The Unexotic Underclass

I like parts of this article more than others. For example, while I share a certain sense of frustration that SV seems to spend a disproportionate amount of resources on mobifotosocialgames, smartphones and their downmarket progeny are an enormous quality-of-life improvement for broader America. There's virtually nothing a cash-poor-responsibility-rich person needs to do that having a smartphone does not make them better at. Commute to work? Apply for benefits? Schedule appointments with doctors? Successfully keep…

Describing veterans as an unexotic underclass feels incorrect to me. Maybe it's just perception bias, but for instance my FB feed contains an order of magnitude more appeals for veterans causes than literally any other endeavor. GoFundMe's, petitions, charities, races, events - you name it. 4 out of 5 of my last donations concerned veterans (as a group) or individual vets, as were 5 out of 5 of my last signed petitions (whose value, I will grant, is probably a…

sad that this isn't getting more attention here. it has all sorts of implications for people who are looking for ideas for their startups - and what to avoid - who want to reach a big market. pair this with this WaPo piece: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/05/27/i...

Why is web/app devlopment responsible for fixing all of society's problems? Most of the problems the author mentioned have more to do with civic education and a politically weak middle class. How many of the smartest engineers are toiling away for Oil companies? Arent't they supposed to be fixing the world with their super powers? 20 something developers are just a lucky bunch, right time and right place, and god bless them for it. If the world could, it would…