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Comment by javajosh | Hacker News Reader

This post sucks. There are a lot of reasons for sucking, such as describing a non-problem. That's not this posts problem. This posts problem is that it describes a very real problem, and then basically throws up it's hands in defeat. That's actually worse than not saying anything at all, as it leaves the reader upset, but with no balm for the wound.

Thanks for wounding me and not giving me a bandage. Or, as I've heard it put, "If you're going to show someone a pile of shit, you better also show them the shovel."

So, taking my own medicine, here's the shovel for a post like this: stop writing posts describing problems that you have no ability, no ideas, and no real capability to solve. Otherwise you're just indulging in self-centered, self-hating navel gazing which does absolutely nothing for the world. I realize that sounds harsh, but it's a useful filter to apply to yourself. Only share actionable anxieties.

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stop writing posts describing problems that you have no ability, no ideas, and no real capability to solve.

This is a moronic thing to say. First, diagnosis is valuable in and of itself. Second, awareness of a problem shouldn't wait on a solution. Third, you're basically saying that, for any problem beyond a certain individually-addressable size, just don't talk about it because the author can't do anything about it. I don't think that's exactly what you meant, but that's what you said.

She didn't wound you. She pointed out that you're bleeding. If she doesn't have a bandage to give you, should she just ignore the spreading pool at your feet?

a) that's an ad hominim. I never attacked the author, and you are attacking me. Apology accepted in advance.

b) there is a large class of problem which only induces anxiety. For example, lamenting the "disconnection" between people in a modern, technology mediated society (which is a lament that's been going since the industrial revolution, and is no less valid now as then).

When we accept that large, impersonal forces shape the world in ways that, when we are thoughtful enough, realize are wrong or flawed, then we give up personal agency in fixing the problem. When you see a large, impersonal force causing a large, impersonal problem, the correct action is to file it away and keep your eyes open for opportunities to help people who both see the problem and have a solution.

That's just how I feel about the matter; others are welcome to have different beliefs.

I called your statement moronic, not you. I will not be apologizing for doing so. If I say something idiotic, calling it such does not entail that I am an idiot.

There may or may not be a class of problems that only induces anxiety, but your example is not a member of that class even if such a class exists. Trivially, I can address the disconnection between people in our technologically mediated society by going out and meeting people in person. If I write a lament about that disconnection, I'm not speaking out solely to induce anxiety, I'm doing so to urge people to turn of their computers, to quit starting at their iPhone, and to go out and make personal connections.

More specifically, Ms. Bracy is not, in any sense, suggesting that the problem she identifies is insoluble, or that it cannot be addressed by individuals. She says, in part:

What if, instead of imploring people to vote on Facebook’s privacy policies, we were pushing Florida lawmakers into fixing the state’s broken voting system? What if prison reform advocates could speak as loudly as the anti-SOPA activists?

More generally, her post is a plea for the participants of the Valley startup scene to look to address problems outside their own, quite limited experience. That's not anxiety-inducing, that's an exhortation. The fact that she doesn't link to a kickstarter for a specific project doesn't undercut that point. It's easy to imagine someone in the Valley casting about for a good idea to decide to say to themselves "We don't need another socially networked tastes-organizing app. What problems are worth solving in St. Louis for people who don't have smartphones?"

You have an extremely limited view of 'agency' if you think Ms. Bracy's post exists solely to make you feel badly.

Sorry. You're right. But I don't think I'm throwing up my hands. I think there are many solutions and certainly not ones that are easily laid out as a final paragraph in a post like this. I'll definitely follow up when I think I have ideas (or share other good ones when I see them) but for me this post was an important first step to clarify my thinking about what the problem is.

No, he's not right. As I said above, accurate diagnosis is worthwhile in and of itself. Ideas to address it are great, but don't let the lack of ideas prevent you from clearly identifying something worth addressing.

If it's such a huge problem why don't you go fix it?

Or are you volunteering other peoples time?

It takes more than one person to fix this mess.

For example it takes having not only a working business plan, but a working business plan that makes sense.

For example it takes a quality control, six sigma program to make sure hardware and software costs less to support than the revenue it brings in.

For example it takes VCs not afraid of investing in teams and organizations of people not heard of before, that have good ideas, but need to hire experienced people to guide them.

For example it requires companies to hire more people in the USA instead of offshoring to cheaper labor markets in foreign nations. Make it affordable by doing cross-training of different factory positions like New Balance Shoes does, only do it for hardware.

For example it takes people who actually know how to run a business instead of the inner circle of elite social kliks who either lack degrees or have the wrong ones.

For example it takes giving the public what they want, instead of telling them what they want and changing how your product works just because it has a 'new look' or is 'shiny' but confuses a majority of the users. (Windows 8/RT)

For example it takes reforming the way business is done in SV, end the overpaying of executives (esp when the company turns a loss) and make executive pay based on how profitable the company is, and pay the employees more salary with better benefits by cutting executive salaries.

I'm aware that many systemic problems require multiple people to resolve as your incredibly insightful comment notes.

This post however, is complaining for the sake of complaining. I for one do not rail against the Second Law of Thermodynamics for destroying my beautiful perpetual motion machine ideas.

Similarly, offering vague pablums on the state of business in Silicon Valley without real solutions is at best indulgent.

Only share actionable anxieties.

Just because an anxiety is not actionable by you does not mean that it is not actionable by someone else. And one way you, who lack the means to solve the problem, can motivate people who can to do so is by raising the profile of the problem. Writing about it is a way to do that.

When Thomas Paine wrote of "the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot" in The American Crisis, he didn't have any direct way to stop soldiers from deserting from George Washington's army because the weather was cold and the fighting was rough. All he could do was highlight the problem of desertion and point out the consequences of their actions. Does that mean he shouldn't have written it?

You will note that Thomas Paine did not write "The deserting soldier and the sad but inevitable mindset of cowardice".

I didn't read this as the author giving up. She isn't offering solutions at this point but is asking for increased dialog in hopes of seeding action.

Quote from author:

"I also realize I’m not offering any solutions. But I really can’t think of a better place than right here to start working on some. More to come soon on what shape that actually takes."

For those of us who live in the SF bay region/SV, we do have a say in what goes on here. We start by discussing the problems we see. We brainstorm ideas about how we can change the status quo. We self-organize and begin to enact the changes we want to see. Isn't this what innovation is about and what SV is famous for?

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