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

Silicon Valley thought India was its future, now things have changed

slate.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 181 posts

Re: Silicon Valley thought India was its future, now things have changed

#131

Post by jaldhar »

csomar wrote: post #113
jaldhar wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can we stop with all this IT cell bullshit? Modi got in because he was more competent than the rajputra of the Nehru dynasty. My family are from Gujarat. We’ve known about Modi since he was governor. We moved out of our ancestral village several generations ago but still return on special occasions because our kuladevi is there. The area is semi-desert. Modi got water from the Narmada dam piped in. Now cash crops can…

If that's the case, why would he fear the Internet so much? Your argument doesn't really hold.

Because that’s where his political enemies are? Most politicians don’t have very deep reasons for why they act.

The set of people who worry about the state of the internet does not overlap very much with the set of people who worry if they have water and the set of people who worry about Hinduism is separate yet. In a democracy whoever can cobble together enough of these different groups (and many more) to make majority will win. If he cannot he will lose. It’s as simple as that.

Re: Silicon Valley thought India was its future, now things have changed

#132

Post by sanmon3186 »

>But this quickly disintegrated, and the bargain tech execs drove in embracing an already-notorious figure like Modi became much harder. In 2016, India blocked Facebook’s “Free Basics” initiative, an attempt by the company to offer free internet access through a network of Facebook-approved sites, out of concern that the program would have created unfair tiers for internet access;

I wonder why author thinks that "free basics" was a great idea that was crushed by Modi.

Re: Silicon Valley thought India was its future, now things have changed

#133

Post by tln750 »

jaldhar wrote: post #129
tln750 wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Pali Canon contains the kernel of the Buddha's Teaching. It is not difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff and arrive at the essence of what the Buddha taught. A guide on how to approach the discourses: https://suttacentral.net/general-guide-sujato Sujato addresses several claims in his essay, and has some helpful hints on the historical placement of the Buddhadhamma. The Buddha was not a social reformer -…

The Pali canon contains one sects idea of the kernel of Buddha’s teaching. It so happens that sect has survived to this day while many of its competitors did not. That does not make its claims any more valid. The site you quote itself says that it began to be redacted around 300+ years after Buddhas demise. By contrast the books of the New Testament were composed 40-100 years after Jesus’s death and even then scholar…

Liberation in Advaita Vedanta is attaining the realization that one's individual self is identical with Brahman, posited as Higher Self. This is diametrically at odds with the anatta (not-self) doctrine of the Buddha. There is simply no common ground here - I am sorry, but you are washing away key doctrinal differences with a sweep. When Adi Sankara himself condemned Buddhadhamma as incomprehensible heresy, and yet you claim that Advaita Vedanta is the same as Buddhadhamma - I doubt that there can be any further discussion.

It is troubling to see how the current wave of jingoism coupled with religious fervor is trying to reduce the Buddha to a mere pawn in an imaginary, all-encompassing Hindu pantheon. Maybe you are not deliberately trying to do this, but the muddled and confused efforts of numerous foot-soldiers expose the sad trend all the same.

Re: Silicon Valley thought India was its future, now things have changed

#134

Post by naruvimama »

random314 wrote: post #127
naruvimama wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> He is openly racist and hates Muslims Indian Muslims are the same race as Hindus. I distrust Islam just like the vast majority of the world. Muslims are victims of Islam, especially Indian Muslims because it was never their choice. There isn't a single muslim country to the west of India that has any minority rights. An overwhelming 87% of Indian Muslim voted for the Muslim league and hence the creation of Pakistan…

I like how you have stated your beliefs simply and clearly. Let's not pretend that your vote for modi is based on some car factory. Also, for your future reference. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_and_secularism#Secular...

Funny you say that, most of them are namesake secular.

Filter out countries that have had large scale ethnic cleansing or genocide in the last 70 years.

Filter out those countries which have 99% muslims.

Filter out those which do not have some form of sharia imposed.

Even though both muslims and Hindus in India want a better future for themselves and their children.

Muslims have shown their willingness to engage in arson, destruction of public property and stopping economic activity or progress to push their own Islamic politics at every opportunity.

You must be really blind to not have observed this.

Re: Silicon Valley thought India was its future, now things have changed

#135

Post by jaldhar »

tln750 wrote: post #133
jaldhar wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Pali canon contains one sects idea of the kernel of Buddha’s teaching. It so happens that sect has survived to this day while many of its competitors did not. That does not make its claims any more valid. The site you quote itself says that it began to be redacted around 300+ years after Buddhas demise. By contrast the books of the New Testament were composed 40-100 years after Jesus’s death and even then scholar…

Liberation in Advaita Vedanta is attaining the realization that one's individual self is identical with Brahman, posited as Higher Self. This is diametrically at odds with the anatta (not-self) doctrine of the Buddha. There is simply no common ground here - I am sorry, but you are washing away key doctrinal differences with a sweep. When Adi Sankara himself condemned Buddhadhamma as incomprehensible heresy, and yet y…

They are the same in the sense that both privilege jnana over karma for liberation that is all. They are different in that Advaita Vedanta gives some scope to karma (Indian) Buddhism gave none.

Buddhists themselves reduced the historical Shakyamuni to one member of a pantheon long ago. This was a clear trend in Mahayana and Vajrayana before Allauddin Khilji came and settled the issue once and for all.

Re: Silicon Valley thought India was its future, now things have changed

#136

Post by inglor_cz »

rsj_hn wrote: post #34
ur-whale wrote: post #15

That's two over-a-billion population dysfunctional autocratic regimes in Asia. Fun times ahead.

Western Liberal democracy is basically vanquished in Asia, right at the time that Asia seems to be poised to dominate economically and demographically. Liberal democracy isn't making any inroads in Africa and Russia has certainly given it a firm no, with the Vysehrad states in Eastern Europe also turning away. Basically only Latin America is up for grabs at the moment and the results there seem mixed at best. We coul…

I am from one of the Visegrad states. Our democracy is mostly in the same flawed state, with a recent addition of Twitter outrages over culture war topics.

This is no surprise; a flawed democracy is precisely what the original Austria-Hungary once was, more flawed in Hungary, less flawed in Austria.

Re: Silicon Valley thought India was its future, now things have changed

#137

Post by the-mitr »

jaldhar wrote: post #38
ramanan wrote: post #5

This downward trend has long been in the works. The current government came into power riding on a wave of popularity, largely driven by their "IT cells". Now comfortably in power, they are probably dismantling the path, to avoid others who might try to follow. The government is not just in a stand-off with big-tech companies. It continues to view its own citizens as adversaries with frequent internet shutdowns [1].…

Can we stop with all this IT cell bullshit? Modi got in because he was more competent than the rajputra of the Nehru dynasty. My family are from Gujarat. We’ve known about Modi since he was governor. We moved out of our ancestral village several generations ago but still return on special occasions because our kuladevi is there. The area is semi-desert. Modi got water from the Narmada dam piped in. Now cash crops can…

he is popular because of the propaganda, by that logic hitler was also very popular. You are cherry picking data to suit your needs. Two examples at personal level do not balance the screw ups he has done at the national level. You are speaking as if no development work was done during earlier regimes. All the development started only after 2014. Stats speak another story about the development but then that is not what you want to hear.

Since you are still defending him, you must be blind to all other things seeing them as international conspiracy to defame your great leader.

> there isn’t anyone on the national scene

At this stage anyone, literally anyone, would be better than him

But anyways people

Re: Silicon Valley thought India was its future, now things have changed

#138

Post by zozbot234 »

tln750 wrote: post #133
jaldhar wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Pali canon contains one sects idea of the kernel of Buddha’s teaching. It so happens that sect has survived to this day while many of its competitors did not. That does not make its claims any more valid. The site you quote itself says that it began to be redacted around 300+ years after Buddhas demise. By contrast the books of the New Testament were composed 40-100 years after Jesus’s death and even then scholar…

Liberation in Advaita Vedanta is attaining the realization that one's individual self is identical with Brahman, posited as Higher Self. This is diametrically at odds with the anatta (not-self) doctrine of the Buddha. There is simply no common ground here - I am sorry, but you are washing away key doctrinal differences with a sweep. When Adi Sankara himself condemned Buddhadhamma as incomprehensible heresy, and yet y…

> Liberation in Advaita Vedanta is attaining the realization that one's individual self is identical with Brahman, posited as Higher Self. This is diametrically at odds with the anatta (not-self) doctrine of the Buddha.

This is not true, there's no conflict. The Buddha was not interested in abstract doctrines but only in what was most pragmatically useful for attaining stream entry, enlightenment and liberation from craving and desire. People who are actually pursuing these goals, even in modern times (with very compelling results, though obviously any claims to arhat status will always be viewed skeptically by most) have clarified how anatta is entirely compatible with a Higher Self as with Brahman.

Re: Silicon Valley thought India was its future, now things have changed

#139

Post by random314 »

naruvimama wrote: post #134
random314 wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like how you have stated your beliefs simply and clearly. Let's not pretend that your vote for modi is based on some car factory. Also, for your future reference. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_and_secularism#Secular...

Funny you say that, most of them are namesake secular. Filter out countries that have had large scale ethnic cleansing or genocide in the last 70 years. Filter out those countries which have 99% muslims. Filter out those which do not have some form of sharia imposed. Even though both muslims and Hindus in India want a better future for themselves and their children. Muslims have shown their willingness to engage in a…

BJP is pushing for a Hindu ethno-fascist state. Are you citing Islamic states as a form of what-aboutism or as a template for inspiration?

Also, for your laundry list of objections that you created with zero research - here is Albania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secularism_in_Albania#Debates_...

There are more, but I will let you do the research. Maybe you will find an example in a secular muslim majority state where the prime minister hand picks a terrorist under trial (whose phone and vehicle were used to bomb a church/temple) as a candidate for election.

Re: Silicon Valley thought India was its future, now things have changed

#140

Post by random314 »

random314 wrote: post #116
naruvimama wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That seems to be colonial/Christian interpretation of dharma. You should perhaps watch some videos of what actual Hindu gurus say.

> watch some videos of what actual Hindu gurus say. I am watching videos of what actual hindu gurus are saying and quoting hindu texts https://twitter.com/DalitChef/status/1283967349691826184?s=1... Right from the horses mouth. Quoting prabhupada. https://twitter.com/Devendrakumar_/status/128447931018772890... More knowledge from Prabhupada. Click on the video to hear him explain clearly. "The word dharma is used. Dh…

https://iskconeducationalservices.org/HoH/practice/dharma/th...
Post reply on HN