That's a multi-decade phenomenon based on historical precedents (in the best case scenario). Ultimately, whether that "best case" manifests is dependent on whether SF residents want it badly enough. It's a matter of political will -- residents' Progressive values have to actually align with how they vote and act (over the long-term)
Stripe's a $90bn+ company because it builds & sells tools that make it easy for software engineers to programmatically move and manipulate money. This is a no brainer for them (regardless of how mainstream stablecoins/cryptocurrencies/blockchain eventually become)
I really identified with that part too. I also really liked what you said about the idea of solving a problem vs making a problem go away. Tell me if you think I'm wrong, but I've always believed that the 4 things those two different philosophies/approaches have in common is that they both require:
1.) elevating others' needs (the problem you're solving) above your own
2.) Sensitivity to others' needs
3.) Earnestness
4.) A world/psychology/personal belief system that's positive sum and collaborative in a global sense (outside of context-dependent contests and competition that are limited in scope).
I find that being able to put yourself in another person's shoes (whether you're understanding their motivations when designing solutions) etc, is absolutely key in performing all those.
But it's also important to adapt a solution to an environment where there are bad actors that do act in their self interest or incentives that are different in different places/professions/cultures.
For example, I am very curious about any AI-based solutions in the legal world where all the incentive structures are skewed heavily towards hourly billing. How are you going to get law firms to adopt technologies that might cut their billable hours in half?
I wish more people were open to being aware of/discussing this.
It's a hard truth that most people under the age of 50-55 will experience another global pandemic in their lifetimes (as an early 30-something I think, "next pandemics" is more accurate).
It's perfectly understandable that no one wants to talk about what the next pandemic will look like and that's why it's so important to.
It's impossible to know but I imagine a press leak (and further coverage by cable news and other traditional print media outlets) is the only way that members of Congress would actually care enough to hold members of the military and Department of Defense accountable so that they'll eventually find a way to resolve the issue.
Whether that'll take the form of a software engineering solution or a "social engineering" solution - in the form of Congressional hearings and the like - remains to be seen.
I'm shocked they're trying the carrot (in the most wishy-washy sense of the term) vs. the stick.
The amount of pressure they're under to improve the entire company's performance from 5 separate activist investors is insane. It's unheard of in enterprise software and I can't recall that number of activists twisting the screws on a single company in any industry.
I was skimming through their latest quarterly earnings call to see if there was any mention of Heroku... no dice but they were very proud of how they're now making sure that their salespeople are accountable for hitting their sales quotas.
Let that sink in for a bit: Salesforce's salespeople didn't have to perform at the bare minimum standard to keep their jobs until a figurative gun was held to the head of their CEO. I can't imagine a $10 donation will make people want to come in to the office (and be accountable) without hardcore peer/middle manager pressure
I just want to add 2 things to kemiller's helpful comment:
1.) Just talking to a therapist who you feel heard and understood by (whatever their method: CBT or any of the others below) will be a massive help - you'll feel less alone and the challenges and mindsets you wrote about will begin to feel less all encompassing. The world will be a less frightening place.
2.) I think Deutscher's post is one of the most courageous personal posts I've ever seen on a message board/social forum (certainly the most courageous in 2022). One of the hardest things for anyone to do is to admit their life hasn't/isn't going the way they expected and instead of lying to themselves, they do the incredibly brave thing of admitting they need help.
Anyways, I just wanted to commend Deutscher for that (hopefully before my comment gets buried hours after the original post)
