michaelpinto

a ux designer would tell you to not trust your own experience, but to measure the experience of others.

the danger of climate change

You have to define what "ruin" really is. Ruin could mean no longer being a viable brand, in which case you may be right. However ruin can also mean a creative decline in terms of creating new series, and if they're shifting to an ad supported model and try to appeal to the widest audience that may really be the case.

Idea: Can you volunteer for a local non-profit to build up a resume?

The problem is that when you have a hammer (a software startup), everything looks like a nail:

1. There may be a shortage of Doctors to provide a 2nd opinion. The cost of a medical education is quite high, and the pay has been going down these past few years. This can't be solved by a software startup.

2. Hospitals have less funding than ever, and are trying to do more with less. So there may already be software out there, but they can't afford it (or the staff to to maintain it, never mind the staff to distribute it). This can't be solved by a software startup.

3. This is really a political problem, and again that can't be solved by a software startup.

4. A medical opinion may not be a binary option, and it could be a moving target where data changes by the day, and it could be a suggestion to collect more data, or even to talk to someone else. Opinions by definition are arbitrary, as where something like IBM Watson may just give you options based on probability (but that probability is only as good as the data you collect, which may not be all inclusive, and may be a moving target). So a startup might even make things worse as people base their options on incomplete data or dated options.

The depressing reality is that there is a great deal of economic inequality in our society, and that's reflected in the quality of healthcare that many people receive. It should also be noted that poverty can prevent access to preventative healthcare strategies which include everything from diet to access to basic medication.

my friend did this at a well known tech company, and they screwed her over in a very bad way

sadly your boss usually isn't your friend, and your boss will talk to other co-workers, and then they may want to get rid of you

i'm sure there are exceptions to this, but you sadly can't bank on that

I hate to tell you this but you're looking in the mirror at your future self (and your peers) as coding isn't usually in most cases a healthy lifestyle choice.

Something to keep in mind is that Asimov was very much a product of the age of pulp magazines, so early on in his career he was paid by the word for his work.

A side geek note: If you were active in NYC fandom from say the 50s on chances were very good that you would actually get to see Isaac in person at many local science fiction conventions. For some reason he disliked air travel, and would show up at almost any local convention that he was invited to.

If you want to read a really good book on being a geek from the depression era to about the 50s I would highly recommend reading The Way the Future Was by rederik Pohl.

This blew me away:

"Venture capitalist Michael Cardamone, the tournament’s co-organizer, approves of young companies buying tables with venture funds. “You absolutely should,” he says. “It’s part of building culture.”"

This: "Better design does not mean more design. Often, the most obvious designs are invisible." This also reminds me of the Steve Jobs approach of being proud of all the times that they said "no".

That depends on the nature of the startup: There is a ton of hyphen-tech here, so for example a fin-tech startup in my building that focuses on insurance just closed a Round B. Boston has a finance industry, but not on the level of NYC. And it's the same with media and other fields as well. Also something to keep in mind is that NYC has always been a magnet for Boston school grads and tech is no exception.