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What Happens After Prisoners Learn to Code?

theatlantic.com

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Re: What Happens After Prisoners Learn to Code?

#101

Post by jstewartmobile »

sokoloff wrote: post #96
jstewartmobile wrote: post #81

How would, " What happens after prisoners become accountants / lawyers / bankers... " sound? To me, it says that trust in our profession is interchangeable with that of trained felons. I'd rather not have technically proficient felons near passwords, credit card #s, and other personal information. Edit: I hate to sound like a Calvinist here, but you have to ask yourself how much a change in behavior is due to "rehabi…

The specific felony matters a lot to me. Someone busted with a gram of marijuana or a bong in Arizona can pick up a felony conviction for it. Someone with a previous embezzlement charge is a different story (even if the embezzlement conviction was only a misdemeanor).

I'd also disregard a pot bust.

This Aguirre guy in the article was at least an accessory to a shooting--even though they charged him with much more than that... not the kind of person I want near confidential information.

Re: What Happens After Prisoners Learn to Code?

#102

Post by DaiPlusPlus »

vageli wrote: post #70
nothrabannosir wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both can be true (and probably are). Yes, modern propaganda is odious, but also yes, don’t let us off the hook. At least while we feel responsible for our elections, we have some modicum of interest in them. I’ve seen countries where they’ve lost hope, who are democratic in name only. It’s not pretty.

> I’ve seen countries where they’ve lost hope, who are democratic in name only. It’s not pretty. I'm curious about the list of countries that are democratic in name only (and also wondering about the time frames involved), would you elaborate?

The Democratic People’s Public of North Korea comes to mind.

Re: What Happens After Prisoners Learn to Code?

#104

Post by angel_j »

bipolar_lisper wrote: post #95

I mean at the end of the day this is just a way to get cheap labor.

Nothing cheap about it. More like an expensive way to make all kinds of middle-people feel good and collect a check.

Did you see how many organizations are behind the effort? It probably took millions of dollars to go from zero to hiring ex-con coders.

Re: What Happens After Prisoners Learn to Code?

#105

Post by dragonwriter »

jstewartmobile wrote: post #81

How would, " What happens after prisoners become accountants / lawyers / bankers... " sound? To me, it says that trust in our profession is interchangeable with that of trained felons. I'd rather not have technically proficient felons near passwords, credit card #s, and other personal information. Edit: I hate to sound like a Calvinist here, but you have to ask yourself how much a change in behavior is due to "rehabi…

> How would, "What happens after prisoners become accountants / lawyers / bankers..." sound?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/19/business/are-felons-fit-t...

Re: What Happens After Prisoners Learn to Code?

#106

Post by jashmatthews »

wolco wrote: post #62
jashmatthews wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you look at the 1997 Labour manifesto, which led to the UK doubling GDP from 97 to and 2007 and the 2019 Labour manifesto they’re very similar. If you ask people if Labour was good for the economy and would be good for the economy, you’ll largely get a negative response. Unfortunately it’s easy for people’s opinions to be shaped with zero basis in fact and when this happens it’s easy for them to vote against their…

Side point. Just because a government is in power doesn't mean they are responsible for the economy doing well. Often the previous policies take time to take hold more so global trends are driving this. What happened after 2007 the housing crisis.. in part made by government policy spanning decades in part because of foreign influence through global markets.

That’s true but widespread economic opinion is that the austerity policies have resulted in lower growth. Cuts started before 2010 and the effects are visible now. The IMF was critical of the policy as early as 2013 but the conservative government pushed on for idealogical reasons. There’s little reason to continue self harm.

Re: What Happens After Prisoners Learn to Code?

#107

Post by cgriswald »

DaiPlusPlus wrote: post #5
TulliusCicero wrote: post #2

> We need to applaud companies like Slack, but know that the nitty-gritty of human services—housing, health care, social support—which lots of nonprofits and public institutions are working on, the private sector has largely turned away from.” I mean, yeah? Those things sound like they’re precisely the kind of stuff that’s the domain of non-profits and the government. Why would we expect Slack or other tech companies…

Government is to govern. Government in most countries is driven by democratic mandates. Democratic mandates are set by influencers. The US’ key influencers are largely regressive and dishonest - and convince people to either not vote - or to vote against their personal best interests[1]. The US government does not currently have a democratic mandate to operate as the social welfare state. Consequently hundreds of tho…

Voters don't need your respect. They don't have to justify their votes to you. Many people who you might think are 'voting against their best interest' have a different view of the trade offs than you and actually are voting in their best interests. Or they are voting in their long term best interests in spite of it being against their short term best interests. Or they are voting their principles regardless of the impact on their bottom line.

Most voters are uninformed about most issues. It's effectively impossible to be informed about every issue. There are simply too many issues. Calling out GOP voters on ACA specifically just shows your partisanship.

> and that is not a misrepresentation of the ACA and its opponents' stated positions

If I was feeling generous, which I am not, I would say this is accurate but incredibly imprecise. In the context of this thread, it's simply flame bait.

Re: What Happens After Prisoners Learn to Code?

#108

Post by sokoloff »

jstewartmobile wrote: post #101
sokoloff wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The specific felony matters a lot to me. Someone busted with a gram of marijuana or a bong in Arizona can pick up a felony conviction for it. Someone with a previous embezzlement charge is a different story (even if the embezzlement conviction was only a misdemeanor).

I'd also disregard a pot bust. This Aguirre guy in the article was at least an accessory to a shooting--even though they charged him with much more than that... not the kind of person I want near confidential information.

I did different/lesser dumb stuff when I was 17. If my friends were into "street life" instead of cars, computer games, and D&D, I can see a scenario where I'd be along for the ride in one of their/our exploits.

Peer pressure and "going along without thinking through the consequences" in a group of your friends at that age is a real thing and I don't think is strongly predictive of adult trustworthiness. (I generally tend towards the "law and order" side of things.)

Re: What Happens After Prisoners Learn to Code?

#109

Post by Glide »

harimau777 wrote: post #59
lizardking wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don’t need to convince republicans, you need to convince moderates who can be persuaded to vote one way or the other in a given election. In the context of a general election, we’re talking about thousands of people in a handful of states. I’m struggling with how the idea of “condescension isn’t persuasive” is finding so much friction here.

The issue that I see is that due to the electoral college and gerrymandering, it can be difficult to win even if you can convince moderates. The other issue is that many of the issues that progressives are concerned about (e.g. climate change, inequality, gun control) require action by society as a whole. Ideally we would negotiate and find policies that address the priorities of both progressives and conservatives.…

Because of the electoral college, voices are not wiped out and discounted entirely in this country.

I do not want the equivalent of a yellow vests movement happening here.

Gerrymandering is a huge issue, and it makes it so that moderates don’t have to exist because of safe districts.

The fundamental disagreement about priorities between the parties somehow turned into disagreement about facts in the past decade.

Re: What Happens After Prisoners Learn to Code?

#110

Post by tcbawo »

jtbayly wrote: post #13
DaiPlusPlus wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Government is to govern. Government in most countries is driven by democratic mandates. Democratic mandates are set by influencers. The US’ key influencers are largely regressive and dishonest - and convince people to either not vote - or to vote against their personal best interests[1]. The US government does not currently have a democratic mandate to operate as the social welfare state. Consequently hundreds of tho…

> convince people to either not vote - or to vote against their personal best interests. I’ve seen this on HN several times, and it always cracks me up. The condescension isn't dripping. It’s running in torrents. You think the reason they won’t vote the way you want is because they don’t know what’s good for themselves. You might want to consider an alternate: they don’t want someone like you deciding what’s good for…

Judgement of one's long term personal interests is dictated by whose projection of the future you believe. To many, the future trend seems obvious and it seems inconceivable that people would vote against your estimation of what the future will be. A little humility and open-mindedness would go a long way towards bridging the gap.
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