Ask HN: What's the pathway to working on YC Research-like problems?

[dynamic99]

Hi guys!

I'm a rising senior in high school trying to decide what I want to do with my life. I've been looking at these YC Research projects (universal basic income, city building, etc.) and am absolutely fascinated. I've truly never been interested in doing anything more than working on projects like those.

My question is, what is the best path to doing so? What can I do, in college and on my own, that will put me on the path to researching and implementing ideas like those? My plan is to study economics... does that give me the skills to work on problems like these? I'm particularly interested in the two research projects listed above, but I'd love to hear advice concerning how to work on any "big idea" project like that.

Thank you guys in advance.

[curuinor]

B. Victor was Caltech EE BS and Berkeley EE MS(http://worrydream.com/#!/cv).

V. Hart did a music BA at Stony Brook, but has lots of mathematics background from many sources(https://www.quora.com/What-is-Vi-Harts-mathematical-educatio...).

D. Ingalls was physics at Harvard and PHD dropout (MS) in EE from Stanford(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Henry_Holmes_Ingalls,_J...).

Y. Ohshima was BS, MS and PHD at Tokyo Institute of Technology, in information science (http://vpri.org/html/team_bios/yoshiki.htm).

A. Warth was BS in CS at U. Miami, MS and PHD in CS at UCLA (http://tinlizzie.org/~awarth/).

So of the HARC folks, the empirical best way is to go all the way and get a PHD.

The basic income PI, E. Rhodes, is BA. Gov and Economics, Georgetown, and a MSW and a PHD at U. Mich(http://ssw.umich.edu/phdstudents/profiles/political-science/...).

[wslh]

I think OP wants to start as early as possible and thinking of a PhD now where he/she is in high school is a showstopper.

You can take a look at this kind of high school programs: http://mitadmissions.org/apply/prepare/summer because doing it alone is a bad choice.

[argonaut]

On the contrary, the OP is at the exact right time in life to be thinking about these things. If the OP were 35 with a job, that would be the wrong time to be thinking about a PhD.

The OP is a senior in HS, which means they can 1) tailor their list of colleges to apply to to include colleges that are strong in their research interests and have programs for undergraduate research, 2) After they've decided on a college in the spring, they can decide on relevant classes to take, 3) In college they can reach out to faculty about their projects.

[angersock]

It's important to note that the sort of stuff YC Research is doing--and this is doubtless an unpopular opinion--is basically social whimsy by the investing class. It's perhaps interesting work, but it hinges on having somebody with deep pockets and a willingness to ignore good sense^W^W traditional wisdom.

If you are actually serious about doing this sort of thing, don't go to school for economics. Do civil engineering with a focus on urban planning, or study public health policy, or something similer.

Long after the bubble pops and the money dries up for this sort of humblebrag philanthropic advertising, the cities of the world will still need people to plan roads, organize public transportation, and suggest policies to help cities grow.

[argonaut]

If you think about it, YC Research is how academic research used to be funded centuries ago - patronage by wealthy elites.

[angersock]

Quite right!

That being the case, let's dispense with the pretense and just recognize the community for what it is: courtisanship and begging for patrons.

[argonaut]

I mean, I don't see it quite so negatively. It's good to have a diverse mix of funding sources: academia, government grants, industry research, and private research (non-industry oriented) like YCR.

[webmaven]

Meh. Not so much. Too many Bigelows these days:

http://theawl.com/the-strange-history-of-robert-bigelow-who-...

[dandermotj]

The straight forward answer you'll get is to study a pure/applied science in university up to MS or PhD level. This is probably half of the answer. The other half is being voraciously curious in many many areas and actively self teaching (deliberately or not) through reading, practicing and generally immersing yourself in whatever you're interested in. Working on "big problems" requires experts across fields with unique perspectives and knowledge. Getting a PhD for XYZ might mean your smart, but not necessarily unique.

[ontouchstart]

Perhaps you should start with Alan Kay Reading List:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11803165

[jordancampbell]

If you do go to University then most 'analytical' subjects (maths / computer science / engineering) will prepare you well for future work.

The most important thing to do is keep asking questions like you are now. Contact architects, engineers, city planners, entrepreneurs etc and ask them what problems keep them up at night.

[Michie]

Hi dynamic99,

If I were you and i'm near YC, I would probably ask YC if there are any spots for volunteers for any specific YCR program. Tell them your reason why you are interested as you have specified above.

If you are lucky enough to have a chance to volunteer, you get an in depth experience on how they are actually doing it. Giving you the opportunity to ask yourself, do you still want to do this after High School?

I found this paragraph on this link: https://jobs.lever.co/ycr/03b226d0-148e-4ecd-a5f0-3e6074251e... "Have ideas to share, but don't want to work on this full time? Email us your thoughts: [e-mail]"

You can start contributing your ideas via email, but this is only for Cities Research. I don't know about the others.

Good Luck!!!

[Kinnard]

I presume you're inquiring about non-traditional pathways? I bet you know you could attend a University apply for a research job with a lab or professor and go from there?

You could always ask an important question, design several experiments[after researching experimental design], conduct the experiments, collect the data, see wether it confirms your hypothesis and what else it tells you, share that with the world in a meaningful(ideally machine parseable) good-looking way.

Sure, most experiments in the categories you named may be infeasible do to costs and other constraints, but I bet a bunch aren't . . .

[Kinnard]

My high school allowed directed study as well as a month-long coop for seniors . . . perhaps you could propose a program to your high school and get it approved by the start of the school year.

[IVDV]

University. Find a professor doing similar work and gain experience alongside them. Academic research has given me opportunities to gain the necessary skills and has allowed me to identify my own research questions while being armed with the tools to investigate thr answers.

Reading sites like Hacker News and other relevant forums also gave me a second opinion on problems and helped prevent me from becoming a thought clone of my academic mentors.

[uola]

Working on anything "merely" requires you to convince other people that you should be able to do so. Meaning most likely a degree of some sort, good communication skills and being ambitious. Actually accomplishing something in a field is a vastly different thing.