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Its time to actually make the world a better place.

Silicon Valley was birthed from an existential threat to the world. Nazi radar defense technology was decimating the Allied air forces. But American engineers heeded the call, and in a Harvard lab led by Stanford professor Frederick Terman, invented radar jammers that helped win the war.

Terman brought the engineering talent back to Stanford, turned it into the MIT of the West, won military contracts, pushed researchers to start companies and made Silicon Valley the center of innovation.

How the need to jam Nazi radar led to Silicon Valley

Its time for engineers to heed the call once again. President Trump poses an existential threat to world peace, social equality, the environment and the future of American values.Now the resistance needs tech tools to fight back.

There are huge opportunities for startups to build these, though their success will be measured in progress and not just profit.

If you build this stuff, TechCrunch wants to hear about it. [You can email me at josh@techcrunch.com]. And if youve already built it and we havent covered it yet, let us know how youve adapted your tech for these dire times. Well be publishing stories about the best tools for the resistance.

[Update: Y Combinator, the top startup accelerator, has put out a request for startups in the civic tech space. Startups that fight fake news, ease the transition into the future of work and automation, or improve democracy should consider applying to YC.]

Some of our favorite existing democracy tech includes grassroots activism text message management tool Hustle, voter registration site Vote.organdencrypted chat app Signal. Tech cant solve everything, and having too many options can dilute support. But these have already shown promise for instigating civic engagement.

So dont just change the world for yourself like some HBO Silicon Valley parody. Change it for the better.

Link:
We need startups to build democracy tech - TechCrunch