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Yeah. We live in a crazy time, when people think a convenience for a $400 device is "changing the world." You're right… it IS arrogant. And it's also sad, like

Yeah. We live in a crazy time, when people think a convenience for a $400 device is "changing the world." You're right… it IS arrogant. And it's also sad, like a group of little kids talking about how important and badass they are, who they're gonna beat up and which famous actress/actor they're going to marry, right up til mom & dad call them home. Especially because they seem to be in denial that it's all fantasy. This year we (my husband & I) funded 3 full fistula surgeries for poor women in the developing world: http://www.fistulafoundation.org/whatyoucando/loveasister.html http://www.fistulafoundation.org/whatyoucando/loveasister.ht... For the low low cost of $1500, we gave three women back the ability to be productive, to be a part of their communities again, to be free from stigma… in short, not to be covered in their own excrement and urine all the time, for the lack of a simple surgery. Three women. Changed lives. And all it took was a little bit of our money and an organization that is actually changing the world. I had it easy… I just had to fork over the money. They're the ones on the ground making it happen. Doctors who do the surgeries in adverse conditions, coordinating to keep costs low, taking care of the women post-op, the women who walk so far to get taken care of and endure all the awful things they've endured… We just develop software. No big deal. I think people like to wrap themselves in illusions because they think it'll make them feel better… when really, deep down, they know they're lying to themselves, which only makes them feel worse. Screw grandiosity.

danso 14y ago
Sorry, but I think the dismissive attitude behind "We just develop software. no big deal" is not at all helpful. Having seen how software interfaces can greatly enable - or hamper -- professionals in the educational, medical, and law fields, I don't see software as just being some rich trivial luxury that's e cherry on top of other professionals' hard honest work.
- pyre 14y ago
  "We just develop software. no big deal" might just be extreme in the opposite direction, but there's a gap between "is really useful to people" and "changing the world" though that some people don't seem to see. Things that I would call "world changing": 1. Improving education (e.g. Kahn Academy) 2. Curing disease. 3. Reducing/eliminating poverty. etc. Creating a B2B app that is used globally is not what I would call "world changing." It's obviously really useful to people and has great reach, which is something to be excited about, but "We're Changing The World(tm)" is over-stating your case.
- ahoyhere 14y ago
  If you can't see the gulf between being a doctor who dedicates his/her life to doing surgery in remote, third-world locations, for a pittance, in order to restore the lives of poor women, vs sitting in a comfy office in the first world developing software on a $2500 computer for a $400+ device… what can I say to persuade you? Sure, there are some bits of software that save lives… but that's not what the "startups" in question are doing, is it? The rest is simple convenience. Convenience is nice and all, and everybody loves it, and it pays well, and it can increase human productivity and connectedness, but that isn't really world-changing. Nobody on HN is inventing the next telegraph, or the next x-ray. It's all variations and slight improvements on things that already exist. It's just software. No big deal. And yet the phrase "changing the world" or "change the world" is the one on everyone's lips. Make no mistake, I love what I do, and I'm not cut out to be that doctor in any way. I'm happy with my place in the world. I've also got no illusions that, in the grand scheme of things, I'm 'changing the world' or, really, very important to anyone but my immediate circle of loved ones. Believe me, this is a better way to live. The more you talk yourself up, the more you believe you're super ultra important and doing super ultra important work, the more you create a gulf between your exterior grandiose persona people see and your interior doubt and insecurity, the more you are isolated, the more you are alone, the more you risk losing if you make a mistake, the more social excoriation you (feel) you deserve/are likely to get, the more scared you are to ask for help or admit fear, the more hopeless you feel when you fuck up, the more likely you are to cut yourself off from others, to work yourself to death, to commit suicide. And the saddest part of all is that it was all in your head. You weren't that important to start with. You can fuck up and the world keeps turning, just as it had. Nobody dies because you run out of money or kill your startup through an oversight. Having a realistic understanding of your importance to the world makes you free to experiment, to ask for help, to admit failure, to make mistakes, and not feel badly about it. You don't have to feel like you're losing face, risking anything, or letting anyone down. Grandiosity, on the other hand, imbues every act with such great importance that it seems like a matter of life or death. Grandiosity feels good right up until it becomes clear you're just a human after all. Unfortunately, then grandiosity sometimes literally becomes a matter of life or death. It's deadly easy to substitute one factually false self-image (grandiosity) with another factually false self-image (despairing that you're the worst person ever and there's no escape). This is sad. And it's all the more sad because it's totally avoidable. NB: If you recognize yourself in the descriptions of grandiosity (and its side effects) above, know that I'm not a doctor. But my best recommendation is the audiobook (specifically the AUDIO book) of When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron. It's a life-saving, life-affirming dose of reality.

danso 14y ago

Sorry, but I think the dismissive attitude behind "We just develop software. no big deal" is not at all helpful. Having seen how software interfaces can greatly enable - or hamper -- professionals in the educational, medical, and law fields, I don't see software as just being some rich trivial luxury that's e cherry on top of other professionals' hard honest work.

pyre 14y ago
"We just develop software. no big deal" might just be extreme in the opposite direction, but there's a gap between "is really useful to people" and "changing the world" though that some people don't seem to see. Things that I would call "world changing": 1. Improving education (e.g. Kahn Academy) 2. Curing disease. 3. Reducing/eliminating poverty. etc. Creating a B2B app that is used globally is not what I would call "world changing." It's obviously really useful to people and has great reach, which is something to be excited about, but "We're Changing The World(tm)" is over-stating your case.
ahoyhere 14y ago
If you can't see the gulf between being a doctor who dedicates his/her life to doing surgery in remote, third-world locations, for a pittance, in order to restore the lives of poor women, vs sitting in a comfy office in the first world developing software on a $2500 computer for a $400+ device… what can I say to persuade you? Sure, there are some bits of software that save lives… but that's not what the "startups" in question are doing, is it? The rest is simple convenience. Convenience is nice and all, and everybody loves it, and it pays well, and it can increase human productivity and connectedness, but that isn't really world-changing. Nobody on HN is inventing the next telegraph, or the next x-ray. It's all variations and slight improvements on things that already exist. It's just software. No big deal. And yet the phrase "changing the world" or "change the world" is the one on everyone's lips. Make no mistake, I love what I do, and I'm not cut out to be that doctor in any way. I'm happy with my place in the world. I've also got no illusions that, in the grand scheme of things, I'm 'changing the world' or, really, very important to anyone but my immediate circle of loved ones. Believe me, this is a better way to live. The more you talk yourself up, the more you believe you're super ultra important and doing super ultra important work, the more you create a gulf between your exterior grandiose persona people see and your interior doubt and insecurity, the more you are isolated, the more you are alone, the more you risk losing if you make a mistake, the more social excoriation you (feel) you deserve/are likely to get, the more scared you are to ask for help or admit fear, the more hopeless you feel when you fuck up, the more likely you are to cut yourself off from others, to work yourself to death, to commit suicide. And the saddest part of all is that it was all in your head. You weren't that important to start with. You can fuck up and the world keeps turning, just as it had. Nobody dies because you run out of money or kill your startup through an oversight. Having a realistic understanding of your importance to the world makes you free to experiment, to ask for help, to admit failure, to make mistakes, and not feel badly about it. You don't have to feel like you're losing face, risking anything, or letting anyone down. Grandiosity, on the other hand, imbues every act with such great importance that it seems like a matter of life or death. Grandiosity feels good right up until it becomes clear you're just a human after all. Unfortunately, then grandiosity sometimes literally becomes a matter of life or death. It's deadly easy to substitute one factually false self-image (grandiosity) with another factually false self-image (despairing that you're the worst person ever and there's no escape). This is sad. And it's all the more sad because it's totally avoidable. NB: If you recognize yourself in the descriptions of grandiosity (and its side effects) above, know that I'm not a doctor. But my best recommendation is the audiobook (specifically the AUDIO book) of When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron. It's a life-saving, life-affirming dose of reality.