Submission + - Ask Slashdot: What are good things for the world techies could do?
marmot7 writes: I'm not super impressed with problems that such as the latest app that solves some made up problem. I am impressed by apps that solve real problems. I'm not saying that the app ecosystem that will make sure your fridge is never without beer and your every desire is a touch away. Sure, great. OK, maybe I am impressed.
But why aren't the smartest people in our society focusing on the most important problems? I'm not saying that techies are the smartest but I don't feel that developers, sys admins, finance people, even policy wonks focus on the problems that we need to solve to have a healthy functioning society. It seems like it's mostly about short term gain and not much about making the world better. That may be just the way the market works.
Is it that there's no profit to be made in solving the most important problems? I'm puzzled by that as I would think that a good solution to an important problem could find some funding from somewhere but maybe government, for example, won't take investment risks in that way?
But why aren't the smartest people in our society focusing on the most important problems? I'm not saying that techies are the smartest but I don't feel that developers, sys admins, finance people, even policy wonks focus on the problems that we need to solve to have a healthy functioning society. It seems like it's mostly about short term gain and not much about making the world better. That may be just the way the market works.
Is it that there's no profit to be made in solving the most important problems? I'm puzzled by that as I would think that a good solution to an important problem could find some funding from somewhere but maybe government, for example, won't take investment risks in that way?
