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Lynn Conway has died

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Re: Lynn Conway has died

#131

Post by quantified »

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #106
polairscience wrote: post #97

For those of you who are inclined to say "HackerNews doesn't deal with politics", I hope that Lynn's story reminds you that any work you do is intertwined with politics. While I appreciate that it's a difficult line to walk, to have productive and relevant political discussion in a forum like this, politics and social acceptance are a part of every aspect of our lives. Brilliant, kind, impactful people are kept from…

> any work you do is intertwined with politics. That simply is not true. Apolitical topics do exist, and it is incredibly annoying when people try to force politics into an apolitical topic (looking at you, Rust community).

Topics yes. Work is much more than a topic. Mathematical equations and solutions are apolitical (in the abstract). Teaching math and working in any communal research setting will be political, for example can you teach these things to that age group/population, how do you test, etc.

Re: Lynn Conway has died

#132

Post by marcuskane2 »

IntelMiner wrote: post #102
polairscience wrote: post #97

For those of you who are inclined to say "HackerNews doesn't deal with politics", I hope that Lynn's story reminds you that any work you do is intertwined with politics. While I appreciate that it's a difficult line to walk, to have productive and relevant political discussion in a forum like this, politics and social acceptance are a part of every aspect of our lives. Brilliant, kind, impactful people are kept from…

Anybody who conflates human rights as "politics" are someone I simply cannot respect A persons right to exist is not political (This isn't a dig at OP but it's worth restating)

[flagged]

Re: Lynn Conway has died

#133

Post by docmars »

IntelMiner wrote: post #102
polairscience wrote: post #97

For those of you who are inclined to say "HackerNews doesn't deal with politics", I hope that Lynn's story reminds you that any work you do is intertwined with politics. While I appreciate that it's a difficult line to walk, to have productive and relevant political discussion in a forum like this, politics and social acceptance are a part of every aspect of our lives. Brilliant, kind, impactful people are kept from…

Anybody who conflates human rights as "politics" are someone I simply cannot respect A persons right to exist is not political (This isn't a dig at OP but it's worth restating)

I think an important distinction people are looking for is:

It's not the mere existence of a person that's an issue, but rather the coercive, punishing activism that takes place around a false idea that human rights are at risk, while these personal choices are simultaneously being celebrated by nearly every government institution and major corporation in existence.

The same activism requires full acceptance by parents, families, and children who do not want these choices influencing their personal lives.

To say these rights are at risk is an outright lie.

It's one thing to have a significant voter base opposed to those choices and still be fully able to live and express those choices freely and publicly — while it's a whole different issue to have governments actively enforcing a different private life against their will (specifically LGBTQ folks).

(Edits: re-word for clarification)

Re: Lynn Conway has died

#134

Post by analognoise »

bowsamic wrote: post #117
bigstrat2003 wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> any work you do is intertwined with politics. That simply is not true. Apolitical topics do exist, and it is incredibly annoying when people try to force politics into an apolitical topic (looking at you, Rust community).

Can you give an example of an apolitical topic? EDIT: unfortunately I can’t reply to the comments as I have been banned EDIT 2: I have been banned to reply to the commenter, dang told me EDIT 3: dang has now wiped all the upvotes on this message and given me 2 extra downvotes and suddenly another comment I made mentioning him in a totally different thread has been mass downvoted

Almost everything can be discussed in an apolitical way - you just don’t talk politics. It isn’t a logic puzzle.

Re: Lynn Conway has died

#135

Post by appalp »

worik wrote: post #114
minedwiz wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quite disappointing to hear; I know the feeling on discovering unfortunate things coworkers believe :(. I can scarcely imagine the feeling of seeing real progress happen on trans acceptance, only to then see a blowback coming, right at the end of your life. Glad she will be remembered positively.

> seeing real progress happen on trans acceptance, only to then see a blowback coming, right at the end of your life. Yes It is surreal I do not understand why people care so much. Your gender is none of my concern It is so hard, it seems, to take people as you find them

[flagged]

Re: Lynn Conway has died

#136

Post by [deleted] »

IntelMiner wrote: post #102
polairscience wrote: post #97

For those of you who are inclined to say "HackerNews doesn't deal with politics", I hope that Lynn's story reminds you that any work you do is intertwined with politics. While I appreciate that it's a difficult line to walk, to have productive and relevant political discussion in a forum like this, politics and social acceptance are a part of every aspect of our lives. Brilliant, kind, impactful people are kept from…

Anybody who conflates human rights as "politics" are someone I simply cannot respect A persons right to exist is not political (This isn't a dig at OP but it's worth restating)

[deleted]

Re: Lynn Conway has died

#137

Post by skeeter2020 »

polairscience wrote: post #97

For those of you who are inclined to say "HackerNews doesn't deal with politics", I hope that Lynn's story reminds you that any work you do is intertwined with politics. While I appreciate that it's a difficult line to walk, to have productive and relevant political discussion in a forum like this, politics and social acceptance are a part of every aspect of our lives. Brilliant, kind, impactful people are kept from…

I didn't know much about Conway but read the wikipedia page after seeing this post. My take-away was the thing to celebrate was that someone could accomplish so much & have such a meaningful impact despite the politics and environment - wow! These contributions stand on their own regardless of how/when or where they were accomplished. This is an amazing piece of evidence in support of equality in origin and opportunity.

Re: Lynn Conway has died

#138

Post by bowsamic »

analognoise wrote: post #134
bowsamic wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you give an example of an apolitical topic? EDIT: unfortunately I can’t reply to the comments as I have been banned EDIT 2: I have been banned to reply to the commenter, dang told me EDIT 3: dang has now wiped all the upvotes on this message and given me 2 extra downvotes and suddenly another comment I made mentioning him in a totally different thread has been mass downvoted

Almost everything can be discussed in an apolitical way - you just don’t talk politics. It isn’t a logic puzzle.

Yes you can decide not to mention the politics inherent in the thing but that doesn’t mean it isn’t there. I’m wondering if the person I’m replying to can produce a thing where it truly isn’t there

Re: Lynn Conway has died

#139

Post by IncreasePosts »

polairscience wrote: post #122
bigstrat2003 wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> any work you do is intertwined with politics. That simply is not true. Apolitical topics do exist, and it is incredibly annoying when people try to force politics into an apolitical topic (looking at you, Rust community).

While I agree that a community needs to focus on its central goal (developing the rust programming language in this case), I think I have a very good litmus test for what you think "apolitical" means: Let's say Lynn were a rust developer and felt as though the the tone of the community and the discussion of her work made her feel unwelcome. Let's say Lynn spoke out against that. Would you entertain that conversation?…

In that example, it seems politics were already allowed, if people were saying things to make Hypothetical Lynn uncomfortable.

Presumably that kind of talk was about transgender issues and not some technical topic about rust which would make her uncomfortable.

So, in that circumstance, it seems only fair that if a person can express their political opinion, so can another person.

But,maybe the leader of the project should have shutdown whatever was making Hypothetical Lynn uncomfortable before she was forced to mount a response to it?

Re: Lynn Conway has died

#140

Post by tim333 »

bowsamic wrote: post #117
bigstrat2003 wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> any work you do is intertwined with politics. That simply is not true. Apolitical topics do exist, and it is incredibly annoying when people try to force politics into an apolitical topic (looking at you, Rust community).

Can you give an example of an apolitical topic? EDIT: unfortunately I can’t reply to the comments as I have been banned EDIT 2: I have been banned to reply to the commenter, dang told me EDIT 3: dang has now wiped all the upvotes on this message and given me 2 extra downvotes and suddenly another comment I made mentioning him in a totally different thread has been mass downvoted

Providing memory safety in computer languages?
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