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To sum it up- poverty brings you the experience of a thirld world enviroment. Constant stress and existential crisis/dread. Can you write a app for that? One w

To sum it up- poverty brings you the experience of a thirld world enviroment. Constant stress and existential crisis/dread. Can you write a app for that? One where creatures in crisis find other creatures in crisis nearby, forming a add-hoc anti-stress community that also teaches itself the basics to startup society against all odds?

clsec 11y ago
Extreme poverty, especially where violence is involved (common), is likely to cause symptoms of PTSD. So I'm not so sure about forming an ad-hoc anti-stress community. Currently the only thing that could be compared to that would be a mental health clinic. Which I would think would be a much healthier approach than putting a bunch of PTSD sufferers together in an ad-hoc manner.
dannypgh 11y ago
You've basically just described street organizations (gangs), which needed no app to be created. Maybe you can end their criminalization, end the war on drugs, or figure out a way to create gang unity with am app?
Filthy_casual 11y ago
The problem with that is: Once you build this service, how do you give access to the impoverished people? For instance, I would be homeless sleeping on benches if not for my parents and my computer is almost 8 years old, my mobile phone is over a decade old. I would seek people who feel like I do but they also look after themselves first, since the conditions are "eat or get eaten". There was also one guy who just surrendered to his fate and all he did was abuse the fact that his parents provide him with a soft pillow to stand, only to play video games day in and day out. The very definition of NEET. My point being, someone else has to provide them with internet access, and even then, there is not much that you can do.
- rancur 11y ago
  we have obamaphone. now we have obama-app
yummyfajitas 11y ago
To sum it up- poverty brings you the experience of a thirld world enviroment. Western poverty does not do this. Most folks suffering western style poverty have an abundance of food, clean water, power, sanitation, leisure, education and health care. Having just come back from India, it's not even a close comparison. Any stress/existential crisis/dread is purely based on status envy or pathologies caused by other (relatively) poor westerners.
- nitrogen 11y ago
  This kind of judgmental appeal to worse problems is completely counterproductive to solving western poverty, and ignores those who do not have access to abundant food, leisure, and health care. This can happen for a number of reasons, including stigmatization of welfare assistance, lack of awareness of available programs, incomes too high to qualify for aid but too low to live on (especially for those poor who do not have children), medical conditions that prevent one from reaching the social services before 5PM close (even things as simple and unappreciated as chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, delayed sleep phase, and PTSD), or lack of transportation ($5 for food, or for bus/gasoline?).
a8da6b0c91d 11y ago
There's been a bunch of research on Korean War orphans adopted to the West. Kids literally stunted from malnutrition, and traumatized by the direct experience of war as well as the death of their parents and families. As adults they test higher for intelligence than the native occidental populations they joined. Take that for what it's worth.
- rancur 11y ago
  > they test higher for intelligence than oh, why?
task_queue 11y ago
You are looking in the wrong direction for a solution. The world doesn't need another * social app.
- Nicholas_C 11y ago
  The comment you're replying to almost seems satirical in nature but I cant be sure. Poe's law in effect.
  - task_queue 11y ago
    I desperately want to agree, but this is HN. The other week someone suggested an app that gamified escaping homelessness as a solution to homelessness.

clsec 11y ago

Extreme poverty, especially where violence is involved (common), is likely to cause symptoms of PTSD. So I'm not so sure about forming an ad-hoc anti-stress community. Currently the only thing that could be compared to that would be a mental health clinic. Which I would think would be a much healthier approach than putting a bunch of PTSD sufferers together in an ad-hoc manner.

dannypgh 11y ago

You've basically just described street organizations (gangs), which needed no app to be created. Maybe you can end their criminalization, end the war on drugs, or figure out a way to create gang unity with am app?

Filthy_casual 11y ago

The problem with that is: Once you build this service, how do you give access to the impoverished people? For instance, I would be homeless sleeping on benches if not for my parents and my computer is almost 8 years old, my mobile phone is over a decade old. I would seek people who feel like I do but they also look after themselves first, since the conditions are "eat or get eaten". There was also one guy who just surrendered to his fate and all he did was abuse the fact that his parents provide him with a soft pillow to stand, only to play video games day in and day out. The very definition of NEET. My point being, someone else has to provide them with internet access, and even then, there is not much that you can do.

rancur 11y ago
we have obamaphone. now we have obama-app

yummyfajitas 11y ago

To sum it up- poverty brings you the experience of a thirld world enviroment. Western poverty does not do this. Most folks suffering western style poverty have an abundance of food, clean water, power, sanitation, leisure, education and health care. Having just come back from India, it's not even a close comparison. Any stress/existential crisis/dread is purely based on status envy or pathologies caused by other (relatively) poor westerners.

nitrogen 11y ago
This kind of judgmental appeal to worse problems is completely counterproductive to solving western poverty, and ignores those who do not have access to abundant food, leisure, and health care. This can happen for a number of reasons, including stigmatization of welfare assistance, lack of awareness of available programs, incomes too high to qualify for aid but too low to live on (especially for those poor who do not have children), medical conditions that prevent one from reaching the social services before 5PM close (even things as simple and unappreciated as chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, delayed sleep phase, and PTSD), or lack of transportation ($5 for food, or for bus/gasoline?).

a8da6b0c91d 11y ago

There's been a bunch of research on Korean War orphans adopted to the West. Kids literally stunted from malnutrition, and traumatized by the direct experience of war as well as the death of their parents and families. As adults they test higher for intelligence than the native occidental populations they joined. Take that for what it's worth.

rancur 11y ago
> they test higher for intelligence than oh, why?

task_queue 11y ago

You are looking in the wrong direction for a solution. The world doesn't need another * social app.

Nicholas_C 11y ago
The comment you're replying to almost seems satirical in nature but I cant be sure. Poe's law in effect.
- task_queue 11y ago
  I desperately want to agree, but this is HN. The other week someone suggested an app that gamified escaping homelessness as a solution to homelessness.