Peter Thiel: I’m Really Not Crazy; I Just Want to Help Some Kids • Hacker News Board

Re: Peter Thiel: I’m Really Not Crazy; I Just Want to Help Some Kids

#31

Post by kiba » Thu, Nov 04, 2010, 2:04 AM UTC

pjscott wrote: post #28

andrewtbham wrote: post #24

the article is pretty bad.. http://www.slate.com/id/2271265/ it paraphrases his views as saying.. "giving women the vote wrecked the country"

Ugh, what a nauseating hatchet-job. It's such blatantly distorted, emotionally-loaded propaganda that it hurts to read. I can understand someone wanting to criticize Thiel's plan, but that article makes him out to be a moustache-twirling cartoon villain.

Haters are going to hate.

However, at the end of the day, people who attack their opponents like that deserves to be ignored, whether they are liberal, conservative, or libertarians.

Re: Peter Thiel: I’m Really Not Crazy; I Just Want to Help Some Kids

#32

Post by jdp23 » Thu, Nov 04, 2010, 4:16 AM UTC

andrewtbham wrote: post #24

the article is pretty bad.. http://www.slate.com/id/2271265/ it paraphrases his views as saying.. "giving women the vote wrecked the country"

The article didn't paraphrase, it quoted him directly: "Since 1920, the vast increase in welfare beneficiaries and the extension of the franchise to women—two constituencies that are notoriously tough for libertarians—have rendered the notion of 'capitalist democracy' into an oxymoron."

Re: Peter Thiel: I’m Really Not Crazy; I Just Want to Help Some Kids

#33

Post by hristov » Thu, Nov 04, 2010, 5:33 AM UTC

paul wrote: post #9

It's interesting how angry some people get if you suggest that not everyone needs to follow the traditional educational path.

Maybe they are angry because they see this as somebody bribing young kids to make what might be the biggest mistake in their lives.

Re: Peter Thiel: I’m Really Not Crazy; I Just Want to Help Some Kids

#34

Post by hristov » Thu, Nov 04, 2010, 5:40 AM UTC

_delirium wrote: post #29

pjscott wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does that invalidate his current opinions? People can change their minds.

I suppose it boils down to not really believing that he's changed his mind. His expressed views on academia are quite consistent over the past 25 years. He wrote frequently against academia while he was getting degrees , but continued to stay there and finish two degrees anyway. Take a look at late-80s and early-90s issues of the Stanford Review , the right-wing newspaper he co-founded. His main beef with academia is…

I agree. I think this is really a libertarian attack on academia. If you read the atlantic and the economist you will notice that an attack on academia had been going on for a while now from libertarian circles.

Which is kind of ironic because universities overloaded themselves with libertarian professors (some with very flimsy scholarly credentials) in the last ten years in order to suck up to the Bush administration and the right wing donors that are getting more and more important.

But of course libertarians are not happy to have some professors in universities. After all universities offer tenure and independence of thought, etc. They much prefer to have no universities and have all scholarship done in "think tanks" where "scholars" follow orders and get fired at the first sign of disobedience.

Re: Peter Thiel: I’m Really Not Crazy; I Just Want to Help Some Kids

#35

Post by cubicle67 » Thu, Nov 04, 2010, 6:31 AM UTC

paul wrote: post #9

It's interesting how angry some people get if you suggest that not everyone needs to follow the traditional educational path.

We moved one of our girls recently, from a fairly traditional private school, to a Montessori school (which is working out brilliantly, btw). The reaction from other parents at the original school was extremely negative; you'd think we'd taken their kid and condemned them to a life of, well, something horrible. Amazing.

Re: Peter Thiel: I’m Really Not Crazy; I Just Want to Help Some Kids

#36

Post by cubicle67 » Thu, Nov 04, 2010, 7:23 AM UTC

hristov wrote: post #33

paul wrote: post #9

It's interesting how angry some people get if you suggest that not everyone needs to follow the traditional educational path.

Maybe they are angry because they see this as somebody bribing young kids to make what might be the biggest mistake in their lives.

not sure why you're being downvoted as that seems like a valid assumption (that some people might be angry because they see this as somebody bribing young kids to make what [the angry people think] might be the biggest mistake in [the kids] lives)

Re: Peter Thiel: I’m Really Not Crazy; I Just Want to Help Some Kids

#37

Post by kevinpet » Thu, Nov 04, 2010, 7:44 AM UTC

hristov wrote: post #33

paul wrote: post #9

It's interesting how angry some people get if you suggest that not everyone needs to follow the traditional educational path.

Maybe they are angry because they see this as somebody bribing young kids to make what might be the biggest mistake in their lives.

If delaying college for a few years is the biggest mistake you make in your life, you have been far too cautious.

This position is discussed and Thiel addresses why it is not a reasonable position in the article. If you want to advance this position again, protocol says you need to provide a new argument or new evidence that was not considered in the previous round.

Didn't down vote you, but think I understand why someone might have.

Re: Peter Thiel: I’m Really Not Crazy; I Just Want to Help Some Kids

#38

Post by kevinpet » Thu, Nov 04, 2010, 7:50 AM UTC

candre717 wrote: post #18

I applaud Thiel for offering this alternative to ambitious students. What I don't applaud is this myth of the genius college dropout who changes the world. That just doesn't happen enough to make a rule out of it. I think it gives students the wrong idea - especially those whose never managed a business.

As opposed to all those students who leave their VP Sales jobs to go get an education?

What Thiel and many others (this seems to be something of a theme in libertarian circles) are saying is that a college education is not relevant to certain kinds of activities. Sure, it may be beneficial, but not beneficial enough to forgo something more beneficial for four years.

Re: Peter Thiel: I’m Really Not Crazy; I Just Want to Help Some Kids

#39

Post by cubicle67 » Thu, Nov 04, 2010, 7:56 AM UTC

kevinpet wrote: post #37

hristov wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe they are angry because they see this as somebody bribing young kids to make what might be the biggest mistake in their lives.

If delaying college for a few years is the biggest mistake you make in your life, you have been far too cautious. This position is discussed and Thiel addresses why it is not a reasonable position in the article. If you want to advance this position again, protocol says you need to provide a new argument or new evidence that was not considered in the previous round. Didn't down vote you, but think I understand why so…

it's not clear if hristov is actually arguing that it would be a mistake or just putting forward as a possible motivation for people getting upset

Re: Peter Thiel: I’m Really Not Crazy; I Just Want to Help Some Kids

#40

Post by daeken » Thu, Nov 04, 2010, 8:14 AM UTC

hristov wrote: post #34

_delirium wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suppose it boils down to not really believing that he's changed his mind. His expressed views on academia are quite consistent over the past 25 years. He wrote frequently against academia while he was getting degrees , but continued to stay there and finish two degrees anyway. Take a look at late-80s and early-90s issues of the Stanford Review , the right-wing newspaper he co-founded. His main beef with academia is…

I agree. I think this is really a libertarian attack on academia. If you read the atlantic and the economist you will notice that an attack on academia had been going on for a while now from libertarian circles. Which is kind of ironic because universities overloaded themselves with libertarian professors (some with very flimsy scholarly credentials) in the last ten years in order to suck up to the Bush administratio…

> Which is kind of ironic because universities overloaded themselves with libertarian professors (some w scholarly credentials) in the last ten years in order to suck up to the Bush administration and the right wing donors that are getting more and more important.

Holy random statement, batman. Do you have a citation for this? The idea of libertarian professors being a plus to the Bush administration makes effectively no sense whatsoever.