I think HN has enough upvote/downvote data for all its users such that it could be feeding us articles based on our voting history and the voting history of people similar to us (non-trivial problem, of course).
I think it's possible to build a news-site that feeds, say the OP, a news feed that he is 'comfortable with'.
In a more general sense, news sites like HN that use up/down are 'dumb' in the sense that they make a crude (but reasonable) approximation to what each individual wants via a simple[1] summation of what the group wants.
I wouldn't feel comfortable with this, as it would destroy the amount of discovery I do on HN.
Not all of the articles are within my technical experience, and some I only barely understand, but I find some seriously mind-blowing things out there.
To the OP...yes. I'm constantly impressed with those who have not only the knowledge and skills, but the sheer drive to build and run a successful startup. Even if I had some crazy-awesome idea that had almost no chance of failure (just as an example), the notion of just...picking up and doing my own thing is a very scary thing to do. I've been job with income stability for so long that the idea of going it on my own scares the hell out of me.
I think reddit tried to do exactly that a while ago and didn't have much luck. It may have been smaller than HN at the time, but I think they kept trying for quite a while.
I think it's possible to build a news-site that feeds, say the OP, a news feed that he is 'comfortable with'.
In a more general sense, news sites like HN that use up/down are 'dumb' in the sense that they make a crude (but reasonable) approximation to what each individual wants via a simple[1] summation of what the group wants.
[1] unless I'm mistaken