[closeparen]

The problems that really need solving are of a political nature. Who gets the rewards and who bears the risks, what are the public spending priorities, what are the rules on employers, multinationals, real estate developers, etc. Does a miraculous breakthrough in high-end medical research even matter when no one can afford basic healthcare?

The only people who can get up in the morning every day and work on these problems are lobbyists. Usually, they're working in the wrong direction. Regardless, does anyone really think we could have a lobbying-based economy?

The free market is working on frivolous problems because that's what's left to do when you don't have the force of a state behind you.

[cgmg]

> The free market is working on frivolous problems because that's what's left to do when you don't have the force of a state behind you.

Can you clarify what you mean by this?

[closeparen]

Startups are not working on the big problems in education, healthcare, housing/homelessness, income inequality, etc. because those are not problems you can solve by bringing innovative products and services to market, they're problems you solve with different public policy.

The space of problems that could hypothetically be addressed by a free-market actor is pretty well tended already; it isn't crazy that we see free-market actors working on things that look unimportant.