I must say I am surprised at some of the comments that have already been left here. I would think a community like HN would be excited to see a project come out of the woodwork like this...at least I was and heck, I've already submitted an idea and may submit a couple more.
If, as everyone opines on here constantly, ideas have little to no value, but rather it is the execution of those ideas, why not submit ideas that may have some validity, and let Google essentially play matchmaker and help find the organization, people, and talent to execute on that idea?
Here's an idea for Google. I don't very much care exactly how they implement it but here's the outline:
1) Let various non-profits like the Red Cross or the Susan Komen Foundation etc. register as 'Recipients' with Google's AdSense program
2) Let website publishers who are (perennially) stuck with sub $100 earnings nominate one of these organizations to receive their AdSense balance- whether it is $0.25 or $99.
Bingo! All that money that Google is sitting on gets put to work immediately for worthy causes. Even if Google pays these orgs only when the total exceeds $100, this would help a ton of people around the world.
The incentive for submitting a great idea is sharply diminished by the fact that you don't get to have a say at all in the implementation of it. The project doesn't adhere well to the psychology of altruism.
Yeah, I was thrilled with the $10 million available for funding until I realized that I wouldn't actually get to work on my brilliant idea. Watching someone else realize my dream project would be like some bizarre form of torture.
I'm a busy guy. I have ideas that have nothing to do with what I'm working on. I'd LOVE to just tell someone and let them do the work. Credit would also be nice :)
a world-changing idea does not need to be not-for-profit. this is one of the biggest misconceptions out there -- an idea that solves a problem for a sub-group of humanity, does not need to run under an NGO/non-profit umbrella.
I'm not buying. As Howard Roarke, the protagonist in 'The Fountainhead' says, "The world is perishing from an orgy of self-sacrificing."
We don't need more altruism or nobless-oblige. We need more innovation. Google, who all but started the cloud computing model, is a leader in innovation. They should stick with what they are good at, technological innovation, and not have some kind of save the world guilt trip. The world benefits most by a Google that is focused on the one thing they are great at: search and a cloud computing dev environment.
Don't save us, google. Just keep up the good work. That way, by benefiting from your technology, we can save ourselves. :-)
That's like saying to Bill Gates "you're rich, forget about the Gates foundation, just focus on making money for yourself and creating jobs." Warren Buffet, or how bout the Carnegies, Mellons, and Rockefellers.
This has got to be the least coherent analysis I've read on HN in a while. Google is an organization, yes, but one composed of people, and those people are affected by the decisions of invididuals or groups who could incrementally change the world for better or for worse.
You don't think the engineers writing JS to improve that "cloud computing model" (let's use Google Docs as an example) wouldn't benefit either directly or indirectly from some of the ideas that will come out of this project?
How are innovation and this project mutually exclusive? Google is (and has been via Google.org) trying to spearhead innovation outside of its known core competencies (i.e. search, ads, and apps) and does this project not contribute to that?
Wow, it's like someone invented a time machine and invited a 14-year-old-me to come and comment on hacker news.
Seriously though, many hackers have loved Ayn Rand's ideas, but the simple biological fact is that we get gratification from helping people and we feel, to some extent, the pain of people whose suffering we see. Our evolved nature is hacked to make us not perfectly selfish.
actually, empathy is simply the most effective way of convincing others that you care about their interests. this perceived commonality of interests is what holds society together. but the motivation is ultimately selfish because we only want to band together to increase our own chances for survival and the survival of our offspring.
That's just empirically false, unless you're using "motivation" in some convoluted and incorrect way. Humans are innately motivated to help each other[1], and though that motivation was evolutionarily selected for its positive effects on gene survival, it is now a fundamental human desire that I find noble and beautiful.
I didn't claim otherwise. we are adaptation executers, not gene survival maximizers. this is why it is so important to keep in mind how changes in our environment can have unintended consequences. witness the dual rise of food processed heavily with sugar and degenerative diseases such as diabetes.
Do you think the Fed is the economy? Those notes the Fed is churning out are promises against the future work of Americans. Just printing without profit makes you Zimbabwe.
Government is broke and always has been. It spends what it takes. A government rescue is a private rescue at second hand.
every lobbyist who spouts "for the good of the children" or other nonsense. self-interest hides behind altruism. If humanity would just grow the fuck up and recognize it for what it is we could stop pussy-footing around the moral issues and come up with solutions that actually work.
It is not selfishness nor altruism. It is their execution.
Anyone would be dumb not to see that Google through this project is trying to milk people for ideas for nothing in return.
We all want to help that is true (well besides the psychopaths and that's like 2% of the population) but if someone else is profiting from my help, the way Google most probably would, is just hurtfully cheating.
If, as everyone opines on here constantly, ideas have little to no value, but rather it is the execution of those ideas, why not submit ideas that may have some validity, and let Google essentially play matchmaker and help find the organization, people, and talent to execute on that idea?