I intentionally tried to keep it light / humorous to have plausible deniability. "I'm sorry your honor. This was just an elaborate joke that got out of hand."
I'm glad it's been entertaining. This is the first time I've posted anything to HN that's gotten any real engagement/interest and I've thoroughly enjoyed the discussion.
I really don't have any way to prove this, but it's not a stunt and not connected to my employer in any way. I don't have anything to promote. I'm speaking in a purely personal capacity. I've attempted to remove references to my employer, so I'd appreciate it if you or a moderator could remove the reference from your comment.
I do enjoy intellectual discussions with smart people on thought provoking topics and that's primarily what this is. I am genuinely curious if my idea could work and I was interested in feedback from the HN crowd. I've been mostly lurking here for about 10 years, and just recently decided to start writing more and trying to participate more actively in HN discussions. This idea struck me as something that could spark a fun discussion, and it has.
Getting something to the front page of Hacker News is a bucket list item for me. It didn't happen this time (I think it got to page 4), but I learned a lot and really enjoyed replying to everyone's comments.
But to be clear, this was not a stunt. It was meant to be a little provocative and attention grabbing, but I do genuinely believe my idea has some merit and might improve a very difficult situation... if it could be done legally and safely.
Can confirm. Although I might say "moderately technical" rather than "slightly technical". Some of my interview questions got pretty deep into networking protocols and Linux OS internals. Regardless, it's a very different role than a software engineering position, which I wouldn't claim to be a good fit for.
Think tank events are a very good idea. Something similar had occurred to me.
Many successful startup ideas do sound very ill-conceived initially and often have legal problems, despite their success. Having strangers drive you places? Renting a room in a random person's house? Having a book retailer host all your IT infrastructure? So, although I do appreciate your point, I don't think those factors alone are reason enough to give up on the concept.
Thanks for the questions. Allow me to answer/clarify.
Improving drug cartel profit margins is not a direct goal. Reducing deaths and violence is the goal, but I don't see a way to do that without getting the cartels to change how they operate a bit. The only way I can think of to get them to want to change is with economic incentives. They seem to not respond to other types of incentives/punishments. If you have thoughts on what might motivate them other than profits, I'd love to hear it.
No, I have no interest in making money from this idea or sharing profits with the cartels. Doing so would obviously be illegal and I'm only looking for legal pathways to achieve my goals.
No, I wouldn't describe it as "growth hacking". I'm not interested in growing their businesses, just exploring creative options that might reduce the death/violence. I'm speaking here in a purely personal capacity. My employer has not endorsed anything I'm discussing, nor would I ask/expect them to. I recognize that there is a possibility of some negative blowback from this post. If they asked me to, I would be happy to delete it. It's certainly not my intent to embarrass anyone or create negative associations with my employer. My hope is that if my company's leadership does come across the post, they would recognize that there was good intent behind it and don't feel the need to cut ties with me to avoid repetitional damage over a fairly abstract/hypothetical discussion on a forum where users compete to gain the attention of other people in the community. It is nuanced and not without some professional risk, but I'm pretty sure my employer would give me a chance to fix things if they felt there was a problem.
Your question about the mods is a little too leading/loaded for me to simply confirm or deny. All I will say is that the post was flagged last night, I emailed the moderation team, Dang emailed me back and unflagged the post. If Dang is ok with it, I'd be happy to post his email here, but I don't want to assume that he would want comments he made privately to be shared publicly.
Thanks for the extra details here. I can see how challenging it would be to know with a high degree of certainty that a drug was truly safe just using test strips. But it seems like the test strips are a practical, relatively low cost option that, while not perfect, could improve the status quo.
Test strips aren't the only option that I'm investigating. I know there are some facilities that will do lab tests to check for fentanyl and other dangerous additives. That might end up being a better approach.
I have family and friends with pharmaceutical industry, chemistry, and medical/healthcare backgrounds that I've reached out to for advice on the issue, especially the question of weather it's possible to safely use the test strips with a low risk of some kind of exposure.
I'll try to find a good source to back up the claim. The statement was made in a verbal, in-person presentation by the deputy chief of the university police, who was told by the city coroner. But for all I know, he could have made it up in an attempt to scare the kids.
I appreciate you pointing out that specific statue and sharing your interpretation. My idea would have non-criminal use cases as well, but I'm not clear if that is sufficient. Criminals can use Telegram to communicate about crimes. Does that mean that Telegram is aiding and abetting? I'm definitely out of my depth on the legal details, which is why I would get good legal advice before doing anything.
Getting involved with politics had crossed my mind. On this issue specifically, I suspect there are policy think tanks that might be open to giving me some advice. Maybe handing the idea off to one of them and letting them pursue related policy changes might be a better option. In my experience, lawmakers don't pay much attention to random people on HN.
One could argue that cartel members and VCs do share some qualities. But again, your point is well taken and you may very well be right. I won't move forward if there isn't a safe, legal path to do so. I appreciate your feedback.
You may be right, but it's not clear to me they are totally irrational. The fact that they seem to have business partnerships with chemical suppliers in Asia would suggest that they are capable of cooperating when it suits their interests.
I appreciate your take. I agree that working with multiple cartels would be risky, but it seems like working with just one cartel would also be risky. I'm not sure which is the better option. Ideally, I'd prefer to work with more of them.
And on your other point, there would be hardware and software involved, but the cartels wouldn't be interacting with them directly. I'll be sure to have the cartels sign my EULA before proceeding with anything.
I have no interest in a cut of the profits. As I've stated elsewhere, I was hoping that establishing some form of communication might derisk the situation a little. If one-way communication is the only practical option, I'm fine with that.