Ask HN: If money was no object, what ambitious project would you work on?

The late Douglas Engelbart [1] had a vision, one in which humans and their tools (IT) co-evolve (which really isn't happening the way it should) in order to improve overall capabilities in facing ever more complex and urgent problems. There are many projects ongoing today which exist in the space created by that vision, but they are all fighting for scarce resources, so they tend to compete rather than collaborate. Some of those projects are mounted by wealthy high-tech entities, many of which do not understand that their own business models are a part of the emerging and urgent problem space.

In my view, there is a profound need to reshape the overall landscape. In doing so, there is an enormous need to find ways to tame human conversation, get people talking - and listening - again.

I would be (I am) as deeply engaged in being a member of the possibly enormous entity which takes on taming conversation. There is no way to "reduce" the world's grand issues down to one solution; still, you need to start somewhere. Finding ways to change the narrative seems critical - at least, to me.

I did not wait for money being no object - that's a grand fantasy - but a few friends and I chose to enter the Engelbartian space by melding game mechanics, guild social dynamics, and epic quests with human conversations about matters that matter. Our work is open source. Any business models which grow up in that space cannot be more of what we have today; exploring financially sustainable business models without exploiting human dignity and privacy remains a crucial aspect of our work.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Engelbart

Finding a process to make desalinization cheap and not a torture on ecology.

Lots of Crazy ideas. Rebuilding everything we currently called Tech. From Search Eninge, Social Network, Web, OS, Smartphone, PC etc. I guess these are more like dreams rather than Goals.

But I would love to start the push to rebuilding the Supply Chain across the world.

Hopefully I can quit my current job soon.

Help anyone struggling on San Francisco's streets that wants help.

I keep having the recurring idea of building a pyramid, or other monument. Ideally somewhere deep in the woods so it wasn't discovered for many many years..

Getting stone, building it, could take years even with a lot of volunteers - and of course the moment you have an army of labourers the idea of secrecy goes out the window!

Still it's a fun daydream.

I would build a FOSS case management system for public defenders and other nonprofit/pro bono service workers. The idea would be that your criminal lawyer can share data with your social worker, immigration lawyer, etc. seamlessly, and that all those workers can get data from the courts.

A modern smalltalk OS.

- New computer design (I have many ideas), without USB, Unicode, HDMI, spyware, etc. Including new instruction set even, if needed. Everything would be patent-free, FOSS, and include full documentation.

- Non-smart TV and other stuff. It should good quality and last for long enough time, too.

- More trees, etc.

The Helsinki–Tallinn Tunnel

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helsinki%E2%80%93Tallinn_Tunne...

Try to build a nyt competitor

If it had to be more of a techie project, prob try to create... a safer e-scooter

Make a new Amiga based on ARM that can run OSX software.

Re-read every book from undergrad.