Re:Ask HN: Are you working on interesting technical problems?
by TrinaryWorksToo on Tuesday June 05, 2018 @10:39AM
(#17238025)
The trick for me is realizing that P doesn't easily equal NP, which means that solving satisfaction problems is a challenging thing to do. But everyone knows when it has been solved. Lots of people have an idea of what should happen, few know how to do it. If you find that for some reason you're uniquely qualified to produce some process, you can figure out if it solves someone's problem. Then other people can share their resources which they are uniquely qualified to make, and their problems are then solvable in P time, while they would have to do the NP task of learning how you do your thing. Then you as an individual have a lot of leverage because any change you make to your system, everyone will have to use, provided it's a verifiable improvement.
Re:Ask HN: Are you working on interesting technical problems?
by smichel17 on Tuesday June 05, 2018 @09:37AM
(#17237438)
I haven't given up on thinking I might be able to influence the system. Specifically, I hope my volunteer work on snowdrift.coop can move the needle a bit.
https://wiki.snowdrift.coop is probably the best introduction right now; the main site is in the process of being updated.
Re:Ask HN: Are you working on interesting technical problems?
by quadcore on Tuesday June 05, 2018 @10:16PM
(#17243878)
There should be a name to the phenomenon that humans seem to become crushingly depressed once they start to grasp the big picture dynamics of the system they're encapsulated within.
I agree. Maybe there is a word for that?
'Attachment to expectation'. See buddhism.
Personally, understanding the "big picture dynamics" of systems is kind of an intellectual porn for me. I loved doing that for as long as I remembered. It always came with the sense of control - understanding the systems means you could tweak it to your liking, if you so desired.
Finally realizing that the system in which we live is basically uncontrollable by an individual within it has blindsided me. So many interesting things happening, so many interesting things that need to be done still, and yet all you and I get to be are observers and consumers of whatever the system happens to spit out.