Anduril, a startup from Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, now valued at $1B • Hacker News Board

Re: Anduril, a startup from Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, now valued at $1B

#111

Post by stale2002 » Thu, Sep 12, 2019, 8:02 PM UTC

DonaldPShimoda wrote: post #94

WillPostForFood wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why should a homeless person be forced to sleep on the street when you have a perfectly good couch in your living room. Yet you keep your door locked.

Because a country is not a house. The analogy is fundamentally flawed. Our government can provide for immigrants in ways that individuals simply cannot.

> Because a country is not a house.

Why shouldn't it be treated as such? Your opinions seems pretty immoral, and leads to homeless people sleeping on the street.

> Our government can provide for immigrants in ways that individuals simply cannot.

So? That does not change the fact that you indeed are still capable of providing for people in need.

Re: Anduril, a startup from Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, now valued at $1B

#112

Post by patthebunny » Thu, Sep 12, 2019, 8:06 PM UTC

cr0sh wrote: post #39

It's hearing things like this that make me regret having supported Luckey on his Kickstarter. I had followed him for a few years on the MTBS3D forum when he was experimenting with various HMD prototypes (usually modding the heck out of the Forte VFX-1). He just seemed like a kid with a dream, and the will and ability to make it happen - and potentially revive VR for "Round 2". I suppose he did do that, and while I di…

They support the current president because they are republican or conservative.

This is entirely consistent. Pretending otherwise is just that, pretending.

Re: Anduril, a startup from Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, now valued at $1B

#113

Post by _iyig » Thu, Sep 12, 2019, 8:07 PM UTC

caconym_ wrote: post #67

_iyig wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>So - while I would prefer a "monitored solution" to border control over physical imposing measures, my real preference would be for us to all work toward eliminating these national-level borders completely. You sound like someone with the ability to live anywhere, who consequently has little stake in their current "somewhere." Lots of Americans (and people in other countries) don't have this flexibility. They are di…

If we want to stop undocumented workers from fueling a race to the bottom in unskilled labor markets, we should make more than a token effort to go after the business owners who employ them, and impose meaningful punishments to deter others. This is just another example of the gross hypocrisy of the GOP: it's well documented at this point that businesses owned by their top man make a habit of employing undocumented w…

>This is just another example of the gross hypocrisy of the GOP

I’m not a member of the GOP. Extremely far from it.

>We won't fix anything without accountability, and there are two sides to supply and demand.

Yes, of course. Punish those who exploit undocumented workers. Of course, it’s much harder to exploit an undocumented workforce when it doesn’t exist or is reduced in size. Many ways to achieve this (paths to citizenship, etc.); Anduril is just one piece of the solution, as I suggest in my original comment.

Re: Anduril, a startup from Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, now valued at $1B

#114

Post by mc32 » Thu, Sep 12, 2019, 8:09 PM UTC

GuiA wrote: post #85

mc32 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It becomes a bit of a tragedy of the commons. People elect awful governments who promise paradise and country’s economy craters resulting in mass exodus (Venezuela). Why should Colombians or Chileans (or Americans) shoulder their poor choices of government and civil society? If some country wants to grow unsustainably and follow unhealthy land use habits and then have problems, why should others shoulder that (outsid…

The US has been very hands on with South American politics (and not only those), so pretending now like their current state is solely the consequence of their own poor choices is ignorant at best.

The US has had hands in Chile and Panama. They’re doing pretty well. We haven’t touched Argentina or Uruguay or Bolivia. Uruguay is doing well, the other two not so much. The U.K. and France and others had their hands in the US, we’ve done okay. [and let’s not ignore the lengths the USSR went to try and destabilize us as well].

It’s not what someone has done to you, it’s what you do for yourself.

Look at S Korea, Taiwan, etc. they were very much poorer than Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela, etc. They had little in way of natural resources, but with grit and determination they overcame despite being occupied and decimated by imperial Japan, they helped themselves. They didn’t have the best governments initially, yet they have done very very well. It’s not about who invaded you or had you as a vassal state, etc., it’s what you do for yourself that really matters. Singapore is another.

Re: Anduril, a startup from Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, now valued at $1B

#115

Post by davidw » Thu, Sep 12, 2019, 8:10 PM UTC

dmm wrote: post #72

Rebelgecko wrote: post #61

For various reasons, I'm slightly sketched out by pretty much every company I've heard of that is named after something from Lord of the Rings. Even when I don't think they're contributing to a dystopian surveillance state (à la Palantir and this one), you have the other HN front-page story about Mithril Capital being accused of mismanaging investor funds. Is there some weird self-selection that causes only certain t…

Rivendell bicycle works is quirky but harmless.

Pretty much anyone making bikes is 'good people'.

Edit: I'll add that back in the day, Bridgestone made some really fantastic bikes.

Re: Anduril, a startup from Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, now valued at $1B

#116

Post by ThePawnBreak » Thu, Sep 12, 2019, 8:12 PM UTC

drewrv wrote: post #92

paggle wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Name one country with better-than-average standard of living that has opened its borders and thrived. There will always be a wall around something nice — either around your house, or your neighborhood, or your country.

The United States itself had "open borders" for a long period of time. There was mass immigration from Ireland, Italy, and many other places and it worked out quite well for us. Even today, we have "open borders" within the US. People are free to move from from poor (or poorly run) communities to places with more opportunities and it's a win-win. Similarly Europe has 26 countries in the Shengen area. Some of the coun…

> The United States itself had "open borders" for a long period of time. There was mass immigration from Ireland, Italy, and many other places and it worked out quite well for us.

There was no welfare state back then, and the economic situation was vastly different. Also saying it went "quite well" looks over all of the ethnic tension that took decades to fix. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Americans#Discrimination

> Similarly Europe has 26 countries in the Shengen area. Some of the countries have a "better-than-average standard of living" and they're doing just fine.

Heard about Brexit? The Romanians are coming: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb1AkaKJL08

Re: Anduril, a startup from Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, now valued at $1B

#117

Post by caconym_ » Thu, Sep 12, 2019, 8:26 PM UTC

_iyig wrote: post #113

caconym_ wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we want to stop undocumented workers from fueling a race to the bottom in unskilled labor markets, we should make more than a token effort to go after the business owners who employ them, and impose meaningful punishments to deter others. This is just another example of the gross hypocrisy of the GOP: it's well documented at this point that businesses owned by their top man make a habit of employing undocumented w…

>This is just another example of the gross hypocrisy of the GOP I’m not a member of the GOP. Extremely far from it. >We won't fix anything without accountability, and there are two sides to supply and demand. Yes, of course. Punish those who exploit undocumented workers. Of course, it’s much harder to exploit an undocumented workforce when it doesn’t exist or is reduced in size. Many ways to achieve this (paths to ci…

> I’m not a member of the GOP. Extremely far from it.

I didn't mean to imply you were or were not a member of the GOP. I included the observation about their hypocrisy simply because they are the largest group making the most noise about border security while clearly not actually giving a shit about Americans' jobs being "taken" by undocumented laborers.

> Yes, of course. Punish those who exploit undocumented workers. Of course, it’s much harder to exploit an undocumented workforce when it doesn’t exist or is reduced in size. Many ways to achieve this (paths to citizenship, etc.); Anduril is just one piece of the solution, as I suggest in my original comment.

If hiring them gets you thrown in prison, they will suddenly have a much harder time getting hired, and after some time employment will cease to be a reason to cross the border illegally. We don't have to fuck around with "virtual border technology" to accomplish this; all we have to do is recognize that (relatively) wealthy business owners are not above the law, but in America we have an astonishingly hard time with this. It's like the Brock Turner judge's mindset is baked into half the population from birth.

Re: Anduril, a startup from Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, now valued at $1B

#118

Post by mrdependable » Thu, Sep 12, 2019, 8:27 PM UTC

jobigoud wrote: post #45

gotoeleven wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe this is too off topic for HN, but I'm genuinely curious what is the best argument for why it is bad/racist to enforce immigration laws? I've heard people argue that a wall won't be effective. But some people seem to have the view that immigration laws shouldn't be enforced at all and we should allow people to use whatever loopholes (refugee status, traveling w/ children) there are to get in and then not show up…

I'll bite because I'm ambivalent about immigration laws. Why should people that just happen to be born in a third world country live a shitty life with no way out? You can't just say they have to do a revolution in their own country, not everyone is interested in activism, why should this be the fight of their life instead of stuff they actually want to do? You were born in a nice place by sheer luck. It's unfair. I…

I was wondering about this topic not long ago as well and came across this article: http://dieoff.com/page99.htm (not sure if that's the original link I saw but it is the same paper).

Basically it's about there being a curve for population size vs standard of living. We can't control the size of the population for the entire world, but a country can for themselves.

I don't really have much of an opinion on it, and can't say whether the article is bunk, but I did find it an interesting read.

Re: Anduril, a startup from Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, now valued at $1B

#119

Post by rmilejczz » Thu, Sep 12, 2019, 8:28 PM UTC

_iyig wrote: post #103

rmilejczz wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sad that you make almost no effort to push responsibility on the people hiring undocumented workers

Your low-effort comment on a throwaway account is detracting from this discussion. I absolutely support harsh punishments for those who employ undocumented laborers illegally (why would I not?). That issue has zero bearing on whether Anduril’s work is “evil.”

All I’m saying is that it’s appalling to see all of these “solutions” almost completely ignore the root problem and instead become obsessed with “border security”. Our borders are secure, immigration is not a threat to your life, the problem is almost purely economic and I think that is the more fruitful discussion

I meant no particular offense to you, I see this sentiment regularly in online forums and repeated throughout comments here, your comment was just the one I happened to reply to.

Re: Anduril, a startup from Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, now valued at $1B

#120

Post by stale2002 » Thu, Sep 12, 2019, 8:30 PM UTC

yazaddaruvala wrote: post #104

mc32 wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fortunately, for West Virginia, they joined the union and as such we help each other out since they are under federal regulation and are taxed at the federal level.

Would you be for Mexico joining the union?

No, it is a different country and population, and the people there probably like having their own country.

Not everyone in the world needs to be in the same world government.

I do not want to take away Mexico's right to self determination. The people there don't want that.