Ask HN: Where is there actual innovation in government? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Where is there actual innovation in government?

7 pointsRichardHeart4 comments

We're used to fast progress and easy to identify losers and winners in the business and especially tech world. I can't think off the top of my head where there's actual progress in governance, though surely it must exist somewhere?

I like Ranked list voting, voting tests, doubling official salaries, no working for people you regulated, private voting in congress, less corporate money buying elections.

Are these system oriented approaches being done or tried anywhere? Is there some other good innovation going on somewhere?

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Innovation is evwrywhere in government. I imagine you don't see it because yoy are only focused on the federal level.

For example, in an effort to promote caring for the urban landscape, New York City, through an army of volunteers, mapped all of the trees. in its 5 boroughs, including the species, what state it is in, what care. it needs, its measurements, how it benefits the surrounding community, and more and its all available as an app here: https://tree-map.nycgovparks.org

There are tons of examples of innovations at the city and neighborhood level.

How, dont you see it ? The government then must do something to make you see it. You remind me of that movie 1984 inspired by George Orwrell. One character says: 'we dont destroy our enemies, we make them see what we want them to see'. Worse that brainwashing.

Not many engineers seem to be interested in politics government and what is (not) being done with the tax you pay. People care about being upvoted not about politics. Votes dont mean anything to me, freedom of speech is more important.

The US government (via DARPA, NASA, University grants etc.) invented the internet, stealth fighters and MANY MANY other leading edge technologies that private companies then took advantage of. In other words, companies that you might admire (Google, Boing etc.) would not exist without the government investing in blue sky research.

For the most part, "innovation" is a just a side effect of trying to optimise a specific goal (eg: money, control etc)

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