What Silicon Valley Insiders Think of Peter Thiel’s Speech at RNC • Hacker News Board

Re: What Silicon Valley Insiders Think of Peter Thiel’s Speech at RNC

#91

Post by rayiner » Sat, Jul 23, 2016, 8:38 PM UTC

pen2l wrote: post #88

rayiner wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On some issues maybe, on others probably not. I think he's on the right side of one key issue: http://www.salon.com/2016/06/22/donald_trump_is_no_lgbt_ally... . As a Bangladeshi with a beard I don't say that lightly, but we're at a weird point in history where only a guy not afraid of being called racist,[1] can take a stand (however opportunistic) on what is becoming a worldwide assault on cherished liberal social v…

You're a brown guy with a beard. May I please hear your experiences in America? Do you feel people have been unfair to you ever? Have they been more unfair recently? By the way (if you don't mind me asking), did you have an Islamic upbringing? (as most Bengalis do I think). If you did, when did you decide to get away from it?

I feel like an unhyphenated American. Discounting a homeless person yelling something at me once in Atlanta, I've never felt anything but welcome here. I was an atheist growing up--my dad was an activist for secular westernization when he was a college student during the Bangladeshi war of independence. After I got married I started going to church with my wife, and I never felt unwelcome there either. Though, a large number of people in the world think I should be executed for apostasy.

Re: What Silicon Valley Insiders Think of Peter Thiel’s Speech at RNC

#92

Post by pen2l » Sat, Jul 23, 2016, 9:00 PM UTC

rayiner wrote: post #91

pen2l wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're a brown guy with a beard. May I please hear your experiences in America? Do you feel people have been unfair to you ever? Have they been more unfair recently? By the way (if you don't mind me asking), did you have an Islamic upbringing? (as most Bengalis do I think). If you did, when did you decide to get away from it?

I feel like an unhyphenated American. Discounting a homeless person yelling something at me once in Atlanta, I've never felt anything but welcome here. I was an atheist growing up--my dad was an activist for secular westernization when he was a college student during the Bangladeshi war of independence. After I got married I started going to church with my wife, and I never felt unwelcome there either. Though, a larg…

Thanks for answering. I'm also a brown guy with a beard (but I've lost the beard now to distance myself of the label "brown guy with a beard"). I have had the same experiences... but lately I myself have become very self-conscious, so whenever I'm standing waiting at a busline with my big backpack that I always have on, I just can't help but think "yeah yeah this guy and girl around me are wondering if I'm a terrorist and what's in this huge backpack of mine". I usually have to remind myself that things are not as bad as internet makes it seem.

I now try to have a friendly smile on wherever I go, and I try to talk to strangers. The great news is that this is doing wonders. E.g. yesterday I met a Catholic guy in the T who was all like "Oh, I am so sorry what my country is doing to your country... bombing it all, killing innocents" -- and I was all like "oh, no, I am sorry that some bastards from my country are doing shitty stuff to this country". Having conversations like this sort of help me get back in thinking that most Americans indeed actually do not hate me or want me out.

Re: What Silicon Valley Insiders Think of Peter Thiel’s Speech at RNC

#93

Post by rayiner » Sat, Jul 23, 2016, 9:10 PM UTC

pen2l wrote: post #92

rayiner wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like an unhyphenated American. Discounting a homeless person yelling something at me once in Atlanta, I've never felt anything but welcome here. I was an atheist growing up--my dad was an activist for secular westernization when he was a college student during the Bangladeshi war of independence. After I got married I started going to church with my wife, and I never felt unwelcome there either. Though, a larg…

Thanks for answering. I'm also a brown guy with a beard (but I've lost the beard now to distance myself of the label "brown guy with a beard"). I have had the same experiences... but lately I myself have become very self-conscious, so whenever I'm standing waiting at a busline with my big backpack that I always have on, I just can't help but think "yeah yeah this guy and girl around me are wondering if I'm a terroris…

Beards are trendy now! I once shaved mine off to pitch a potential startup client. Walked into the meeting and saw the guys we were pitching to all had thick luxurious beards. Doh!

Re: What Silicon Valley Insiders Think of Peter Thiel’s Speech at RNC

#94

Post by tzs » Sat, Jul 23, 2016, 9:54 PM UTC

TimJRobinson wrote: post #8

sievebrain wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found it a relatively poor article actually. It's longer than the speech itself yet says less: http://time.com/4417679/republican-convention-peter-thiel-tr... From the man's own words, it seems to be a combination of: • A shared feeling that America was once great, and it can be again, but currently is in decline. No other politician except Trump says this. • Dislike of foreign wars, a feeling that only Trump says…

I understand trump over Clinton, but I don't understand why trump over Gary Johnson. He is a self proclaimed libertarian and the libertarian party is polling the highest in their history. Other than being anti war trump is the furthest from being a libertarian in Republican presidential history.

Here is the Libertarian Party Platform, adopted May 2016: https://www.lp.org/platform

Some things in there that might turn someone who is typically Republican or conservative off of the Libertarian Party (and therefore the Libertarian Party's candidate):

• No restriction on abortion.

• Gets rid of foreign foreign economic and military aid (which I'm assuming would include getting rid of aid to Israel, which is why I think it would be a problem for Republicans).

• Calls for close to an open borders policy (exceptions being for people who pose a creditable threat to security, health, or property).

• Full legalization of most drugs.

Some things in there that might turn off someone who is typically a Democrat or liberal off include:

• Government should not discriminate on the basis of sex, wealth, ethnicity, creed, age, national origin, personal habits, political preference or sexual orientation, but private parties can. Those who disagree with a private party's choice to discriminate can respond with ostracism, boycotts, and other free-market solutions.

• No minimum wage.

• Implied elimination of public schools. (Education best provided by the free market, and government should not compete with private enterprise).

Re: What Silicon Valley Insiders Think of Peter Thiel’s Speech at RNC

#95

Post by omonra » Sat, Jul 23, 2016, 10:59 PM UTC

brighteyes wrote: post #72

DominikR wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't buy it that Google is biased against black people, it's just that Google has more jobs that require a higher education in STEM fields whereas Apple has many people employed in stores and factories. I believe that there are just fewer black graduates in STEM fields from top universities and that's why Google can't hire more of them.

I agree most Google employees are probably not racist against black people. But they do have a bias similar to the one you just mentioned - they tend to only hire from "top schools". It's true that the top schools tend to produce good people, but it's elitist to think that only they do. Perhaps Apple recruiters look at a broader range of universities, including historically black ones, for example. Regarding what you…

Those figures are not for tech roles but company-wide. Apple does not provide figures for % of engineers who are black.

If you want to prove that companies discriminate, look up percent of engineering PhDs (like CS) who are black that graduate per year. If that number is above what companies hire - you will have a reasonable claim.

Otherwise it's nothing.

Re: What Silicon Valley Insiders Think of Peter Thiel’s Speech at RNC

#96

Post by specialist » Sat, Jul 23, 2016, 11:10 PM UTC

DominikR wrote: post #87

specialist wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Democrats support the resettling of millions of Muslims to the West that have been indoctrinated in an ideology that calls for killing gays." Full stop. What? I stopped reading right there. I have no idea what you're talking about. I've never even heard such a stupid idea before. Oh. "The West", not the USA's West Coast. You're channeling David Rubin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Rubin https://news.ycombinator…

Sorry I don't understand, I don't even know David Rubin. I'm living in the EU which is run by liberals/lefts and I can clearly see that they are pushing hard against the peoples will to allow millions of Muslims to resettle here. (And Obama/Hillary never fail to support this policy) I did not say that these liberals endorse terrorism, I just say that they are doing it against the will of the people and that there are…

"Nazis themselves were Socialists!"

Calling my grandmother a trolley car doesn't make her one.

Re: What Silicon Valley Insiders Think of Peter Thiel’s Speech at RNC

#97

Post by specialist » Sat, Jul 23, 2016, 11:19 PM UTC

rayiner wrote: post #38

thormathison wrote: post #14

As an attorney and someone in tech, I used to strongly admire Thiel. He left biglaw and took a gamble, and it paid off. But between his support for Trump and the Gawker nonsense, I no longer have any respect for the man. Anyone on record supporting trump is on the wrong side of history.

On some issues maybe, on others probably not. I think he's on the right side of one key issue: http://www.salon.com/2016/06/22/donald_trump_is_no_lgbt_ally... . As a Bangladeshi with a beard I don't say that lightly, but we're at a weird point in history where only a guy not afraid of being called racist,[1] can take a stand (however opportunistic) on what is becoming a worldwide assault on cherished liberal social v…

Please don't mistake Trump's clickbait (trolling) with policy statements.

Apologies to Conor Lynch, author of that article you linked, but Trump is far from the only person opposing intolerance. Just one of a zillion examples: many liberals rationalized supporting Bush's Folly in Iraq and Afghanistan to better protect women.

Re: What Silicon Valley Insiders Think of Peter Thiel’s Speech at RNC

#98

Post by lmmlzxx » Sun, Jul 24, 2016, 12:01 AM UTC

elgabogringo wrote: post #53

rayiner wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On some issues maybe, on others probably not. I think he's on the right side of one key issue: http://www.salon.com/2016/06/22/donald_trump_is_no_lgbt_ally... . As a Bangladeshi with a beard I don't say that lightly, but we're at a weird point in history where only a guy not afraid of being called racist,[1] can take a stand (however opportunistic) on what is becoming a worldwide assault on cherished liberal social v…

Replying to your aside... You are absolutely correct. Thank you. I'd add that implementing security "at the border" is the lightest touch option available and doesn't infringe on the rights of any citizens. But our leaders won't do it. Instead they create the TSA to eliminate free travel and get access to our emails & phone calls to eliminate privacy. Also, while I see both sides of the gun argument, it worries me th…

The US government commits terrorist attacks on a regular basis. I may not convince all of you about the air strike in Syria the other day, or the hospital that was intentionally hit a few months back, but can any of you deny that the Shock and Awe bombing campaign at the outset of the Iraq war was terrorism? Shock and Awe was the "use of overwhelming power and spectacular displays of force to paralyze the enemy's perception of the battlefield and destroy its will to fight". The stated purpose was to terrify the civilian population. The Oxford Research Group estimated that there were 6,616 civilian deaths.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shock_and_awe

Re: What Silicon Valley Insiders Think of Peter Thiel’s Speech at RNC

#99

Post by SomeCallMeTim » Sun, Jul 24, 2016, 6:24 AM UTC

_delirium wrote: post #63

SomeCallMeTim wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly, but Trump has made no proposal that would actually accomplish that kind of "great again." He (and Thiel) are actually examples of the ultra-rich who are taking extreme profits at the expense of workers, so why would putting him in charge of the country make it any better? Also see my sibling comment here [1]. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12150037

Trump sort of has a gesture towards an answer, which is more or less: trade protectionism. The broad sketch of his argument is that free trade, or perhaps more specifically "bad trade deals", moved good blue-collar jobs overseas, and either ripping up the trade deals or renegotiating them will move the jobs back. I personally am skeptical, but it's a pitch many people are open to. In my opinion protectionism isn't go…

>trade protectionism

Seems like that is the kind of thing that gets you into trade wars. Not to mention that people would be Really Really Unhappy if iPhones suddenly doubled in price because of tariffs designed to protect American manufacturing.

But...I'm not an expert, so I don't know with any degree of confidence what the consequences would be. Problem is Trump's fans are so far down in the "not an expert" direction that Dunning-Kruger probably makes them think it really IS that easy...sigh...

Re: What Silicon Valley Insiders Think of Peter Thiel’s Speech at RNC

#100

Post by stephancoral » Sun, Jul 24, 2016, 1:42 PM UTC

yummyfajitas wrote: post #28

stephancoral wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely. I'm in NYC for HOPE this weekend. Coming from Silicon Valley where 1% of the workers are black, I was so happy to see such a huge diverse crowd at the conference, all there for the shared love of exploring technology and hacker culture. SV has some incredibly smart people but, in my experience, all they care about is making money. Feels like the hacker spirit has absolutely vanished

As a NY (and India) guy who occasionally visits the west coast, seriously? NY loves tech but the valley only wants to make money? Consider the blockchain. Out west they try and rebuild the world with it - consider the (thiel funded) urbit. Back east we just replace banking clearinghouses with bank built blockchain. What makes you feel differently? Also curious what the ancestry of the people doing tech has to do with…

Urbit, to me, is an elitist joke filled with needlessly obscurantist terminology. If it takes off I will eat my foot but I doubt it. To me it's just another example of the Valley bubble where they want "to change the world" but have no connection to the world they so desperately (for mostly egotistical reasons) seek to alter.

The NYC scene I've witnessed at HOPE is not nearly as pretentious as SV people. Whenever I hear "changing" or "rebuilding" the world my bullshit meter explodes. To me the NYC scene doesn't want to change the world in grand capitalistic gestures, they want to help out people and have information be free. I'm a big fan of 2600 and that whole ethos. Not to say SV is devoid of that, it's just so much more focused on the glitz and bullshit.

The ancestry / ethnicity of people in tech has to do with everything. Algorithms can be racist - whether it's insensitive snapchat filter (the Bob Marley one comes to mind) or facial detection algos that can't detect black people because the devs only tested it on lighter-skinned people. Diversity is a beautiful thing, especially in these polarizing times, and so its meaningful to me for there to be a large amount of different folk involved in our profession and interests. Only 1% of people working in Sv are black. That's just wrong.