I'm the above poster's cofounder that pitched this in person with YC on April 30, 2018 - exact same name and idea. I'm definitely curious if this is just innocent coincidence.
I wouldn't be too surprised. It's a very logical name for the idea, and makes sense that other people would think of it.
To be honest, I'm not too sure if this would be the best fit for a startup incubator and VC funding. If I was a libertarian and very interested in free speech, I think I would prefer to use a platform that was bootstrapped and independent. Going through a startup incubator and taking VC funding doesn't feel very aligned with this culture.
First thing I thought of too - the only category where students ranked themselves as less proficient than they were perceived to be is technology - the one area they are probably actually proficient in.
This is quite interesting -- tangentially related, is anyone aware of studies of the long term effects of sports which include blood chokes (constricting carotids)? These might include Judo, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, as well as modern MMA and submission grappling. In these cases, there may be plenty of oxygen in the blood, but the blood flow to the brain is being restricted causing loss of consciousness.
Manufacturing is a big one -- right now most factories are still run very manually, but advances in robotics, computer vision, and AI will change the game. In terms of companies here in the bay area working on this, theres Andrew's own Landing.ai as well as Instrumental (https://www.forbes.com/sites/aarontilley/2017/06/22/instrume...).
A great read! A sharp commentary on conflating our models of reality with reality itself. So many of our current debates are simply dialogues over which model of the world is most accurate, but we have a tendency to identify our ego with our pet models, which can lead to righteous certainty that we are right and our model is in fact reality itself -- which brings all conversations to an impasse. Reminds me of this quote I read in another HN post recently: "Stanford business school’s motto is “change lives, change organizations, change the world” — though they rarely seem to know what or how. Or what the role of chance and circumstance is. But if the goal is to change something, they must have the ability to determine the future, mustn’t they?" (source: https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2017/11/western-elite-chi...)
What strikes me most about philosophy is in how core it is to everything we do — and this is something I didn’t realize for the longest time. The foundations of the economic, social, and political systems we live in are based upon philosophy; on theories of the nature of man laid down by thinkers such as Rousseau, Kant, and Smith. It turns out that “self evident truths” might actually be philosophical assertions. Philosophy is the first principle upon which many ideas we may initially take for granted rest upon, and I wonder if a general lack of explicit attention and examination on the subject is partially what enables some of the "post truth" attitudes we are seeing today. The more I learn, the more I can relate to "all I know is I know nothing."
"What strikes me most about philosophy is in how core it is to everything we do — and this is something I didn’t realize for the longest time."
Same. I used to take strong exception to the idea that philosophy was worth any amount of time to study... but then I realized any argument to reject it or degrade its utility is necessarily philosophical and changed my tune.
This has been exactly my experience as well. I've been truly blown away at seeing the Genesis of many of the science and economics that so fascinates me as being born of philosophy.
An interesting angle on studying personality is through the lens of research on psychoactive substances. A study on magic mushrooms several years ago found that "just one strong dose of hallucinogenic mushrooms can alter a person's personality for more than a year and perhaps permanently." Previously, it was posited that: "personality rarely changes much after the age of 25 or 30..... This is one of the first studies to show that you actually can change adult personality.."
This raises the follow up question: what is changing? Is there a fundamentally different reaction to the same situation, or is there instead a different interpretation of the situation which is what is leading to a different reaction?
Cognitive behavioral therapy, the "most widely used evidence-based practice for improving mental health," provides evidence that the latter is absolutely a possible answer. "CBT is a psychotherapy that is based on the cognitive model: the way that individuals perceive a situation is more closely connected to their reaction than the situation itself."
Based on this, it seems very possible at least one way people can "choose" to change their personality (as defined by their reactions (feelings, thoughts, and actions) to situations) is to seek to find ways to change the way they percieve the world.
Is Bitcoin “legit?” Does it have any purpose or value? I think it does, and here are several lenses through which to see cryptocurrencies, that explain why:
As an investment: The world is already comfortable with “hot potato” investments that derive their value from the fact someone else will buy it later (ie non-dividend, non-voting stock). As long as a critical mass of investors continues to see it as legitimate, it will be.
As a way to avoid hyperinflation: Central banks can print money seemingly arbitrarily, diluting buying power. Cryptocurrencies present an alternative, where growth of money supply is constrained by known and predictable rules. What is inflation in the US, really? Is the stock market going up because real world wealth is increasing, or is it just printed money flooding into assets classes instead of “basket of goods” used to measure inflation?
As an alternative currency not tied to any particular central bank: The value of a currency is ultimately derived from the real-world value controlled by the individuals who believe in and use that currency. Most currencies have their basis in communities defined by countries and borders — with cryptocurrency, you introduce a new community, where the value of it is ultimately derived from the real-world value controlled by all the individuals who are willing to conduct business in that cryptocurrency.
As a check against authority in future with no cash: In a cashless future, there is great potential for abuse of power if all transactions must go through a central authority: 100% visibility and power to interfere with all private transactions of the population. Do you want to give someone power to see every little transaction you make, with power to stop it if they don’t like what you are doing? In this cashless future, trust-less peer to peer digital currency is essential.
As a way to diversify away from assets based in your own country’s currency: cryptocurrencies offer a relatively accessible and easy way to diversify away from holding all your wealth in one currency. To hold a certain currency is to bet in that country relative to world. For America, there’s a bet on how the USD will track against other currencies in decades to come. Is china gonna unpeg the yuan further and further and make a gun for the number 1 spot? Has America invested in the infrastructure, education, large scale coordination, and energy capabilities to stay on top not just in terms of dollars on paper, but real world value that underlies real wealth? Crypto is just one way to place a bet based on a thesis around this.
All this is based on the fundamental question: what is money?
Money can essentially be seen as a “share” of the entirety of the worlds resources. These “shares” give you authority to allocate resources, such as food, materials, and other people. We all need a base level of “shares” to allocate the food and shelter we need to survive. Most big businesses use their “shares” to pursue one thing: getting more “shares”. And, your “share’s” constantly get diluted. No matter how many shares exist, in the end they only act as a distribution mechanism for the actual resources that exist. In this light, crypto is just as real as anything else; its just another made-up concept we use to coordinate society, just like traditional money.
What worries me most about cryptocurrency right now, is the underlying cryptography, and how long that will last. Will there be fork to new method in time?
If you encounter a problem with agencies collecting on illegitimate debt, it may be reported to the credit bureaus, which can be a big deal for you (buying home, etc).
The bureaus wont help you; I went through an 18-month ordeal figuring out how to clear these things, and heres what I suggest:
-get up to speed on FDCPA rights
-officially dispute the collection
-pursue the original debtor, and get a resolution in writing. sue them in small claims to get a judgement in your favor if you need to.
-send a copy of the resolution to the debt collector and the credit bureau dispute centers
Hope this helps in case anyone is dealing with this kind of stuff.
