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Re: undefined

#101

Post by camillomiller »

akhilcacharya wrote: post #20
camillomiller wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And Sam Altman's BFF Edit: In case you don't think that's relevant, go read this: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/10/sam-altmans-man... From the article: "If the pandemic does come, Altman’s backup plan is to fly with his friend Peter Thiel, the billionaire venture capitalist, to Thiel’s house in New Zealand." Do you really think that Thiel's advice has no effect on Mr. Altman's decisions?

Wasn't aware of that. Sam's political views appear to be directly opposite of Peter's then if his Twitter is any indication.

That's why it's surprising. They're "I'm gonna spend the rest of my life with you if a world catastrophe happens" kind of buddies, according to this NewYorker Profile:

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/10/sam-altmans-man...

Re: undefined

#102

Post by meritt »

inimino wrote: post #91
meritt wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because he's a bully with a dangerous trigger-finger mentality. He doesn't have any actual policies. There's the formal GOP policy which he frequently contradicts and his own viewpoints are extremely fluid as well. His only consistency is attacking those who he views as lower than him.

This explains why you won't vote for him, but that wasn't the question. The question is why the tech industry would differ from the population at large, where Trump has >40% support.

Because the US tech industry exists in socially progressive cities: SF/SV, Seattle, Austin, Portland, NYC.

Re: undefined

#103

Post by WalterBright »

rorykoehler wrote: post #65
morgante wrote: post #29

I'm genuinely curious what the rational for Thiel is in doing this. He's a smart guy, but I just don't see the ROI. At this point, it seems very unlikely that Trump will get elected. So Thiel isn't getting access to a future President. Plus, in addition to the monetary cost of the donation there's definitely a very real reputational cost. A lot of people in SV hate Trump and are completely mystified as to Thiel's sup…

I've always found the right-libertarian philosophy to be extremely confused. They want freedom to do whatever they want but they also want to base everything off of capitalism which by definition means you can't do whatever you want unless you're rich. It just doesn't make any sense (unless of course you're already a billionaire in which case your world is already quite libertarian in reality).

Libertarianism isn't about doing whatever you want. It's about protecting your rights and the rights of others. This means you can do what you want, as long as you are not infringing on the rights of others.

That last clause is often overlooked or misunderstood, but it is critical.

Re: undefined

#105

Post by rconti »

AvenueIngres wrote: post #85
bobsgame wrote: post #38

I'm not very political and I haven't decided who to vote for yet, but I don't understand why the tech industry is so anti-Trump. He seems like a relatively sincere and smart guy to me, and some of his policies seem to be better for business. Is it because of tougher immigration laws? Are there other reasons based on his policies, or is it mostly just emotional?

> why the tech industry is so anti-Trump. People don't risk openly supporting Trump unless they have the kind of fuck-you money/assets that allows them to do so. Truth is that the tech industry is probably leaning toward the Democratic party a lot less than it actually seems simply because of the politically motivated discrimination you would face should you endorse the wrong candidate (or embrace the "wrong" opinion…

Many people have bet on the Bradley effect many times before, and they tend to be wrong.

Trump's results in the general election were bang-on with what the polls predicted.

The general could be different. But there's no reason to believe that it will be.

That said, I don't disagree that "polite" coastal society doesn't take kindly to alternative views.

Re: undefined

#106

Post by internaut »

morgante wrote: post #60
internaut wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the Stagnation Hypothesis. More precisely it is the high level implications of the Stagnation Hypothesis. You won't know it from HN or a survey of typical developers but the people who really run Silicon Valley have a set of beliefs about the world which are very different to the people who work for them. Watch this all the way through. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMpmfaE9bII

I'm not talking about typical developers. Lots of top technology leaders have come out vehemently against Trump, [0] including Sam Altman, who I would definitely include in "the people who really run Silicon Valley." [1] To be clear, I'm not disputing Thiel's politics. I think he's right about a lot of things. They have near-zero overlap with Trump's policies. Trump is easily the least libertarian Republican presiden…

I believe you're missing a puzzle piece. Take the time out to watch a few of his Youtube videos. They are long and have very low view counts but they're important.

Re: undefined

#107

Post by rconti »

AvenueIngres wrote: post #92
inimino wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tech leans liberal and highly-educated, demographically not a good fit for Trump.

Because voting behaviors and income levels are highly correlated. Stop right there if you believe that people dislike Trump because they are "smarter". It is a cheap to make you feel good about yourself.

Education level. Not intelligence.

Re: undefined

#108

Post by WalterBright »

rorykoehler wrote: post #99
solipsism wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have my problems with Libertarianism, but I don't understand what you don't understand. Libertarians think everyone should have freedom to do whatever one wants, but that says nothing of having power to do whatever one wants.

Freedom is not freedom without power to exercise said freedom.

The word 'freedom' has many different meanings.

Re: undefined

#109

Post by morgante »

nostrademons wrote: post #73
morgante wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But why is he making the donation now? That logic would have made a lot more sense when Trump's odds looked a lot better. You have to multiply the upside by its (low) probability. I also think the reputational cost is more severe than you let on: look at what happened to Brendan Eich, and his "crime" was a lot less than supporting Trump.

It's not just multiplying the upside by the probability. The upside depends upon how many people are in the crowd with you. Right now, everybody else is deserting Trump - and so if Thiel doubles-down on his bet, Trump and his loyalists will remember that all the moreso, and so if Trump wins Thiel stands out even more from everyone that deserted Trump but then came crawling back when times looked good. Eich and Trump…

> It's not just multiplying the upside by the probability. The upside depends upon how many people are in the crowd with you.

Sure, it's true that his upside is greater thanks to Thiel's unitary status. But I don't think that effect is any greater now: Trump enjoyed 0 SV support a month ago, so the investment would have had just as much impact then as now, but the probability is much lower now.

> Eich and Trump are in very different roles.

Absolutely, Thiel and Eich have very different roles. But to think public image is unimportant to Thiel is also naive: I could easily see this having a negative impact on his deal flow, either because founders are personally offended or because they'e afraid of tainting their reputation. There's a reason that VCs have PR and at least pay lip service to things like Women in Tech.

Re: undefined

#110

Post by sctb »

mcknz wrote: post #90
pesenti wrote: post #16

Thanks for the flexibility (for context https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12716662 ).

Not sure why we would turn off flagging, if it's doing its job keeping flame wars off of the front page.

The hypothesis is that the many flagged submissions and associated meta-discussion amount to more disruption than a single discussion thread which might otherwise have been judged as off-topic for HN.
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