Crazy Ideas Thread, Aug. 2015

polymathwannabe

This thread is intended to provide a space for 'crazy' ideas. Ideas that spontaneously come to mind (and feel great), ideas you long wanted to tell but never found the place and time for and also for ideas you think should be obvious and simple - but nobody ever mentions them.

This thread itself is such an idea. Or rather the tangent of such an idea which I post below as a seed for this thread.

Rules for this thread:

Each crazy idea goes into its own top level comment and may be commented there.
Voting should be based primarily on how original the idea is.
Meta discussion of the thread should go to the top level comment intended for that purpose.

If this should become a regular thread I suggest the following :

Use "Crazy Ideas Thread" in the title.
Copy the rules.
Add the tag "crazy_idea".
Create a top-level comment saying 'Discussion of this thread goes here; all other top-level comments should be ideas or similar'
Add a second top-level comment with an initial crazy idea to start participation.

This thread itself is such an idea. Or rather the tangent of such an idea which I post below as a seed for this thread.

Rules for this thread:

Each crazy idea goes into its own top level comment and may be commented there.
Voting should be based primarily on how original the idea is.
Meta discussion of the thread should go to the top level comment intended for that purpose.

If this should become a regular thread I suggest the following :

Use "Crazy Ideas Thread" in the title.
Copy the rules.
Add the tag "crazy_idea".
Create a top-level comment saying 'Discussion of this thread goes here; all other top-level comments should be ideas or similar'
Add a second top-level comment with an initial crazy idea to start participation.

Can MacDonalds be the next Give Directly?

Premise 1:

Salty food is addictive (repeat customers)

I haven't heard about salty chip vendors in developing countries.

Assuming potatoes could grow in those countries, labour costs for turning them into chips could be low.

Selling chips could be a financially sustainable business in developing countries

Premise 2:

Salt iodisation is cheap

Current competitors in salt iodisation work with governments, with no known private competition

Salt is like a nootropic for the malnourished

Let's open up salty chips vendors in the developing world!

There are several sanitary and political reasons to avoid eating at McDonald's.
McDonald's already has restaurants in developing countries. Unsurprisingly, labor conditions are substandard.
Yes, potatoes grow in developing countries; they come from Peru/Bolivia. Baking or boiling them it's much cheaper (and healthier) than frying them.
Some countries already mandate iodisation of salt, so people can get their iodine just by cooking their own food the way they normally do.
There is a worldwide epidemic of cardiovascular disease. The last thing people need is more high-salt, high-fat, low-nutrient food.

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Crazy Ideas Thread, Aug. 2015

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Crazy Ideas Thread, Aug. 2015

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