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Peter Thiel, YC, and hard decisions

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Re: Peter Thiel, YC, and hard decisions

#281

Post by User23 »

M_Grey wrote: post #126
natrius wrote: post #16

Cleaving off 40% of America is not a recipe for progress. When Trump shows his people how they're getting blacklisted from the economy, that isn't going to make them want to riot less . Our culture of progress has become entirely about excluding dissenters until they submit, and it's not working anymore . We've given up on convincing the people who have all the weapons, and now we're going to start hurting them econo…

40% of America is not interested in Trump. 57% of America isn't even voting, and significantly less than half of the remainder are supporting Trump. Of those, you'd be a bit thick to assume that more than half are doing it out of any meaningful support for him, rather than ideology or despising the alternatives. As for, "people who have all the weapons", unless they have tanks, an air force, a navy, and AA capability…

You should do some research into the demographics of the various combat arms roles in the US military.

Re: Peter Thiel, YC, and hard decisions

#282

Post by tptacek »

nostromo wrote: post #276
untog wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMO, you can even disregard all of Trump's dirty laundry in this calculation. He is openly calling into doubt the result of this election before it's even happened, asking supporters to intimidate voters, and suggesting the entire election is "rigged". He is attempting to undermine democracy in the country and I'm not sure you need a single additional reason to object to anyone who supports him. Thiel, of course, doe…

For what it's worth, I haven't heard many complaints about Bernie Sanders claiming elections are bought. > We now have a political situation where billionaires are literally able to buy elections and candidates. Let’s not kid ourselves. That is the reality right now. [1] (He also is fond of claiming "the system" is rigged, if not elections directly.) [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sanders-takes-on-bil...

That's because Bernie Sanders is not in fact claiming that the election is rigged. In fact: he's been a reliable support of Clinton since the primaries ended.

Re: Peter Thiel, YC, and hard decisions

#283

Post by noobermin »

nostromo wrote: post #276
untog wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMO, you can even disregard all of Trump's dirty laundry in this calculation. He is openly calling into doubt the result of this election before it's even happened, asking supporters to intimidate voters, and suggesting the entire election is "rigged". He is attempting to undermine democracy in the country and I'm not sure you need a single additional reason to object to anyone who supports him. Thiel, of course, doe…

For what it's worth, I haven't heard many complaints about Bernie Sanders claiming elections are bought. > We now have a political situation where billionaires are literally able to buy elections and candidates. Let’s not kid ourselves. That is the reality right now. [1] (He also is fond of claiming "the system" is rigged, if not elections directly.) [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sanders-takes-on-bil...

I certainly heard them, at the very least, there was railing against Bernie supporters, not Bernie himself.

His railing against the system regards economics and yes the foray of money into politics. It is in a similar category of statements but is very different than claiming the voting machines are rigged. Yes, some Bernie supporters alleged there was outright voting manipulation, but the Sanders campaign did not directly allege that.

Re: Peter Thiel, YC, and hard decisions

#284

Post by purephase »

Turing_Machine wrote: post #270
paulv wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope. "I know now I was wrong. Intolerance had no place in America. I apologized a thousand times ... and I don't mind apologizing over and over again. I can't erase what happened." -- Robert Byrd "Senator Byrd reflects the transformative power of this nation," stated NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous. "Senator Byrd went from being an active member of the KKK to a being a stalwart supporter of the Civil R…

Strom Thurmond also repudiated his earlier racism, but that didn't stop the OP from using him as a litmus test. Why is that?

You'll need to source that. Despite some evidence in his later actions, Strom never vocally repudiated his earlier racism. I couldn't find any sources on it.

His filibuster against the Civil Rights Act put him in this position. Had he succeeded, his impact would have been far more detrimental to the rights of those protected under the act today then anything Byrd had/has done.

Both are disagreeable sorts, but Strom's lasting impact would have been much, much worse.

Re: Peter Thiel, YC, and hard decisions

#285

Post by jshevek »

rtx wrote: post #248
untog wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is your proposal to remove war from the world? I'm sure a lot of us would be in favor.

We can start by not voting for warmongers and hawks. Americans had an opportunity to vote for Sanders. But I guess they are too far removed from these incidents.

It's not too late to vote for Jill Stein. I'm not sure any of the four most prominent candidates are qualified for the position, but at least one could make a vote against war.

Re: Peter Thiel, YC, and hard decisions

#286

Post by paulv »

Turing_Machine wrote: post #270
paulv wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope. "I know now I was wrong. Intolerance had no place in America. I apologized a thousand times ... and I don't mind apologizing over and over again. I can't erase what happened." -- Robert Byrd "Senator Byrd reflects the transformative power of this nation," stated NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous. "Senator Byrd went from being an active member of the KKK to a being a stalwart supporter of the Civil R…

Strom Thurmond also repudiated his earlier racism, but that didn't stop the OP from using him as a litmus test. Why is that?

When was it that he repudiated his racism? Because he said in a 1998 interview when asked if he wanted to apologize for running as a Dixiecrat. He said "I don't have anything to apologize for," and "I don't have any regrets." He was also asked if he thought the Dixiecrats were right and said "Yes, I do."

Presumably the OP thought Strom Thurmond was still a racist, which, as those quotes prove, is clearly true.

Re: Peter Thiel, YC, and hard decisions

#287

Post by jpetso »

Excerpt from the current Hacker News top 30:

2. China's Shenzhou 11 blasts off on space station mission (101 points, 3h ago)

7. Quantum computers: 10-fold boost in stability achieved (63 points, 4h ago)

30. Peter Thiel, YC, and hard decisions (this thread) (348 points, 2h ago)

I recognize that the Hacker News ranking algorithm takes more criteria into account than just current number of points and time posted, but this is an instance where a little extra transparency in the ranking model would help to show that this is not an arbitrary moderated downrank.

Re: Peter Thiel, YC, and hard decisions

#288

Post by gohrt »

551199 wrote: post #160
tristanho wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is very much a difference between "uninviting companies " based on their support of a bill and firing a partner for his personal political viewpoints. These aren't apples to apples comparisons; this issue isn't that simple.

Yes, consider the outrage if conservative would fire someone on political viewpoints. All this alleged 'Trump is racist and hates x' is complete BS. If you read the wikileaks emails there is a major media & Clinton collusion going on. That should pause everybody. The way Democrats are running this campaign is really worrying as show in todays leaks 'CLINTON CAMP HIRES AGITATORS TO INSTIGATE VIOLENCE'[0]. Edit: I'm be…

The difference is that conservatives are wrong and liberals are right, so YC is doing the right thing.

Re: Peter Thiel, YC, and hard decisions

#289

Post by oddevan »

supergirl wrote: post #257
dfabulich wrote: post #9

There is clear precedent for YC taking a political stand by uninviting investors. Only five years ago, Paul Graham was willing to uninvite investors from Demo Day based on their support for the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). https://techcrunch.com/2011/12/22/paul-graham-sopa-supportin... Paul asked, "If these companies are so clueless about technology that they think SOPA is a good idea, how could they be good invest…

I'm surprised people on HN are so naive to quickly dismiss Trump because of what he says. Politicians wanting to get elected will say anything to win. After they get elected everything changes. This applies many times to politicians promising the world and then delivering very little but will also happen to politicians promising crazy things and then delivering little. Talk is cheap. Once you are elected you realize…

I think part of the issue with Trump is that--to many people--he's already failed at this. Usually, once a major party candidate wins the nomination, they start moving their positions towards the center in order to capture mainstream/moderate voters. Trump has not done this; in fact, he's tended to do the opposite. He still hasn't backed off The Wall, for instance.

Granted, this is still just "talk," but to people like me, it's indicative of how he tends to double-down instead of moderating himself. I don't have a lot of confidence he would begin moderating himself once presented with actual power.

Re: Peter Thiel, YC, and hard decisions

#290

Post by notliketherest »

jpetso wrote: post #287

Excerpt from the current Hacker News top 30: 2. China's Shenzhou 11 blasts off on space station mission (101 points, 3h ago) 7. Quantum computers: 10-fold boost in stability achieved (63 points, 4h ago) 30. Peter Thiel, YC, and hard decisions (this thread) (348 points, 2h ago) I recognize that the Hacker News ranking algorithm takes more criteria into account than just current number of points and time posted, but th…

I've noticed this for the past few months. Anything touching the current US election, no matter how engaging, is quickly sent off the front page. I'd guess it'd have to do with a quickly growing "Flame war", either by volume of down votes or flags or both.
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