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Interview with Paul Graham

pullrequest.substack.com

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Re: Interview with Paul Graham

#121

Post by wombatmobile »

samatman wrote: post #113
wombatmobile wrote: post #110

> 2. What's the future of what we now call journalism? Is it all Substack (a YC company)? Can we run the global-scale world with that model? I'm new to HN and was interested to read PG's answer, because I like the civility and on-pointedness of HN, which I think is a result of its rules of engagement. So, first I looked at Substack, which I hadn't heard of before. PG's answer suggests he values journalism, but I was…

> I was surprised that Substack doesn't address the main problem of journalism ... a lack of a viable business model to support people who practice journalism. It... does, though? Substack is a way for writers to offer subscriptions for their content. Two friends of mine are benefiting from this, one has managed to pay her bills this way and the other is well on his way. I don't consider it a magic bullet, but it's c…

Sure, Substack is what it is, and that's good.

I'm looking for ways to repopulate newsrooms that send journalists out into the field to cover breaking news. That's a different set of logistics, scale, and costs.

Re: Interview with Paul Graham

#122

Post by darthrupert »

elevenoh wrote: post #13
ishansharma wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Couldn’t agree more. I read all his essays in my early 20s and became a huge fan. Not just startup advice wise, but general big picture stuff wise too. Then I saw his recent tweets and especially the essay about wealth tax, I was a bit disappointed. But as you said, his position is well earned. But I don’t see any useful real life advice from him anymore.

>Then I saw his recent tweets and especially the essay about wealth tax, I was a bit disappointed. Why? He points out [the non obvious to many fact] that wealth tax kills compounding. And this is something to seriously consider.

I wonder how he reacts to the knowledge of one of the wealthiest countries having a wealth tax. Switzerland. It's below 1%, progressive, though. 2-6% (as Sanders suggested, I think?) would probably be much more harmful.

Re: Interview with Paul Graham

#123

Post by [deleted] »

DominikPeters wrote: post #89
jkubicek wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think there's any chance at all this is going to happen. Security theater in airports is perpetuated by an agency that depends on fear to secure its funding and a government that depends on us fighting the "bad guys" (even if they aren't any close to as dangerous as they want us to think). COVID fear isn't being perpetuated by any government agencies at the national level. If anything, the federal government…

Airport security is very similar (if more efficient) in non-US airports, so rent seeking can't be the whole explanation. As far as I know, in most countries security is done by private contractors and not a government agency.

[deleted]

Re: Interview with Paul Graham

#124

Post by [deleted] »

whiddershins wrote: post #116
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fail to see how this is "health theater", especially mask mandates, which show high effectiveness and relatively low imposition on personal freedoms, considering the pandemic is currently ongoing .

Citation needed. Where are deaths increasing?

[deleted]

Re: Interview with Paul Graham

#125

Post by danielheath »

DominikPeters wrote: post #89
jkubicek wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think there's any chance at all this is going to happen. Security theater in airports is perpetuated by an agency that depends on fear to secure its funding and a government that depends on us fighting the "bad guys" (even if they aren't any close to as dangerous as they want us to think). COVID fear isn't being perpetuated by any government agencies at the national level. If anything, the federal government…

Airport security is very similar (if more efficient) in non-US airports, so rent seeking can't be the whole explanation. As far as I know, in most countries security is done by private contractors and not a government agency.

IIRC, if you want to fly through US airspace (say, to land an international flight in the US), the airport you are leaving has to comply with US airport security rules, so the rules are pretty standard everywhere.

Re: Interview with Paul Graham

#126

Post by dang »

brian_foxx wrote: post #96

I never got the after popularity that this guy enjoyed after his major accomplishments. Look, Marrying your intern is one thing, but some of his more recent views are reflective of senility as one of my friends put it.

We moderate HN less when YC is the topic, but that's such a lie that moderating less still means banning the account.

Re: Interview with Paul Graham

#127

Post by MaysonL »

hkai wrote: post #83
jkubicek wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think there's any chance at all this is going to happen. Security theater in airports is perpetuated by an agency that depends on fear to secure its funding and a government that depends on us fighting the "bad guys" (even if they aren't any close to as dangerous as they want us to think). COVID fear isn't being perpetuated by any government agencies at the national level. If anything, the federal government…

Not to mention that mass media is an agency nearly entirely dedicated to promoting health theater. "You and your children will die soon and there's almost no way to stop it" is the dominating message on the front page of many media organizations.

Name one, please.

EDIT to add: with a link or screenshot.

Re: Interview with Paul Graham

#128

Post by MaysonL »

vlunkr wrote: post #88
samatman wrote: post #36

> But a few years after it's over, we'll be acting as if [COVID] never happened. We're good at that. I fear this prediction won't come true. There's a great risk that 'health theatre' will join security theatre as a durable if not permanent part of our existence. That years from now, we'll be getting temperatures checked, schools will be shutting down for worse-than-usual influenzas, and so on. I still can't bring an…

On the other hand wouldn't it be good for some of the extra hygiene to stick around? Allowing kids to do online school when they're sick rather than prioritizing in-person attendance is a great step forward IMO. Not only because schools spread illness quickly, but because it's a horrible experience to be sick at school. Same goes for work.

And when you've got a respiratory infection, wear a mask.

Re: Interview with Paul Graham

#129

Post by MaysonL »

alextheparrot wrote: post #10

> But a few years after it's over, we'll be acting as if it never happened. We're good at that. So melancholy, a lot of the responses seem to gravity around a general accidentalism. I feel that’s true for a lot of people who have had great success, never really understanding how each of the pieces fit together to make their success and thus never feeling like they’ve owned it.

Interesting that Asian countries, as a rule, learned from SARS lessons that we didn't. With a little luck, we will learn from this cluster….

Re: Interview with Paul Graham

#130

Post by netcan »

elevenoh wrote: post #14

I'm hoping we don't continue to see yc turn into 'the old guard'. YC folks, startups & the people yc startup school attracts that I've personally spoken to in the past few years are more imitator-types. YC folks & startups of 2009 were more authentic & original types. Though I suppose it's tough to avoid this deterioration in culture following $-influx & 'success', in any domain.

"The music was new, black polished chrome / And came over the summer like liquid night / The DJ's took pills to stay awake / And play for seven day"

Jim Morrison.

I always thought that song was prescient, considering the the "waves" of rock and roll in the following decades. Ideas emerged, often from the underground. Some were true, and they upended old, stale ideas that had descended into hack mimicry packaged and sold to the unwashed masses.

Novelty is a quality and it only lasts so long. Johnny Rotten's antics would be trite cliches by the 1980s, just as he himself had been disgusted by the trite homages to Jim Morrison of the last 70s. Authenticity, originality and rebellion don't generally follow clearly signposted roads.

Movements have cycles. In retrospect, Mike Oldfield didn't really suck... but Johnny was right at the time.

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