Live data from Hacker News

The time I didn't meet Jeffrey Epstein

scottaaronson.blog

171–180 of 653 posts

Re: The time I didn't meet Jeffrey Epstein

#171
post #153

Power corrupts, end of story. Democracy (limited terms), taxation and anti-monopoly regulation are examples that show a path to cure the disease. Nobody should be trusted with too much power for too long.

Fully agree on the root cause, but not on the solution. We should strive for extremely limited power by our public representatives, so their corruption impact is reduced to a minimum. But not only limited power, but also limited budget access, as an extension to limit that power. And that actually means reduced taxation. But at the same time, the budget for justice system needs to increase. It should be most probably…

Are you just completely unaware with what's going on in the US or something? The reason why we're here is because of corruption within private companies leading to mass accumulation of wealth which has reality-bending effects on politics. Trump and the cronies is as much a symptom as it is a cause; related to the way billionaires bought literally all of news and social media over 30 years and weaponized it for their own personal propaganda.

You're not going to solve this problem with a 'strong justice system', you're going to solve it by making sure no one can get that wealthy in the first place. I mean we're literally in a topic about Jeffry Epstein who is so deeply connected to everything that it would make your average TV show seem like a hack.

Re: The time I didn't meet Jeffrey Epstein

#172

Power corrupts, end of story. Democracy (limited terms), taxation and anti-monopoly regulation are examples that show a path to cure the disease. Nobody should be trusted with too much power for too long.

> end of story. Is it? Here's another version I like even more that unsettles democracy dogmatics: power attracts the corrupt.

It is absolutely correct, hence why limited terms are a prerequisite for functioning democracies.

An ill intentioned participant in power will not have unlimited time to do that much damage. A good intentioned participant will not have too much time to become corrupted.

The downside is that a good intentioned ruler, may not have enough time to accomplish their good vision. But my thesis is that is a reasonable price to pay to avoid the opposite. A malicious ruler with infinite time to complete their destructive plan.

Re: The time I didn't meet Jeffrey Epstein

#173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When he was alive a lot of people said Epstein was really smart. But I have read some of his emails, and all of the ones I have seen are full of spelling, punctuation, grammar and capitalization errors. I would not gotten out of sixth grade if I wrote like that.

I think that ... given one specific topic, few people understand it while the vast majority is completely oblivious to its workings. So they then hear someone who speaks like that, with a fast cadence and Andrew Tate's "Confidence" TM, and are inclined to think "yeah, the guy looks like he knows what he's talking about". But for people who have minimal knowledge about the thing, it's evident that said person is just…

It's on a different axis to stupid. These people play another kind of game, like scammers, they filter away people who can see through their bullshit.

To them, actually learning a "normal" topic is a distraction. Their game is finding and exploiting weaknesses.

Re: The time I didn't meet Jeffrey Epstein

#174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting to see how this is getting downvoted. Somewhat expected. Many more head would roll from this scandal. Bill Gates, Peter Thiel are just starters

[flagged]

> Yeah, I am surprised that when I am stating known facts with relevant links, my comments are getting downvoted.

Think about it as a noble way to spend your HN karma

Re: The time I didn't meet Jeffrey Epstein

#175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> end of story. Is it? Here's another version I like even more that unsettles democracy dogmatics: power attracts the corrupt.

It is absolutely correct, hence why limited terms are a prerequisite for functioning democracies. An ill intentioned participant in power will not have unlimited time to do that much damage. A good intentioned participant will not have too much time to become corrupted. The downside is that a good intentioned ruler, may not have enough time to accomplish their good vision. But my thesis is that is a reasonable price…

A good intentioned participant will not have unlimited time to do good

Re: The time I didn't meet Jeffrey Epstein

#177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> Yeah, I am surprised that when I am stating known facts with relevant links, my comments are getting downvoted. Think about it as a noble way to spend your HN karma

If only it was just karma. A pattern of getting downvoted can lead to account restrictions.

Re: The time I didn't meet Jeffrey Epstein

#178
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Interesting to see how this is getting downvoted. Somewhat expected. Many more head would roll from this scandal. Bill Gates, Peter Thiel are just starters

When your main complaint against someone is "illegal vaccines" and you post it several times, it makes you look very similar to COVID conspiracy theorists.

Re: The time I didn't meet Jeffrey Epstein

#179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

What triggered Mossad to toss their best informant?

Him being in jail awaiting trial, which risked him exposing the details of the operation if he felt it could help him get a lighter sentence.

If the choice for Mossad was either risk Epstein exposing that Israel was essentially running a state-sponsored underage sex trafficking ring, or kill him before he can do that, you know what they'd choose.

Post reply on HN