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Y Combinator Cuts Ties with Peter Thiel After Ending Part-Time Partner Program

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Re: Y Combinator Cuts Ties with Peter Thiel After Ending Part-Time Partner Program

#141

Post by ben_w »

Simulacra wrote: post #110
evangelista wrote: post #42

I am still really puzzled over exactly why Peter Thiel so so hated. I believe the level of hatred is completely unwarranted. From my understanding, it boils down to this: - He is remotely associated with Trump - He helped take down Gawker - ....something something something...but he backed Trump! For the Gawker part: Gawker outed him without his permission. Outing a gay man is something the tabloids used to do in the…

I think he's hated because he's a formidable challenge against an entrenched belief system. People don't like their beliefs challenged, especially when it's the overwhelming majority, IMO. Thiel does that, without worry or shame, and that upsets some folks...

Is he formidable because the arguments are good, or because he’s rich?

And how would we distinguish the truth from the fiction, given the ease with which we fall into us-vs-them thinking, the halo effect, and boolean-valued morality, or treat arguments are soldiers for Us in an eternal struggle against Them?

Re: Y Combinator Cuts Ties with Peter Thiel After Ending Part-Time Partner Program

#142

Post by Mithaldu »

dogma1138 wrote: post #140
Mithaldu wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trump isn't "reprehensible", his actions are literally killing people. People who agree with Trump either directly condone the deaths of people, or are so ignorant that nothing they could say would be valuable. Trying to portray it as "opposing political opinions" is a laughable insult to people for whom it's a matter of survival .

Same goes for every other president. Obama extended the drone program considerably because to him it was a convenient way of both “keeping” his promises and maintaining US political and security interests. Does that means that everyone who voted for him and agreed with most of his policies directly condoned deaths of far more people than what Trump’s policies at least currently may have contributed too? Every US pres…

Ah, another "there's both good and bad people on both sides" sentiment.

No.

Quantitative analysis matters.

Also, as to your last sentence: "same goes for *" doesn't have any meaningful substance behind it and its only goal is to drag the discussion out so far as to exhaust the other side into giving up.

Re: Y Combinator Cuts Ties with Peter Thiel After Ending Part-Time Partner Program

#143

Post by hobofan »

majormajor wrote: post #55
evangelista wrote: post #42

I am still really puzzled over exactly why Peter Thiel so so hated. I believe the level of hatred is completely unwarranted. From my understanding, it boils down to this: - He is remotely associated with Trump - He helped take down Gawker - ....something something something...but he backed Trump! For the Gawker part: Gawker outed him without his permission. Outing a gay man is something the tabloids used to do in the…

I have some concerns about his fellowship thing looking like an inviting-but-ultimately-a-trap attempt to use 18 year olds to advance his own political agenda, but wouldn't say that's hateable, as theirs definitely a more positive way to look at it. I just think the implementation is not really set up for success for the individuals compared to the opportunity cost. I could see people with an even harsher take on his…

The fellowship is one of the few things I like about him. I was in exactly the position the fellowship was designed for where I had to decide between continuing to study or further pursuing my startup. IIRC correctly the age restrictions were lower back then, and I didn't apply because I was just slightly too old, which in retrospect was a stupid reason not to apply. I ended up pursuing the startup anyway (which ended up failing), and am now in a very good position experience- and job-wise, where I probably would have been in 5-10 years otherwise (_if_ we assume that I would have been able to endure/pass university).

Given what I've seen/heard from alumni I (or friends of me) have met, they largely seem to be doing very well. Giving someone a 3-5 year headstart can be a significant boost. The only way I see the fellowship having bigger opportunity cost than university is if you subscribe to the school of thought of making "Harvard connections", which can turn out to be more advantageous.

Re: Y Combinator Cuts Ties with Peter Thiel After Ending Part-Time Partner Program

#144

Post by dogma1138 »

Mithaldu wrote: post #142
dogma1138 wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same goes for every other president. Obama extended the drone program considerably because to him it was a convenient way of both “keeping” his promises and maintaining US political and security interests. Does that means that everyone who voted for him and agreed with most of his policies directly condoned deaths of far more people than what Trump’s policies at least currently may have contributed too? Every US pres…

Ah, another "there's both good and bad people on both sides" sentiment. No. Quantitative analysis matters. Also, as to your last sentence: "same goes for *" doesn't have any meaningful substance behind it and its only goal is to drag the discussion out so far as to exhaust the other side into giving up.

Let’s make it simple then.

How many people do you think have died due to Trumps policies so far, out of those how many of them are Americans?

Re: Y Combinator Cuts Ties with Peter Thiel After Ending Part-Time Partner Program

#145

Post by mrgordon »

dogma1138 wrote: post #144
Mithaldu wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, another "there's both good and bad people on both sides" sentiment. No. Quantitative analysis matters. Also, as to your last sentence: "same goes for *" doesn't have any meaningful substance behind it and its only goal is to drag the discussion out so far as to exhaust the other side into giving up.

Let’s make it simple then. How many people do you think have died due to Trumps policies so far, out of those how many of them are Americans?

Not a great argument. Most of Trump's policies like expanding use of coal and not taking actions to prevent flooding and other consequences of global warming will be felt in 10, 20, or maybe even 50 years. By reversing course and burying the facts, he is still responsible for them in a way that Obama (who tried to work on the problem) was not.

Even more directly, Trump is in the process of gutting our healthcare, education, and taxes (read: infrastructure). If he had a few more votes in the Senate, they would have already undermined/removed even more of our social safety net. Millions of people will have significantly worse quality of life and for many of them it will mean the difference between life and death. Their medicines will get too expensive...they won't be able to afford to see a doctor in some cases...or get surgery or chemo in many more.

To say that Trump's policies aren't killing people (and especially Americans) is to ignore anything but soldiers from the count. Obama largely inherited Bush Jr's wars (and Bush Jr. was largely continuing Bush Sr's wars) so you're welcome to blame him for the deaths there but he probably had fewer options than you imply. Not to say he did nothing wrong, but Trump is literally threatening to nuke North Korea which is orders of magnitude different from how Obama acted even once in eight years.

Re: Y Combinator Cuts Ties with Peter Thiel After Ending Part-Time Partner Program

#146

Post by dogma1138 »

mrgordon wrote: post #145
dogma1138 wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let’s make it simple then. How many people do you think have died due to Trumps policies so far, out of those how many of them are Americans?

Not a great argument. Most of Trump's policies like expanding use of coal and not taking actions to prevent flooding and other consequences of global warming will be felt in 10, 20, or maybe even 50 years. By reversing course and burying the facts, he is still responsible for them in a way that Obama (who tried to work on the problem) was not. Even more directly, Trump is in the process of gutting our healthcare, edu…

It is, because the original poster said that for the people who are dying now because of his actions it’s a life and death situation.

I want to know who are these people.

Don’t get me wrong I agree with you on most things, that said I don’t actually see the US being much worse on climate change than under previous administrations they are just louder and more obnoxious about it (which ironically might actually push things for the better).

My problem is that I’ve seen too many people who claim trump is literally killing people and they don’t mean people in Bangladesh that might die to future floods due to climate change.

They usually would say “Trump is killing a minority/political_group_x” and those statements are pretty darn baseless, actually I take that back, he's definitely killing the republican party and also the center democrats.

Re: Y Combinator Cuts Ties with Peter Thiel After Ending Part-Time Partner Program

#147

Post by Mithaldu »

dogma1138 wrote: post #146
mrgordon wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a great argument. Most of Trump's policies like expanding use of coal and not taking actions to prevent flooding and other consequences of global warming will be felt in 10, 20, or maybe even 50 years. By reversing course and burying the facts, he is still responsible for them in a way that Obama (who tried to work on the problem) was not. Even more directly, Trump is in the process of gutting our healthcare, edu…

It is, because the original poster said that for the people who are dying now because of his actions it’s a life and death situation. I want to know who are these people. Don’t get me wrong I agree with you on most things, that said I don’t actually see the US being much worse on climate change than under previous administrations they are just louder and more obnoxious about it (which ironically might actually push t…

I never said "now".

And the post previous is right. Climate change is the big one. It affects the entire planet.

However the, for a better word, desocialization of the USA is also a big factor both inside the country, and outside of it due to people who associate with or are relatives of americans being affected, or resources that would be used to help improve situations in other countries being tied up with emergencies in-country that would otherwise be handled by funds that are now going to tax breaks.

Then there's also the situation in Yemen which the USA is indirectly responsible for. And there's the situation in Puerto Rico, which is nominally american, but i think if a people don't get to vote, they get to be counted as a different country.

Re: Y Combinator Cuts Ties with Peter Thiel After Ending Part-Time Partner Program

#148

Post by ssijak »

zimpenfish wrote: post #108
ssijak wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, lets all think the same. Do you play football with people who dont like to eat what you like?

> Do you play football with people who dont like to eat what you like? I appreciate that trivialising the issues to score cheap slippery slope points is de rigueur these days but you must surely see the yawning dichotomy between "people who don't like to eat what you like" and "people who believe other people are lesser beings less deserving of rights, money, health, protections"

Peter does not think that

Re: Y Combinator Cuts Ties with Peter Thiel After Ending Part-Time Partner Program

#149

Post by dogma1138 »

Mithaldu wrote: post #147
dogma1138 wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is, because the original poster said that for the people who are dying now because of his actions it’s a life and death situation. I want to know who are these people. Don’t get me wrong I agree with you on most things, that said I don’t actually see the US being much worse on climate change than under previous administrations they are just louder and more obnoxious about it (which ironically might actually push t…

I never said "now". And the post previous is right. Climate change is the big one. It affects the entire planet. However the, for a better word, desocialization of the USA is also a big factor both inside the country, and outside of it due to people who associate with or are relatives of americans being affected, or resources that would be used to help improve situations in other countries being tied up with emergenc…

The situation in Yemen started way before Trump, Yemen, Libya and Syria are a failure of US foreign policy which predates Trump; Obama had a much bigger role in them. Yemen like Syria is a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The previous administration for better or for worse empowered Iran.

Much of the mess was predicted by quite a few analysts shortly after Obama’s speech to the Arab world in Cairo.

As far as the hurricanes concern; while I don’t think it was handled well, but in actuality I don’t actually see much difference between now and how the US handled natural disasters in the past; the response was pretty much always shitty.

And yes you kinda said now when you said trump is literally killing people and to them “resistance” (to his policies I assume) is a matter of life and death.

Re: Y Combinator Cuts Ties with Peter Thiel After Ending Part-Time Partner Program

#150

Post by Mithaldu »

dogma1138 wrote: post #149
Mithaldu wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never said "now". And the post previous is right. Climate change is the big one. It affects the entire planet. However the, for a better word, desocialization of the USA is also a big factor both inside the country, and outside of it due to people who associate with or are relatives of americans being affected, or resources that would be used to help improve situations in other countries being tied up with emergenc…

The situation in Yemen started way before Trump, Yemen, Libya and Syria are a failure of US foreign policy which predates Trump; Obama had a much bigger role in them. Yemen like Syria is a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The previous administration for better or for worse empowered Iran. Much of the mess was predicted by quite a few analysts shortly after Obama’s speech to the Arab world in Cairo. As far as…

> you kinda said now

no.

Thanks for agreeing with the parts you didn't mention tho.

The ones you mentioned, we can disagree on them, if only because nothing useful is gonna come from further discussion of them here.

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