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First they came for the Iranians

scottaaronson.com

281–290 of 460 posts

Re: First they came for the Iranians

#281

I am an Iranian CS student. I had a fully funded PhD admission at one of the US universities. I was admitted for the Fall 2016 semester. I am currently in Iran due to my visa not being issued despite the 7 months I have waited for it. I was able to defer my admission to Spring 2017 semester, but then _this_ happened. I am quite sure that I will never be able to attend this program. I had very high hopes for my future…

As some have mentioned here, you have other options.

Iranian-Americans have been making serious, world-class [1][2][3][4], contribution to American society in a variety of fields. America's loss is some other nations' gain.

Just a small sample:

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Javan

[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotfi_A._Zadeh

[3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nima_Arkani-Hamed

[4]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryam_Mirzakhani

Re: First they came for the Iranians

#282

I am an Iranian CS student. I had a fully funded PhD admission at one of the US universities. I was admitted for the Fall 2016 semester. I am currently in Iran due to my visa not being issued despite the 7 months I have waited for it. I was able to defer my admission to Spring 2017 semester, but then _this_ happened. I am quite sure that I will never be able to attend this program. I had very high hopes for my future…

Ironically I am in a similar situation too, I am last year bachelor student, I have found a professor and laboratory to work in one of the universities in the United States, and I was going to apply for Fall 2018. Now from what I can see I should forget about the US.

And my field was System Software (I am particularly in love with Operating System Security).

Re: First they came for the Iranians

#283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Indian and Chinese ones are easy to explain - you get the best of those countries. Those countries in turn have suffered from brain drain for the past several decades.

You seem to be suggesting humans have an intrinsic quality - some are the "best", others are the presumably the worst. This intrinsic quality is then what drives behavior. Of course, if people internationally can be "the best", then perhaps domestically people can be "the best" (or not) as well. For example, perhaps bad inner cities and Trump-voting rust belt regions are full of people who are very much NOT the best.…

Your conclusion does not logically follow. Sure, some people may not be "the best", but that does not mean that an entire group of people (your "bad inner cities and Trump-voting rust belt regions") can be grouped into best or not-best. There will be a ranking of people (based on any criteria) in any region.

Re: First they came for the Iranians

#284
post #146
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> many terrorists involved in incidents are natural born citizens of allied countries. Stated differently, the majority are made up of muslims that have been in the western world for more than one generation and have still not assimilated. If feel that you're making a stronger case for limiting muslim immigration. > this is going to alienate moderate Muslims who Western intelligence agencies have unanimously and cate…

>What I think is even more stupid though is how the left is trying to compare Trump to Hitler Right, you're going to get those comparisons if you praise China for the Tiananmen Square massacre, praise dictators like Kim Jong Un and Putin, suggest a national registry for everyone of a particular religion, suggest banning people from entering based on their religion(which is what he initially said, before tracking back…

> you're going to get those comparisons

Comparisons are one thing. There are a lot of leftists who truly believe that he's a Hitler figure, and as I've shown in my last comment, that's hardly the case.

> The only new "news" outlet he wants to give access to is Breitbart

[Citation Needed] It's clear that it's more than just that one outlet, which is a great reversal from the policy of the last 8 years.

> I'm not sure how background checks [etc]

Don't be coy. The left have been clamping down on guns for years, and many of them would like them to be outright banned. Hillary Clinton wanted to make gun manufacturers liable for anything that happens when using their guns, essentially destroying the civilian gun industry. The candidates also fought over which candidate was most hated by the NRA.

> the biggest problem with the economy today is the unparalleled levels of inequality

I love that the left like to accuse everyone else of being unscientific, but that they've become the greatest deniers of all. But even if it were true, what's the left's proposal? That we give all that money and power over to the government, the same one that they complain (rightfully so) is in an unholy alliance with corporations and special interests? What do you think the incentives are for those people in power are?

> In the age of nuclear weapons, guns are not useful in overthrowing a tyrannical government.

Hopefully gun owners will be willing to depose of a government before it gets to the point where they've become so evil that they're willing to nuke their own people.

Re: First they came for the Iranians

#285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We will continue to do everything we can to fight this policy and others like it. You say that, but I'm afraid the implication might be "short of doing anything that matters". Where are the protests? Why aren't people in the streets? Don't make the same mistake Germans did under Hitler. The government relies on each step affecting few enough people that nobody will be bothered enough to march, and after a thousand…

There were already many different large scale protests across the nation several days ago. Those took months to organize and set up. Logistics alone makes another immediate large scale protest unlikely. The exception is unless there is clear and demonstrable malfeasance like in the case of S. Korea's president. If Trump's draft executive order had said something like "permanent ban of all Muslims" then I have no doub…

Let's see what happens in 30 days, then. My hopes are not high.

Also, if this really were just to reduce investigative burden, why not halt all refugees from all countries for 30 days?

Re: First they came for the Iranians

#286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't say much more than I'm sorry. Remember: Donald Trump does not represent the will of the American people. He won the electoral college, but around 2.8 million more people voted for Clinton than voted for him. He does not represent our values, our morals, or our view of where the country should be going. He represents those straight white males who don't want to adapt to the future, who don't want to give up th…

Trump very clearly represents the will of an immense number of people and may represent the will of the majority of Americans in fact. For both Clinton and Trump that representation is far beyond those that actually voted. Clinton's camp will be the first to tell you that supposedly a lot of her supporters didn't vote in the election. You say Trump represents straight white males (you imply that's all he represents).…

Still, a thin majority is the most pathetic kind of mandate.

This counts for everybody by the way, I lean left but am not particularly enamored with the approach the Democratic Party takes to governance.

Re: First they came for the Iranians

#287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...the cost of living they are willing to put up with, and the work they are willing to do...people in America are not willing to do backbreaking labor like picking fruit? Yes, Mexicans are willing to do what it takes, while many Trump voters prefer to sit at home refusing to work and doing meth. I was making the following core points: 1) the Trump voters apatters was defending suffer mainly from self-inflicted probl…

Some Mexicans are willing to do what it takes. Don't overgeneralize. It's not like the entire population of Mexico is in the US right now. Races and nationalities are not homogeneous. Is there a segment of the population blaming others for their problems? Yes. Are they totally wrong? No. They're not entirely right but they aren't entirely wrong. Is it all self inflicted problems? Hell no. There is no way I would argu…

If a former autoworker refuses to move to where the jobs are, and refuses to work in landscaping/elder care/other field that isn't dying, their plight is their fault.

Re: First they came for the Iranians

#288
post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trump very clearly represents the will of an immense number of people and may represent the will of the majority of Americans in fact. For both Clinton and Trump that representation is far beyond those that actually voted. Clinton's camp will be the first to tell you that supposedly a lot of her supporters didn't vote in the election. You say Trump represents straight white males (you imply that's all he represents).…

The only relevant fact here is that millions more people voted against Trump than for him. The top reason people voted for Trump wasn't to support him or his policies, it was that he wasn't Clinton ( http://www.people-press.org/2016/09/21/in-their-own-words-wh... ). His approval rating is below 50% ( http://www.gallup.com/poll/201617/gallup-daily-trump-job-app... ). Trump doesn't represent the majority in any sense o…

>he only relevant fact here is that millions more people voted against Trump than for him.

No. We did not have a popular vote.

Re: First they came for the Iranians

#289
post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can personally recommend the University of Waterloo, here in Canada. I did my Master's degree there in electrical engineering. The school has an excellent, and well recognized, CS program, and a significant percentage of both the graduate student body and the faculty (at least when I was there 8 years ago or so) were from Iran. Waterloo itself isn't a particularly large city, but with two universities it has a sign…

^ This! Or if you are into AI, university of Montreal is also a hot bed right now with Mr Bengio. Canadians will gladly take you, in fact I know an Iranian who just finished his math phd... Courage! :)

And U of Toronto has one of the top Neural Networks groups anywhere. UBC is also a great university in a nice city.

Re: First they came for the Iranians

#290

"Today, we learned that Trump is suspending the issuance of US visas to people from seven majority-Islamic countries, including Iran (but strangely not Saudi Arabia, the cradle of Wahhabist terrorism)." And yet, from the very source linked in the article-- "Details about the forthcoming executive orders are still unconfirmed. But here’s what we can say with high confidence." If you trust AP, then sure, it's likely th…

I'm not sure why AP is the subject of your scorn here. They're accurately reporting the document that was leaked, and it's in the publics' interest to learn about such actions as soon as possible. Such leaks are sometimes intended as trial balloons, for example, and the reporting may stop the worst from happening by allowing the public to react at a time where the administrations still has a face-saving way out. That…

The AP was not the subject of my scorn.
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