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> Just as trying to think up startup ideas tends to produce bad ones, working on things that could be dismissed as "toys" often produces good ones. When somethi

> Just as trying to think up startup ideas tends to produce bad ones, working on things that could be dismissed as "toys" often produces good ones. When something is described as a toy, that means it has everything an idea needs except being important. It's cool; users love it; it just doesn't matter. But if you're living in the future and you build something cool that users love, it may matter more than outsiders think. Microcomputers seemed like toys when Apple and Microsoft started working on them. I'm old enough to remember that era; the usual term for people with their own microcomputers was "hobbyists." BackRub seemed like an inconsequential science project. The Facebook was just a way for undergrads to stalk one another. Source: https://www.paulgraham.com/startupideas.html https://www.paulgraham.com/startupideas.html

dylan604 2y ago
After all, the microwave oven came from developing nuclear weapons. Those warm air blankets used during post-op in hospitals came from NASA Apollo/Gemini/Mercury development. Who knows where what useful things could come from properly tracking a person's face so silly filters could be applied...er, wait, we have this one backwards. The silly filters are just the useful numbing down of people accepting their faces always being tracked. nevermind
- Sakos 2y ago
  In the modern era, waste is basically the 8th sin. Inefficiency is a moral failure for these people. You're only allowed to have just enough hospital beds to accommodate the current demand with a little leeway. You're only allowed to have as much stock of anything as it takes for the next shipping container to arrive and be unloaded. It's all razor-thin efficiency all the way down, with no slack available for black swan events. And then we wonder why inflation is up 100% when the logistics chains break down, then try to scapegoat whatever politician is in power at the wrong time.

dylan604 2y ago

After all, the microwave oven came from developing nuclear weapons. Those warm air blankets used during post-op in hospitals came from NASA Apollo/Gemini/Mercury development. Who knows where what useful things could come from properly tracking a person's face so silly filters could be applied...er, wait, we have this one backwards. The silly filters are just the useful numbing down of people accepting their faces always being tracked. nevermind

Sakos 2y ago
In the modern era, waste is basically the 8th sin. Inefficiency is a moral failure for these people. You're only allowed to have just enough hospital beds to accommodate the current demand with a little leeway. You're only allowed to have as much stock of anything as it takes for the next shipping container to arrive and be unloaded. It's all razor-thin efficiency all the way down, with no slack available for black swan events. And then we wonder why inflation is up 100% when the logistics chains break down, then try to scapegoat whatever politician is in power at the wrong time.