9 pointsby absurdwebsite2 hours ago4 comments
  • taurathan hour ago
    We don't need new ideas, we need to actually work towards fulfilling the ideas that we already have and are wildly popular. Like not worrying about healthcare, or spending less time at work doing bullshit to prop up social structures instead of spending time with our families, or learning something, or taking care of our community.

    Or more third spaces where leaving the house doesn't cost $80

    Or housing being affordable

    All these are human problems and startups could help with them, but so long as the desire for ideas is a means to the end of making their founders and investors individually wealthy and powerful, we will continue on this treadmill of wondering why people are more stressed, have fewer kids, don't have any optimism. Its the core conceit of this forum, built by ycombinator, that giving a fuck about each other is second to money - they used to hide it, but everyone knows exactly who they are today.

    • absurdwebsitean hour ago
      You ar right, but I don't think we're suffering from a shortage of ideas either, and I certainly don't believe every human problem needs a startup as its solution.

      This project is more of an experiment in how people imagined the future 100 years ago, and which of those possibilities might be achievable today.

      But I think your comment raises an even more interesting question: just because we can build something, does that mean it's what we should be building?

    • bboran hour ago
      Uhh I don’t think the cute science fiction site is to blame for capitalism. And capitalism is terrible, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t think we can or should even blame venture capital for it. VC has been big in the news for a while, but it’s still ultimately a small sliver of the capital pie.
      • taurath11 minutes ago
        > VC has been big in the news for a while, but it’s still ultimately a small sliver of the capital pie

        Trillions of dollars in AI right now is not a sliver its literally the growth of the US economy - maybe you don't count it as VC but the world does

  • bboran hour ago
    Fun! The “top” ideas are mostly just obvious (eg “maybe we should work on alignment?”), useless for now (eg lunar maps), or just implausible for now.

    Still, it’s a) quite thought provoking nonetheless, and b) pretty fun to scroll through as a scifi lover!

  • absurdwebsitean hour ago
    [flagged]
  • devinoldenburgan hour ago
    [dead]