reading 06: wealth

Creating my own company is an enticing thought, but I think I would need to really believe in the idea of the company. If I truly believed that my company would attract a large number of users, I don’t think I would be very frightened to start it. The degree of fear that I would have when starting a company would probably be inversely proportional to my degree of faith in the company. I definitely want to get some experience under my belt before considering a startup. It helps to get a general overview of how a company works before starting your own, and any experience in more programming is useful.

Retiring early would probably be a main motivation of mine if I actually followed through with starting a company. The idea of working hard and then relaxing is my general approach to life. I don’t always follow that to the point, but I feel good about myself when I do. I suppose the thing that wealth affords a person is the ability to work on whatever they want. I would maybe pick up piano or guitar, or try to hack something that I actually want to hack (not something to make money).

On the topic of income, I find it silly that people focus on what the rich have. A widening income gap generally means that everyone does better, but that the rich might do even better comparatively. But it isn’t really worthwhile to fixate on the rich when everyone is better off as a whole. Unshackling the rich is the clear solution. And often, the rich will be more willing to invest in new ventures, creating new job opportunities and putting money back into the economy.

So what is the next application that will improve technology and potentially improve living standards in the world? I really think that people want a step away from technology, particularly in regard to the smartphone. Companies are releasing “dummy phones” that lack things like games, internet browsers, and social media. People are starting to realize that their phones can be abused, and they lack the ability to restrain themselves from spending 5+ hours on their phone every day.

Thus, I believe that the next technological advancement will be something that allows us to harness technology so that it is not running our lives. By restraining our freedom with technology, I think that we will actually be more free to experience its good attributes fully. I’m not entirely sure what this new advancement might look like, but I do believe that we need a better approach to smartphone use. There’s a million different texting apps, social media platforms, and games. What if your phone was able to identify the urgency level of your texts and allow you to be notified at only a few times during the day? I get tired of checking my phone or getting group chat notifications that really don’t pertain to me at all. If there were a way to filter texts and calls, or have them auto-delay until the right time before flashing on your screen, I would be more at ease with myself. I need a better balance of being available and being in the zone for work.