

Our Best Entrepreneurs Should Be Solving Real Problems, Not Creating Apps - jsherry
http://www.businessinsider.com/entrepreneurs-should-be-solving-real-problems-not-creating-apps-2012-3

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talmand
I would say the best entrepreneurs should be out doing whatever it is they
wish to do. If they want to work on creating the next fad app in the hopes of
making money then that's their business. If the market wants a crap app that
does something incredibly silly for no real benefit to society then there will
be someone to make it for them.

This isn't always a bad thing. James Cameron makes millions from movies that
adds little to society and then uses it to build a submersible that takes him
to the deepest spot in the oceans. Maybe the world's mysteries/problems can be
solved with money made from useless entertainment?

As for the hardware innovations coming out of China and the area; I would
think part of the reason is they don't have a government with increasingly
tough regulations to deal with. Take for instance the recent policies of the
US government towards internet-based companies or its tough stances on
pollution-creating energy production which could provide power issues for
manufacturing. Granted the tough regulations could be considered good in some
cases (look at the beating Apple is getting on labor treatment) but if it's
possible to leave for easier/cheaper areas, companies will leave. Griping
about the lack of hardware innovation in one area when it's easier/cheaper to
innovate in another seems kind of missing the point territory.

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yew
Ease of innovation does not _necessarily_ correlate with value (in a long-
term/social sense) of innovation.

As you point out that can be worked around by taking profits from easy
innovations and using them to fund hard-but-valuable ones, but people like
Elon Musk and James Cameron are notable because of their rarity. A lot of the
money just dilutes and/or vanishes back into the pot.

A certain amount of entertainment is necessary (even good!), of course, but we
only have to look at the drug industry to get a picture of how bad things can
get if people stop solving hard problems. The 'everything done ahead of time'
nature of high-technology civilization just exacerbates things.

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eli_gottlieb
>The 'everything done ahead of time' nature of high-technology civilization
just exacerbates things.

Could you elaborate?

~~~
yew
High-technology civilizations rely on a more-or-less constant stream of
innovations (or solutions to hard problems) in order to maintain a reasonable
equilibrium in all sorts of areas (economy, environment, society). That
reliance increases with the degree of high-tech, but also provides the
_benefits_ of high-tech.

A failure of that system can lead to much worse than just a lack of progress.

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delinquentme
Hacker news needs to see more of this.

"I believe this current crop of entrepreneurs might actually be hurting
America - and perverting the very idea of innovation in the same way Beyonce’s
Run The World is like kicking Aretha Franklin in the ribs…repeatedly."

Realize that this _IS_ the issue of the fortune 500 companies. Too busy
worrying about small returns to dig in an innovate.

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eli_gottlieb
> _The latest US generation has led a life of leisure. Arab protesters carry
> swords and machetes, ours carry iPhone 4S’s in pink, personalized cases._

Look dude, if it wasn't quite explicitly against Massachusetts weapons laws, I
would go protesting carrying a sword. Also, if someone would teach my
swordsmanship. And if swords were actually viable weapons in modern times,
rather than nice symbols of Arabs' chauvinistic, honor-based culture.

> _From computers to desks to chairs used by cute digital startups like Oink
> or Bizzle or FoSchnizzle, – it’s all made possible by better, more
> substantive innovators. This superior breed of entrepreneurs and inventors
> toils away in relative obscurity, often in Asia, solving real, complex
> problems. They squeeze 32GB onto something the size of mint strip. Or, they
> make un-killable batteries that let us Tweet deep into the night. They make
> solar cells worthwhile or water out of thin air._

Did you know? There's actually a whole economic sector to this stuff. It's
called _research_ , it's practitioners are called _scientists_ and, often
enough, _grad students_ , and the United States of America treats them/us like
_crap_. Science is _chronically and endemically_ underfunded in the United
States relative to most other developed countries, _and_ several less
developed countries such as India, China, and Israel.

Come on, people. I agree VCs are too quick to jump for the cheap, easy trivial
"innovation" rather than the fundamental invention, but if you want
fundamental invention, stop kvetching and figure out how to fund a university
lab for the next 6 years to work on your truly important, fundamental
scientific problem.

