This doesn't seem like the case but Cathy O'Neil (the author of Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy) raises the point that we often see algorithms implemented in non-traditional ways when society faces tough questions. It makes me really hesitant about using algorithms as silver bullets to solve hard problems in society.
Our startup, Fabrica.city, is trying to solve housing problems by focusing on the financial side of it, and "attacking" the issue of how to handle titles digitally (and therefore, save costs, etc.).<p>It's early in our journey, but I hope that we'll be able to show some real progress soon. Wish us luck :)
Not a bad idea. There are many instances where government policy has had the exact opposite of the stated intended effect. One example: trying to preserve the real character of an area by setting a large minimum lot size. The result: places like Apple Valley, with giant houses set in the middle of huge yards. It becomes an enclave of the rich and famous. In fact, Apple Valley is reasonably popular with well heeled actors and movie biz people because it is about 2 hours from LA/Hollywood.<p>If these folks can deliver on actual solutions for this problem space, more power to them.
I like the goal, and I'd even love to work on something like this, but is this a business or a non-profit project? Where are they gonna make money?<p>Also, I don't think reform is bottlenecked on data. At this point, we have strong causal hypotheses and the data we do have supports those hypotheses almost unilaterally. The problem is almost entirely in the hands of political science: juridictional and generational politics, regulatory capture, etc..
Buy a 10 acre lot in a nimby area (Palo Alto Hiils/Atherton/Los Altos Hills) for $5M, Split it into 20 x 0.25 acres and sell it for $250K each to teachers, firefighters, police, retired army soldiers telling the buyers it is sold as-is. Let them build houses on their lots and figure out the rest.
This is great, it is about time some scientific process was forced into a system that sadly has been largely driven by protests of idiots in large numbers so far.