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Tech bosses are globalists, not libertarians

economist.com

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Re: Tech bosses are globalists, not libertarians

#61

Post by EGreg »

civilian wrote: post #10
mattnewton wrote: post #9

I think more simplistically: when you take this group of people and average them out what you get are beliefs that benefit the large companies they represent. That's the signal that is correlated with running a big tech company, and the rest is probably mostly noise. That's all really, they aren't for or against free trade in aggregate, they are for their company trading profitably, on average.

Bullshit. You're committing the fallacy that comes from Marxist thought--- that one's position/class/socio-economic-factors are the determining factors in their values and beliefs. People are not so simple, their thoughts can come from elsewhere. You're wildly underestimating the sentience of these people. I think a better model is that: People who understand economics tend to both be entrepreneurs (they understand t…

Free trade benefits consumers at the local producers' expense.

Re: Tech bosses are globalists, not libertarians

#62

Post by WalterBright »

sremani wrote: post #48
davidivadavid wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure about that, unless you're conflating libertarians with anarcho-capitalists. Minarchist libertarians would actually consider that making free trade possible through military might is in the purview of the state.

You may be right, but what is libertarian idea of maritime trade in hostile world and how would a free market established in such circumstances. (I am not asking for full answer.. you can point me books or links)

You might want to check out what the US Navy did to the pirates.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_pirates#18th.E2.80.931...

Re: Tech bosses are globalists, not libertarians

#63

Post by danek »

lubesGordi wrote: post #12

"would like to live in a society where government does nothing except provide national defence and police protection, so that people could be left alone to earn whatever they could," -- obviously encapsulates the libertarian philosophy.

It's one of those things that sounds so simple and great on paper but has a huge impedance mismatch with reality.

Re: Tech bosses are globalists, not libertarians

#64

Post by eli_gottlieb »

civilian wrote: post #10
mattnewton wrote: post #9

I think more simplistically: when you take this group of people and average them out what you get are beliefs that benefit the large companies they represent. That's the signal that is correlated with running a big tech company, and the rest is probably mostly noise. That's all really, they aren't for or against free trade in aggregate, they are for their company trading profitably, on average.

Bullshit. You're committing the fallacy that comes from Marxist thought--- that one's position/class/socio-economic-factors are the determining factors in their values and beliefs. People are not so simple, their thoughts can come from elsewhere. You're wildly underestimating the sentience of these people. I think a better model is that: People who understand economics tend to both be entrepreneurs (they understand t…

>Bullshit. You're committing the fallacy that comes from Marxist thought--- that one's position/class/socio-economic-factors are the determining factors in their values and beliefs. People are not so simple, their thoughts can come from elsewhere. You're wildly underestimating the sentience of these people.

People's values and beliefs usually model the reinforcement signals they've actually received, not the distribution of all such signals that a human being in our world can receive.

So yes, their values and beliefs will tend to support their interests. That is, after all, what values and beliefs are for.

Re: Tech bosses are globalists, not libertarians

#65

Post by wmf »

wutbrodo wrote: post #20
raldi wrote: post #16

The stereotypical right-wing position is, "This government program is poorly-run; let's get rid of it" The stereotypical left-wing position is, "This government program should be left alone, even if it's poorly-run" The stereotypical Gray Tribe position is, "This government program is poorly-run; let's debug it"

> The stereotypical Gray Tribe position is, "This government program is poorly-run; let's debug it" Until the Gray-Triber realizes that there's no real feedback loop between policy effectiveness and actual policy and end up as either a resigned left-winger or bitter right-winger

There is currently no feedback loop or there can never be a feedback loop?

Re: Tech bosses are globalists, not libertarians

#66

Post by rb2k_ »

aaron-lebo wrote: post #40
granfalloon wrote: post #24

There was a comment about the political influence and aspirations of certain big names in tech, but it has suddenly disappeared. It contained some criticism of Paul Graham and Sam Altman, but seemed totally reasonable to me -- can anyone say why it was deleted?

I wrote it, I don't feel like being an ass and I'm feeling overly aggressive today, not to mention I am a guest in someone else's house. ...but my overall point is that the tech elite is composed of a lot of rich white guys with connections, who naturally help each other out. Sam Altman runs YC now and as of last year was apparently seriously considering running for governor of California. That strikes me as grandios…

> Sam Altman runs YC now and as of last year was apparently seriously considering running for governor of California. That strikes me as grandiose and not good for society

Arnold Schwarzenegger was the Governor of California. At least as far as the 'what makes him qualified' thing goes, apparently that's not a real concern for voters :)

Re: Tech bosses are globalists, not libertarians

#67

Post by Clanan »

aaron-lebo wrote: post #40
granfalloon wrote: post #24

There was a comment about the political influence and aspirations of certain big names in tech, but it has suddenly disappeared. It contained some criticism of Paul Graham and Sam Altman, but seemed totally reasonable to me -- can anyone say why it was deleted?

I wrote it, I don't feel like being an ass and I'm feeling overly aggressive today, not to mention I am a guest in someone else's house. ...but my overall point is that the tech elite is composed of a lot of rich white guys with connections, who naturally help each other out. Sam Altman runs YC now and as of last year was apparently seriously considering running for governor of California. That strikes me as grandios…

I think we see similar behavior with other famous/rich people; Hollywood stars are always involving themselves in politics (and are often surprised when their engagement means nothing).

That being said, the point of campaigning for office is to demonstrate why you deserve the votes. Nothing wrong with a young successful guy giving it a try. Who knows - maybe the qualities that made him successful would translate well to governing. If anything, I think we should encourage more non-lawyers to run!

Re: Tech bosses are globalists, not libertarians

#68

Post by mc32 »

rb2k_ wrote: post #66
aaron-lebo wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wrote it, I don't feel like being an ass and I'm feeling overly aggressive today, not to mention I am a guest in someone else's house. ...but my overall point is that the tech elite is composed of a lot of rich white guys with connections, who naturally help each other out. Sam Altman runs YC now and as of last year was apparently seriously considering running for governor of California. That strikes me as grandios…

> Sam Altman runs YC now and as of last year was apparently seriously considering running for governor of California. That strikes me as grandiose and not good for society Arnold Schwarzenegger was the Governor of California. At least as far as the 'what makes him qualified' thing goes, apparently that's not a real concern for voters :)

Let's not forget Grey Davis' being a politician didn't help California against rolling brownouts and massive deficits in the 2000s.

Re: Tech bosses are globalists, not libertarians

#69

Post by omegaworks »

yahna wrote: post #43
raldi wrote: post #16

The stereotypical right-wing position is, "This government program is poorly-run; let's get rid of it" The stereotypical left-wing position is, "This government program should be left alone, even if it's poorly-run" The stereotypical Gray Tribe position is, "This government program is poorly-run; let's debug it"

> The stereotypical left-wing position is, "This government program should be left alone, even if it's poorly-run" Think it's more like "Lets spend more money to fix it".

No one on the left wants more military spending.

It's worth it to pay attention to voices most critical of the biggest, most broken government program.

The rest is quibbling over minutiae.

Re: Tech bosses are globalists, not libertarians

#70

Post by jsmith0295 »

aaron-lebo wrote: post #40
granfalloon wrote: post #24

There was a comment about the political influence and aspirations of certain big names in tech, but it has suddenly disappeared. It contained some criticism of Paul Graham and Sam Altman, but seemed totally reasonable to me -- can anyone say why it was deleted?

I wrote it, I don't feel like being an ass and I'm feeling overly aggressive today, not to mention I am a guest in someone else's house. ...but my overall point is that the tech elite is composed of a lot of rich white guys with connections, who naturally help each other out. Sam Altman runs YC now and as of last year was apparently seriously considering running for governor of California. That strikes me as grandios…

The rich white guys you mentioned in this comment are all Jewish, for what it's worth. Not trying to be a conspiracy theorist or a racist here, but trying to pin this on white privilege isn't entirely accurate.
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