<story><title>We have the potential to solve the biggest problems of today</title><url>http://www.christophmccann.com/blog/2014/6/23/we-have-the-potential-to-solve-the-biggest-problems-of-today</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>skywhopper</author><text>Unfortunately, this line of criticism works equally well about all games, art, haute cuisine, movies, national parks, and about 96% of our economy.&lt;p&gt;More importantly, it also works against articles that gripe about effort wasted on apps the author doesn&amp;#x27;t care for.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jal278</author><text>I don&amp;#x27;t believe that the article&amp;#x27;s criticism would be effective also against art (also, games can be art) -- striving to make something beautiful that illustrates the human condition or makes us feel something, is a non-trivial effort; art can galvanize us socially [0] [1] and can effect meaningful change.&lt;p&gt;While Yo may prove to have some value, the author&amp;#x27;s post more speaks to how so many smart people are incentivized (by money) towards trivial ends; our economy seems often to reward trifles over things that benefit human well-being.&lt;p&gt;[0] &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Octopus:_A_Story_of_California&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;The_Octopus:_A_Story_of_Califor...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Tom%27s_Cabin&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Uncle_Tom%27s_Cabin&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>We have the potential to solve the biggest problems of today</title><url>http://www.christophmccann.com/blog/2014/6/23/we-have-the-potential-to-solve-the-biggest-problems-of-today</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>skywhopper</author><text>Unfortunately, this line of criticism works equally well about all games, art, haute cuisine, movies, national parks, and about 96% of our economy.&lt;p&gt;More importantly, it also works against articles that gripe about effort wasted on apps the author doesn&amp;#x27;t care for.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>forgottenpass</author><text>None of those fields beat the &amp;quot;change the world&amp;quot; drum as hard as tech startups do.  This article seems to be an attempt to an attempt to reconcile action and rhetoric by asking &amp;quot;us&amp;quot; to live up to it.&lt;p&gt;So yes, you can poke the hole that you do.  But that&amp;#x27;s just pretending to miss the point.&lt;p&gt;Personally, I think the reconciliation is rhetoric coming back to earth.  It&amp;#x27;s self-perpetuating saccharine and delusion that should probably stop.</text></comment>