Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Thiel Foundation announces next Thiel Fellow class: 23 entrepreneurs

businesswire.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 85 posts

Re: Thiel Foundation announces next Thiel Fellow class: 23 entrepreneurs

#71

Post by johnny_b_g »

samhw wrote: post #59
johnny_b_g wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed - apparently my Trump bashing was "unqualified", so I now have to go and run for President, get elected, be President for 4 years, and then I can start bashing him.

There are some other things on that todo list ('rape first wife', 'cheat on pregnant third wife with pornstar', 'publicly blame your failed business on a dead man before his funeral had even taken place', 'send deranged tweets to Kim Jong Un while on cough medicine and alprazolam') but you'll get to them ;) But nah, seriously, I don't know how some people can say such absolutely witless stuff, and still see fit to cl…

Exactly.

I'm not a Facebook user, mostly because of the vast and repeated privacy violations they've committed in the past (not to mention their monopoly behaviors and political influencing, etc.) - but because I don't run/own/fund any similar monopolistic entity, I'm essentially forbidden from even talking about it??

Another is ClearView AI (oh look, another Thiel-funded thing!) - I oppose the existence of that company based on their entire business model being the abuse of people's information without consent, and how they expect you to cancel yourself to prevent being abused by them [1]. But according to some people [2], anyone that hasn't been abusing people's privacy cannot have an opinion on ClearView AI's actions [3], until you actually do so yourself [4], otherwise you're just "posturing" [4][5].

Yeah, great logic!

> They worship them, to put it simply - the rich and powerful - and they don't understand & can't process that not everyone else does.

What's worse are the ones that go out of their way to justify or even apologize their behavior (not unlike those part of a certain political cult right now).

[1] https://app.clearview.ai/privacy/deindex

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=Kranar

[3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29858726

[4] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29858764

[5] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29858663

Re: Thiel Foundation announces next Thiel Fellow class: 23 entrepreneurs

#72

Post by rrrrrrrrrrrryan »

bsder wrote: post #67
narrator wrote: post #30

Quoted post unavailable.

When I see someone funding a 40 year old and providing indemnification, I'll believe that they have a hope of doing anything in the biomedical space. Biomedical is NOT stuck for innovation or execution. It is stuck on indemnifcation . For example, one doctor developed an asthma sensor for his daughter that would automatically let the school nurse know, let him know, and call 911 for an ambulance if the attack was bad…

Well, yeah. If the purpose of your biomedical device is to measure x or y or z so the patient can make a certain decision, you need to be able to prove that your device can provide accurate enough data for the patient to make that decision.

If the purpose of your device is to provide alerts, you need to prove that it your device actually alerts the patient at the right time. To do this you need accurate continuous measurements, and a proven system that alerts the user based on that data. This is extremely difficult.

I work for Dexcom, the only company that makes an FDA approved glucose monitor that can both fire alerts, and is approved for use by children under 12. We started with a very small team and it took a solid decade before we got FDA approval, but FDA approval is basically the highest bar for a medical device. So much so that many nations automatically greenlight any device with FDA approval.

If you've built something, and you can't prove with documentation that the specific device you're selling a customer will work exactly as advertised, before they take it out of the box, you can always sell your probably-works device to another nation (or nations) first until you get your ducks in a row for the FDA.

Re: Thiel Foundation announces next Thiel Fellow class: 23 entrepreneurs

#73

Post by gonehome »

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #63
mwattsun wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't hate Peter Thiel but I feel compelled as an American to say I believe that we should find ways to improve our democratic system, not get rid of it. Thiel seems to believe democracy doesn't work and presumably technocrats such as himself would be better running things. Perish the thought.

A rapidly growing opinion on HN that's approaching majority status is that tech titans should be able to tightly control what information people see in order to control their votes because otherwise they will vote incorrectly. This might not be your view, but it is incredibly common here and in the tech sector. Guess it's still technically a democracy if everyone votes after having their information highly curated by…

It’s a speech issue and the ability for private companies to exercise their own moderation is the free speech position.

A government forcing private companies to implement policies around speech is a violation of their speech.

My take on this is more nuanced and I think private companies wielding speech restriction is high risk, but people saying the government should step in are wrong imo.

https://zalberico.com/essay/2020/06/16/mark-zuckerberg-and-f...

Re: Thiel Foundation announces next Thiel Fellow class: 23 entrepreneurs

#74

Post by bsder »

rrrrrrrrrrrryan wrote: post #72
bsder wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I see someone funding a 40 year old and providing indemnification, I'll believe that they have a hope of doing anything in the biomedical space. Biomedical is NOT stuck for innovation or execution. It is stuck on indemnifcation . For example, one doctor developed an asthma sensor for his daughter that would automatically let the school nurse know, let him know, and call 911 for an ambulance if the attack was bad…

Well, yeah. If the purpose of your biomedical device is to measure x or y or z so the patient can make a certain decision, you need to be able to prove that your device can provide accurate enough data for the patient to make that decision. If the purpose of your device is to provide alerts , you need to prove that it your device actually alerts the patient at the right time. To do this you need accurate continuous m…

True. But in the case I cited (the doctor was actually asking our company to do the backend transport for the device), the device works. It will bring quality of life improvements.

However, as you well know, nothing is ever 100%. Even if the detector was 100% (and nothing ever will be), the network carrying those alerts is most certainly not 100% (all the cellular carriers in the US have specific language barring medical usage because they know they're terrible). And when, not if, some notification doesn't go through you're on the receiving end of a lawsuit.

So, the problem is that if the device doesn't obviously make enough profit to cover the legal settlement cost from the case where it fails, it's dead in the water. Indemnification tips that balance a bit to allow devices that might be a net win but it will be difficult to prove that a priori.

It's such a problem that I have a black-humor question to everybody who thinks they want to do a biotechnology device: "That's a great idea! So, how many people are you allowed to kill?" If they get over the shock of the question, I start doing back of the envelope calculations for how many people the device will kill. If they're still with me after that, we can have a real discussion about whether their device might be feasible.

Re: Thiel Foundation announces next Thiel Fellow class: 23 entrepreneurs

#75

Post by dang »

rubyn00bie wrote: post #2

I didn't know there was so readily a list of places I'd never want to work. Gonna bookmark this site to make sure I never do business with any of them. The most depressing part is how young they all are; which is of course, because they're easier to manipulate lacking real world experience.

"Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something."

"Please don't fulminate."

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

This kind of comment doesn't help, even in the case that you're right.

Edit: you've unfortunately been doing this repeatedly. We ban that sort of account, so please stop. We've already had to ask you more than once about this.

Re: Thiel Foundation announces next Thiel Fellow class: 23 entrepreneurs

#76

Post by dang »

adem wrote: post #3

CTRL+F "climate" - Phrase not found. This is saddening. But hey, at least blockchain is present!

Please don't post shallow indignant comments to HN. They're lame, even if you're right, and they make discussion quality significantly worse.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Thiel Foundation announces next Thiel Fellow class: 23 entrepreneurs

#77

Post by finite_jest »

JohnTHaller wrote: post #69
finite_jest wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. It is certainly an issue which progressives put more weight on. And there is a disagreement on the solutions too: progressives are generally apprehensive about nuclear. [1] You can personally attack me with any one of the "certain" labels in the arsenal. But you can also choose to argue in good faith. [1]: e.g. https://www.greenamerica.org/fight-dirty-energy/amazon-build...

This has changed in the last few years: https://ecoamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/nuclear-su...

That was interesting. Surveys are not that reliable though, and the outcome depends on how the question is being asked.

I found this 2020 survey by Pew Research which I think paints a more realistic picture [1]. It has a larger sample size [2], and IMO it asks a more objective/specific question.

Among "Conservative Republicans", 59% responded that they support expanding nuclear power plants, in contrast with 35% of "Liberal Democrats". Interestingly, for "Mod/lib Republicans", that number is also below 50%.

You might have a point though. My personal observation is that there has been a slight shift among the progressives, but not as much as the graph by ecoAmerica suggests.

[1]: https://archive.is/2iEHj#selection-1253.0-1253.154

[2]: I think the sample size is 10,957.

Re: Thiel Foundation announces next Thiel Fellow class: 23 entrepreneurs

#78

Post by [deleted] »

laingc wrote: post #34
ksec wrote: post #26

Considering Peter Thiel is on the list [1] of most hated person on HN and Silicon Valley, I am kinda surprised this reached front page. Does Peter Thiel still does VC? I thought he left YC and Silicon Valley. [1] Mark Zukerberg, Larry Ellison and Peter Thiel.

I can't speak for Silicon Valley, nor for the majority of HN, but my (obviously biased) sample of approximately 20 HN-reading friends are all massive Thiel fans. Myself included. So perhaps there are more of us than you think, we're just not keen to speak up in the comments section because it just invites a flame war?

[deleted]

Re: Thiel Foundation announces next Thiel Fellow class: 23 entrepreneurs

#79

Post by mwattsun »

gonehome wrote: post #73
Mountain_Skies wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A rapidly growing opinion on HN that's approaching majority status is that tech titans should be able to tightly control what information people see in order to control their votes because otherwise they will vote incorrectly. This might not be your view, but it is incredibly common here and in the tech sector. Guess it's still technically a democracy if everyone votes after having their information highly curated by…

It’s a speech issue and the ability for private companies to exercise their own moderation is the free speech position. A government forcing private companies to implement policies around speech is a violation of their speech. My take on this is more nuanced and I think private companies wielding speech restriction is high risk, but people saying the government should step in are wrong imo. https://zalberico.com/essa…

Another aspect is that companies like Twitter or Meta have legal exposure in various jurisdictions around the world. The libel laws in the UK are different than that those in the US, etc... They're responsibility for what is on their sites is an ongoing question. They have to have the ability to moderate their sites to comply with local laws, or they have to be excused from liability.

Re: Thiel Foundation announces next Thiel Fellow class: 23 entrepreneurs

#80

Post by samhw »

laingc wrote: post #68
samhw wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, how do you define a 'flame war'? Specifically, what besides the fact that someone is challenging your view?

Which of my views are you challenging?

Your approval of Thiel. I agreed with your view that your sample was biased.
Post reply on HN