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I don't mean any disrepect, but this comments seems a lot like the comments on the recent "Show HN: Dropbox" page from 2007, you are trying to think of a way th

by chrisgd 13y ago

I don't mean any disrepect, but this comments seems a lot like the comments on the recent "Show HN: Dropbox" page from 2007, you are trying to think of a way this would fail, rather than potential uses. Solving the issue of access to air conditioning or heating for the poor is a completely seperate issue than providing a solution to help lower our use of A/C or heating.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
001sky 13y ago
MIT Wristband Could Make AC Obsolete It may be an issue with the Wired author, but the headline warrants qualification. People dying would be one such qualification. It really has little to do with the startup itself (if any). So the Dropbox allusion is just off base. People that have experience in extreme environments have reason to be wary of anything such as this. To use another analogy, its akin to taking pain medication to run with an injury. It would be irresponsible to say that such medication "would make doctors obsolete". In other words, by treating a syptom (pain) and not the problem (injury), you may actually be increasing risk (further, more severe injury). The concept of a personal cooling system itself is not science fiction or without merit. Its actually rooted in golden era of the space program. But there are resons the Apollo solutions did not look like this.
j_s 13y ago
So tempted to go meta on how your comment seems like a lot of comments ever since the recent re-discussion of the "Show HN: Dropbox"... where were the nay-nay-sayers before 2 weeks ago? Feedback such as the OP is beneficial to product development as a reminder to cover every aspect of potential improvement and protection from liability.
- chrisgd 13y ago
  Feel free to go meta, don't hold back. Real feedback related to improvement and liability protection would stem from improving on the leads into the device to prevent electrocution or something similar. OP's comment could be said of fans not doing enough to prevent deaths during extreme heat waves as well since the fan helps you feel cooler, but it may not be enough to overcome ambient temperature.
  - nitrogen 13y ago
    Fans can actually make you cooler by increasing evaporation of your sweat.
  - slavak 13y ago
    A fan doesn't help you _feel_ cooler, it actually helps cool your body by increasing air circulation and thus improving the rate of heat exchange. This device, OTOH, is explicitly intended to trick your body, potentially compromising its internal defenses against overheating. OP's comment wasn't about being negative or knocking someone else's hard work; [s]he's simply pointing out what appears to be a very real safety concern in the system that needs to be addressed. Your suggestion that preventing electrocution on a device presumably powered by batteries is more safety-critical than this seemingly very real health risk that affects large parts of the world is, quite frankly, ridiculous.
awj 13y ago
Not every idea is a good idea. Not all criticism is offhand dismissal. In fact, critical evaluation is necessary to separate good ideas from bad ones. HN may have gone a bit crazy on Dropbox when it came out, but the proper response is to think carefully on your critiques, not view all critique as "being negative" and dismiss it. Also, seriously, how is "this device could injure someone when they aren't aware of dangerous body temperatures" not a point that should be addressed?
elwell 13y ago
One could argue that the criticism Dropbox received from HN contributed to their success.
olefoo 13y ago
Engineers trade in failure modes. That's 99% of engineering; so to tell a site full of engineers that they shouldn't look at how an idea could fail ( especially catastrophic failure modes that could cost people's lives ) is going to get you mocked mercilessly and rightly so. And notably; Dropbox has had some serious security issues; and it should not ( even today ) be used to handle information that is sensitive, confidential, safety-critical; or part of operating a nuclear facility. And that is true, despite the fact that it's tremendously useful and popular.

by chrisgd 13y ago

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

001sky 13y ago

MIT Wristband Could Make AC Obsolete It may be an issue with the Wired author, but the headline warrants qualification. People dying would be one such qualification. It really has little to do with the startup itself (if any). So the Dropbox allusion is just off base. People that have experience in extreme environments have reason to be wary of anything such as this. To use another analogy, its akin to taking pain medication to run with an injury. It would be irresponsible to say that such medication "would make doctors obsolete". In other words, by treating a syptom (pain) and not the problem (injury), you may actually be increasing risk (further, more severe injury). The concept of a personal cooling system itself is not science fiction or without merit. Its actually rooted in golden era of the space program. But there are resons the Apollo solutions did not look like this.

j_s 13y ago

So tempted to go meta on how your comment seems like a lot of comments ever since the recent re-discussion of the "Show HN: Dropbox"... where were the nay-nay-sayers before 2 weeks ago? Feedback such as the OP is beneficial to product development as a reminder to cover every aspect of potential improvement and protection from liability.

chrisgd 13y ago
Feel free to go meta, don't hold back. Real feedback related to improvement and liability protection would stem from improving on the leads into the device to prevent electrocution or something similar. OP's comment could be said of fans not doing enough to prevent deaths during extreme heat waves as well since the fan helps you feel cooler, but it may not be enough to overcome ambient temperature.
- nitrogen 13y ago
  Fans can actually make you cooler by increasing evaporation of your sweat.
- slavak 13y ago
  A fan doesn't help you _feel_ cooler, it actually helps cool your body by increasing air circulation and thus improving the rate of heat exchange. This device, OTOH, is explicitly intended to trick your body, potentially compromising its internal defenses against overheating. OP's comment wasn't about being negative or knocking someone else's hard work; [s]he's simply pointing out what appears to be a very real safety concern in the system that needs to be addressed. Your suggestion that preventing electrocution on a device presumably powered by batteries is more safety-critical than this seemingly very real health risk that affects large parts of the world is, quite frankly, ridiculous.

awj 13y ago

Not every idea is a good idea. Not all criticism is offhand dismissal. In fact, critical evaluation is necessary to separate good ideas from bad ones. HN may have gone a bit crazy on Dropbox when it came out, but the proper response is to think carefully on your critiques, not view all critique as "being negative" and dismiss it. Also, seriously, how is "this device could injure someone when they aren't aware of dangerous body temperatures" not a point that should be addressed?

elwell 13y ago

One could argue that the criticism Dropbox received from HN contributed to their success.

olefoo 13y ago

Engineers trade in failure modes. That's 99% of engineering; so to tell a site full of engineers that they shouldn't look at how an idea could fail ( especially catastrophic failure modes that could cost people's lives ) is going to get you mocked mercilessly and rightly so. And notably; Dropbox has had some serious security issues; and it should not ( even today ) be used to handle information that is sensitive, confidential, safety-critical; or part of operating a nuclear facility. And that is true, despite the fact that it's tremendously useful and popular.