowds, nothing for the last mile. To be fast, a system needs to arrive on demand and go point to point, which implies a lot of vehicles that don't need to be huge.
logical42 2y ago
food scarcity could be viewed as a bin packing problem when you consider the amount of food that gets thrown away.

sameoldtune 2y ago

It’s the trickle down theory all over again. If our toys are /extremely/ nice then surely global poverty will be relieved!?

msandford 2y ago
Well I mean folks in the developing world now have mobile phones which is really changing the way things work. It doesn't immediately install a new government and raise everyone instantly out of poverty but it's likely a big improvement to quality of life. I'm sure it's not all upside either. But I suspect that this is one case if trickle down actually working.
- saturn8601 2y ago
  And eventually the Chinese will sell every person in the third world a dirt cheap electric mini car. Sounds like in some areas the technology solution is changing lives and improving the situation despite poor governance.
  - Eddy_Viscosity2 2y ago
    Everybody having a car (electric or otherwise) just creates new problems. Can we use technology to get governments to invest in fast and efficient public transportations and divest in car infrastructure? Is there technology that can do that?
    - saturn8601 2y ago
      This same stupid idea came up at this years Chaos Communication Congress to thunderous applause. Its a very European mentality. The first government that imposes that people take the bus will be the first government that gets voted out in record time. The left wing activists cannot seem to internalize that many people generally like the car and want the freedom of personal transport. These groups are now paying for their disregard as left wing governments are starting to get booted out or are on the verge of getting booted out.
      - Eddy_Viscosity2 2y ago
        Interesting that you see giving people the choice of efficient public transportation is 'imposing' but building ever bigger freeways and interchanges is somehow not imposing a system on people. For your info: https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/07-10-2024/traffic-is-made-of-cars https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/07-10-2024/traffic-is-made...
    - erik_seaberg 2y ago
      Transit sacrifices speed for efficiency--long headways, meandering routes, sometimes cumbersome crowds, nothing for the last mile. To be fast, a system needs to arrive on demand and go point to point, which implies a lot of vehicles that don't need to be huge.

logical42 2y ago

food scarcity could be viewed as a bin packing problem when you consider the amount of food that gets thrown away.