News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Ask HN: Given that I am a Software Engineer, how could I ... by dangerface on Wednesday August 07, 2019 @09:11AM (#20634347)
Things that scale

Social media is supposed to allow communication and bring people together, I can't mention a social media site that actually does this, theres a need.

Our broken monetary system that makes the rich richer and the poor poorer. But then again theres enough crypto currencies in the world.

Representative democracies are broken there needs to be a distributed cryptographically secure voting system.

Things that don't

Volunteer at local charities, they have lots of stuff they should automate but don't have the skills to do so. Most will get you doing the general volunteer work that can be done by anyone, this is a mistake as they won't understand what you can do you need to make them aware how they should be using you and your skills.

Take your problem solving skills to a new job / career and solve problems with something other than software.

Re:Ask HN: Given that I am a Software Engineer, how could I ... by partomniscient on Wednesday August 07, 2019 @11:24AM (#20635560)
>they have lots of stuff they should automate but don't have the skills to do so.

I used to be in that mindset, but as I grew older I've reconsidered. You may leave them in a worse situation as now they have less control, less understanding and if they need to change things and you or someone very similar to you (which is a rare combination) is no longer available, they're basically stuck.

Of course this is very situational, but it's easy to fall into this trap. Charities in and of themselves can be stuck in the same anti-pattern if they leave a void where they used to be.

Re:Ask HN: Given that I am a Software Engineer, how could I ... by ekr on Wednesday August 07, 2019 @11:09AM (#20635396)
> Our broken monetary system that makes the rich richer and the poor poorer. But then again theres enough crypto currencies in the world.

The monetary system itself is fine as an exchange medium (apart from it being controller by non-neutral, corruptible actors, i.e. the state). It's the distribution of resources that's the problem, and that's a policy issue.

Re:Ask HN: Given that I am a Software Engineer, how could I ... by dangerface on Thursday August 08, 2019 @09:42AM (#20644453)
True but the people that hold the resources usually hold the political power with it.

I think it's easier to fix the monetary system than to fix the political one.