Y Combinator Cuts Ties with Peter Thiel After Ending Part-Time Partner Program • Hacker News Board

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

#111

Post by jedberg » Fri, Nov 17, 2017, 10:32 PM UTC

Erwin wrote: post #109

jedberg wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Theil didn't just hurt a bully. He took it a step further. For one, he financed someone else's lawsuit, because his own was unwinnable (they did in fact print the truth, that he is gay). More importantly, he hurt free speech through the chilling effect of his suit. What he basically did was say, "don't ever print anything negative about a billionaire because they can take down your entire business". So now if a billi…

Yes, it was a truly chilling effect on the free speech when a website was held responsible for distributing private sex videos to garner clicks. If that suit didn't happen, would reddit been as fast to stop the "fappening" exchange on their website? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICloud_leaks_of_celebrity_phot... At least if you are a celebrity with deep pockets you have a good chance of getting your leaked photos wip…

I hate Gawker too, but you need to see the bigger picture.

It was defending the suit, whether right or wrong, that killed them. The judgement was just the death blow.

Would you feel the same way if the suit had been against a more reputable organization like the New York Times?

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

#112

Post by dionidium » Fri, Nov 17, 2017, 10:34 PM UTC

dionidium wrote: post #102

tetraca wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's essentially pointless because people get too emotionally involved in ideological arguments on the internet, causing themselves to feel attacked when people disagree with them. When this happens, people shut down, stop thinking critically, only acknowledging what they already agree with. The debate then either devolves as people dig their heels in and begin name-calling, or abruptly stops as one side simply refus…

This argument assumes that the point of person A responding to person B is for person A to convince person B, specifically, at that specific moment in time of the specific details of their specific argument. 1) That's not how persuasion works. 2) It's not how ideas or the stubborn humans who hold them work. 3) The point is not , in fact, to convince that one particular person at that one particular moment in time. If…

Just to put a cap on this, if tptacek wants to avoid "a really long, pointless political argument," then he should close his browser and take a walk. We're not running out of bits on the internet. There's room for all of it. If these conversations bore or otherwise bother you, then don't participate.

It's the suggestion that you know what's best for me, too, that bristles.

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

#113

Post by postramus » Fri, Nov 17, 2017, 10:53 PM UTC

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…

People dislike "liberty for me but not for thee" hypocrites, especially those with the means and willpower to act on that impulse.

It's not complicated!

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

#114

Post by mrgordon » Fri, Nov 17, 2017, 11:00 PM UTC

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…

Many people hated Thiel before Trump and the Gawker lawsuit. I strongly disliked him fifteen years before that. Since no one else has mentioned it, maybe we should talk about Palantir which is one of his most high profile companies. He co-founded it and is/was the largest shareholder so the ethics of that one fall squarely on him.

Its part of why he wants to be so friendly with Trump. Many more billion$$$$ of lucrative no-bid government contracts for Palantir and Thiel personally.

Here is an article from The Intercept that adds more detail: https://theintercept.com/2017/02/22/how-peter-thiels-palanti...

Its titled "HOW PETER THIEL’S PALANTIR HELPED THE NSA SPY ON THE WHOLE WORLD". One excerpt:

In the demo, Palantir engineers showed how their software could be used to identify Wikipedia users who belonged to a fictional radical religious sect and graph their social relationships. In Palantir’s pitch, its approach to the VAST Challenge involved using software to enable “many analysts working together [to] truly leverage their collective mind.” The fake scenario’s target, a cartoonishly sinister religious sect called “the Paraiso Movement,” was suspected of a terrorist bombing, but the unmentioned and obvious subtext of the experiment was the fact that such techniques could be applied to de-anonymize and track members of any political or ideological group. Among a litany of other conclusions, Palantir determined the group was prone to violence because its “Manifesto’s intellectual influences include ‘Pancho Villa, Che Guevara, Leon Trotsky, [and] Cuban revolutionary Jose Martí,’ a list of military commanders and revolutionaries with a history of violent actions.”

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

#115

Post by AnimalMuppet » Fri, Nov 17, 2017, 11:12 PM UTC

jedberg wrote: post #111

Erwin wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it was a truly chilling effect on the free speech when a website was held responsible for distributing private sex videos to garner clicks. If that suit didn't happen, would reddit been as fast to stop the "fappening" exchange on their website? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICloud_leaks_of_celebrity_phot... At least if you are a celebrity with deep pockets you have a good chance of getting your leaked photos wip…

I hate Gawker too, but you need to see the bigger picture. It was defending the suit, whether right or wrong, that killed them. The judgement was just the death blow. Would you feel the same way if the suit had been against a more reputable organization like the New York Times?

Number 1, the New York Times wouldn't (I trust) have published the stuff that got Gawker in trouble.

Number 2, the New York Times would be much wiser in how they interacted with the courts than Gawker was.

Number 3, people do sue the New York Times. The New York Times pays the legal costs, and keeps publishing.

Do you really think that a billionaire can bankrupt the New York Times with a lawsuit? I'm pretty sure they can't...

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

#116

Post by SimbaOnSteroids » Fri, Nov 17, 2017, 11:16 PM UTC

krylon wrote: post #58

SimbaOnSteroids wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regulatory lock for both Palantir and Facebook. Regulations can be very good for large businesses as they erect enormous barriers to entry into certain spaces that only established companies can hope to surmount.

I am not willing to believe that on such scarce evidence. I not exactly a fan of Peter Thiel, but I am not convinced he is that ruthless. However, if it were true, it matches so perfectly the article he wrote for WSJ a few years ago. It was literally titled "Competition is for losers". [1] I still do not think that he basically wants to bully all the competition away so he can make more money and become more powerful…

The high falutin fancy pants term is regulatory capture[0].

[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture

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

#117

Post by AnimalMuppet » Fri, Nov 17, 2017, 11:17 PM UTC

tensor wrote: post #75

samsonradu wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've watched more than a dozen talks from him and the education topic was one of the most interesting points. Care to elaborate what you mean by hostile?

He's of the opinion that university is a waste of time and has gone so far as paying people to drop out. This isn't for people who are going into trades and might strictly not need a university education, but for people who he thinks should go on to found technical, medical, and engineering startups. I'm of the opinion that university is good for everyone, even people who don't strictly need it for their jobs. Democr…

> He's of the opinion that university is a waste of time and has gone so far as paying people to drop out.

IIRC, he was paying people to run with their startup idea rather than wait until after they finished college. It was far different than just paying random students to drop out.

> Democracy only works if you have an educated public that values critical thinking.

That doesn't mean that the university is good. Do the universities really teach people to value critical thinking? Or do they teach them to value thinking that supports the currently prevailing viewpoint? Too often, it's the latter.

Note well: I'm not a Thiel fan or supporter. What he did to Gawker was both dirty and hypocritical.

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

#118

Post by tradersam » Fri, Nov 17, 2017, 11:19 PM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #67

kenneth wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can you say "can we save ourselves a really long, pointless political argument" and end your post with a divisive political opinion (that you think people with opposing viewpoints should be silenced)? You're literally inviting the debate that you're calling long and pointless. Or perhaps you just want to only share your opinion without others having the same opportunity, so you can have the last word? Personally,…

> How can you say "can we save ourselves a really long, pointless political argument" and end your post with a divisive political opinion Probably because the “divisive” opinion is on a different question than the on tptacek sees as pointless, which he was pretty express about: the pointless argument is about the political meaning of Thiel not being a partner. And he's right, that's not going to get an answer and any…

I was agreeing with the begining of your post, but

> You are free to choose to restrain the means in which you apply your free speech and association rights based on this narrow, misguided, elitist view of the role of the hoi polloi, of course.

Is where I burst out laughing and moved on.

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

#119

Post by fareesh » Fri, Nov 17, 2017, 11:28 PM UTC

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 great admiration for Thiel as an entrepreneur and I agree with him on a number of his economic views. It's unfortunate that his infamous Cato essay point about women and welfare recipients being difficult constituencies for libertarians has been misconstrued (maybe purposely for political reasons?) as if to mean "women and welfare recipients should therefore not be allowed to vote". When I watch the American news media covering state & federal elections, they routinely say that X candidate or party usually has a tough time with women/people of color/college students/older people, so I never really agreed with the interpretation that many in the media seemed to want me to derive out of that essay.

It's really unfortunate that politics has turned into some kind of tribal warfare and polarized the USA to this degree. From the perspective of an outsider it seems like there either side is somehow morally superior to the other. Of late I personally tend to hear things like "taxation is theft" and "property is for fascists" on a disturbingly regular basis from voices that seem to grow louder as time goes by. Where did all the moderates go?

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

#120

Post by johnrichardson » Fri, Nov 17, 2017, 11:30 PM UTC

I'm a big fan of Peter Thiel, and of anyone who's a divergent thinker and has well thought out opinions that run contrary to mainstream ideology (e.g., Noam Chomsky).

If YC ended its relationship with Peter because of his political affiliations, I'd find that extremely unfortunate. Any institution which closes itself off to outside information, challenging viewpoints and diversity of thought risks becoming an ideological echo chamber and ultimately weakening itself in the long run.