RE: Y Combinator RFS
Y Combinator has a really cool list of the kinds of problems they would love to see solved, and have compiled a “Request for Startup” (RFS) list here.
I want to respond specifically to one item on the list.
15. One million Jobs
We want to fund companies that have the potential to create a million jobs.
Below, I will go into an idea that is somewhat related, but first let me tell you how I feel about job creation.
I’m indifferent about it. Job creation is something that sounds wonderful in a world where everyone needs to work in order to live and survive, and sounds convenient in a world where people don’t necessarily have to work, but do it to enjoy the many luxuries life has to offer. I can live with the latter, but I imagine a future where there is more automation and less conflict (two things that will greatly reduce the number of jobs needed to run the world) and all work done by humans is creative work, or scientific research (alongside their trusty robot lab assistants of course :P)
My Idea
That said, what if we could pay to use other people’s computers to solve complicated problems? We see this sort of thing already with sites like http://folding.stanford.edu/ and http://fold.it/portal/
But what if there was a platform that anyone, anywhere, could develop a problem to solve (that requires mass processing power), submit it to a market place of sorts, and actually (optionally) pay people to help solve these problems.
If there was a market place for this, users could see which problems are rewarding the most $, or which problems have the least support (which might have a smaller reward, but it’s more likely you’ll be the one solving the problem—do the math).
Users could have profiles, which could track how much they’ve contributed (and in a private control panel, how much they’ve earned).
I think something like this could help shape the way we solve certain problems of the future. It sort of turns brute force problem solving into a stock market of sorts. Perhaps the rewards could be a portion of the total number of donations that problem has received. Users who feel passionate about a problem, or just want to get more money as their computer is helping solve the problem throughout the month, could donate to causes they believe in, and ask their network to donate to causes that might reward them for their processor use.
I think this would be an interesting way to utilize both people’s passion, and greed, to help solve complex problems.
Other use cases for such a technology could be large scale data/number crunching. A platform like this would enable users to use their home computers to help crunch data for big research projects, or even up and coming startups that have big ideas, and need a cheap way to scale up.
Anyway, I ramble. I’m fascinated with building platforms that let people tinker, learn, and solve problems that used to be ‘hard’. This would be a fun project.
Let me know in the comments if you think this idea has any merit, or if you think it’s absolutely crazy! Or perhaps you would just like to brainstorm with me a bit. :D
