acoravos

@alixanderwang - big thank you for posting this.

CEO/Co-founder of HumanFirst here. I'm both bummed to read this and surprised. Would you be open to sharing my email with the two people andy - at - gohumanfirst - dot - com.

I'd love to learn more about what happened and make amends. It's important to me that we get back to folks promptly and kindly and it sounds like we have a break somewhere in our process.

Here's a piece demystifying what a blockchain can be used for (vs. not) with intro references: https://blog.andreacoravos.com/myth-busting-can-a-blockchain.... It's written using healthcare use-cases as frame of reference, but applies to most industry implementations.

If blockchain concepts are new for you, here are my favorite starting places to learn:

Why Bitcoin Matters (2011, NYT) - https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/01/21/why-bitcoin-matters/...

What is blockchain, really? An intro for regular people. (2017, Medium) - https://medium.com/@wen_xs/what-is-blockchain-really-an-intr...

Re: “Smart contracts” - here’s a few 101 pieces on ethereum:

A Beginner’s Guide to Ethereum (2017, Coinbase blog) - https://blog.coinbase.com/a-beginners-guide-to-ethereum-46dd...

Ethereum is the Forefront of Digital Currency (2017, Coinbase blog) - https://blog.coinbase.com/ethereum-is-the-forefront-of-digit...

Dan Romero has compiled an excellent "reading list" for digital currencies: https://medium.com/@dwr/digital-currency-reading-list-6219f1...

And here's a 101 for developing a decentralized app (dApp): https://medium.com/@AndreaCoravos/dapps-101-how-do-i-start-d...

"The Moral Character of Cryptographic Work" by Phillip Rogaway

Background: http://web.cs.ucdavis.edu/~rogaway/papers/moral.html

Paper: web.cs.ucdavis.edu/~rogaway/papers/moral-fn.pdf

This study is old, but glad it's getting published on major media sources.

The cost of distributing the glasses and reaching rural locations is often more challenging than the cost of the glasses itself. One of the leading companies distributing low-cost eye glasses is VisionSpring (www.visionspring.org), and they are also main partner for Warby Parker (https://www.warbyparker.com/buy-a-pair-give-a-pair).

VS is making radically affordable quality glasses ubiquitous in frontier and emerging markets. Their customers earn less than $4 per day and are highly price sensitive. They sell to seed markets, are accountable for delivering on a value proposition, and gain consumer commitment for a product customers will need for the rest of their lifetime.

For now we're only iPhone, but looking to release an Android version soon. If you're curious, you can sign up for our newsletter for when we add new products.

Not yet -- but we are looking to add them soon!

Hahaha, this made. my. day.

OP -- thank you for having the courage to put your story out here. You've sparked an important conversation, and it's clearly resonated with so many people. There's a lot of advice here. Some conflicting. I trust you'll continue to build your mental filter and sort through the good and the bad.

Two favorite piece I like to re-read when I have these moments.

+ The Secret to Success (this one is my all time favorite): http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/5/30/secret-to-succes...

+ Daring Greatly by Brene Brown (http://www.amazon.com/Daring-Greatly-Courage-Vulnerable-Tran...)

I can already see that you have so many of the skills described in Brene Brown's book. Keep fighting the good fight.

Ditto to Rickcusick's call out. This is one of my favorite insights on this thread.

There are so many moments in life where we have to start back at zero. I like to think about the Teddy Roosevelt "Man in the Arena" speech when I'm back at a "0":

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Here's some of the science for why we come up with the best ideas when our brains are turned "off" -- it allows the brain to make other connections that we aren't overly controlling it to make. If it works for you, meditation could also be a useful tool for harnessing these moments: http://lifehacker.com/why-great-ideas-always-come-in-the-sho...

I hadn't realized how important it is to be the voice that speaks up and positively reinforces support when people post their views publicly.

Thanks for sharing this & brave thing that all of these people are doing to share their thoughts.

The MIT article is heartening, but Steven's speech about his experience is even better. If you have 12 minutes to watch it -- it's worth it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-L-WFukOARU