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Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

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Re: Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

#241

Post by foobarbazqux »

mpyne wrote: post #231
enraged_camel wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, what? https://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/all&q=aaron+swar...

That particular case was where HN really shifted, but that doesn't make the parent comment incorrect.

This is a story about the literal intersection of police, guns, gangs, speeding, pedestrian crosswalks, motor vehicle accidents, and the sudden, traumatic, and innocent bystander death of the co-founder of a visible startup. And you guys expect no discussion of politics?

Can you point to a single story since the inception of Hacker News that quite obviously involved the intersection of hacker/startup culture with the rest of society where politics were not discussed? What is any discussion about wealth or economics if not politics? Is it a vanishingly small percentage of PG's essays that express a strong political opinion?

As far as I'm concerned, discussing politics as they relate to hacker culture is on topic. Discussing the Boston Marathon bombing, not so on-topic, but nevertheless people here had interesting things to say from a hacker perspective. I'll be the first to agree that political extremism is aggravating, but the solution to political extremism is not the avoidance of politics altogether.

Re: Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

#242

Post by goodcanadian »

dllthomas wrote: post #225
reader5000 wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True but if your expectation is traffic travelling at 30, it's unclear if normal defensiveness will help you for a car going at 60+.

Wonder if he'd have heard the sirens...

Indeed. I once saw a pedestrian step out in front of a moving police car with lights are sirens going. The walk light had just turned green. The police car had to slam on the brakes and lean on the horn to avoid hitting the idiot.

Re: Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

#243

Post by grannyg00se »

lostlogin wrote: post #130
joe_the_user wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Read more closely. "When officers went to investigate, there was a physical altercation between police and 26-year-old Gerardo Diego Ayala that ended with a fatal officer-involved shooting." The cops killed one of the suspects then pursued the rest, then a pedestrian died in the chase. But the fricken media did a great job phrasing things so the cops seemed justified, woo-hoo. See: http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazi…

Wow. So every stage went as bad as it could have. Sure, there is a series to events where more people could have died, and I'm sure this will be brought up. There should be some people doing some pretty hard thinking about how they handled this.

Why do you say as bad as it could have? This is a physical altercation with known gang members (if I'm properly informed). It's not going to go well.

I think the difficulty in handling a situation like that in any way other than immediate armed confrontation must be immense. If somebody tasked me with "handling" a gang member I'm pretty sure I'd want a gun, and I'd want absolutely no restrictions or post-event questioning on its use. Obviously I'm not involved in professional law enforcement in LA but even with training I can imagine it to be an incredibly difficult situation.

I think that the hard thinking to be done should be directed primarily at the underlying issues that result in (and support) organized street crime.

Re: Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

#244

Post by CamperBob2 »

HarryHirsch wrote: post #215
superuser2 wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would your car be towed for having open windows?

Because open windows are an invitation for thieves. The Germans argue quite sensibly that you have an obligation to your fellow man to keep crime down.

Wow. IMHO, towing my car from a legal parking place because I left the windows down (or -- Gott bewahre! -- the convertible top open) is a crime.

Re: Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

#245

Post by CamperBob2 »

soheil wrote: post #66
haydenevans wrote: post #19

Just terrible :( Why does it always seem like the worst and most insignificant wastes of human beings always take away great ones?

Just because he wrote some code that was used so widely doesn't make him more significant than a janitor who cleans after you, or the "gang" member who was evading the brutal cops for a chance for his freedom. The sooner we realize people are equal because they're human fucking beings the greater hope for humanity to avoid its imminent demise.

Wow, this post is crazy enough to deserve its own DSM V entry.

Re: Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

#247

Post by Kequc »

grannyg00se wrote: post #238
HarryHirsch wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because open windows are an invitation for thieves. The Germans argue quite sensibly that you have an obligation to your fellow man to keep crime down.

What the hell? So are home alarms (with prominently displayed window stickers) mandatory by law? What if I leave my cell phone out on the table while I'm eating at a restaurant? By-law infraction?

There's no such thing as a slippery slope.

If you leave your windows open and aren't there then people can easily steal from you and then cost the public money. Nobody was penalised, simply contacted and asked to close the window on their car.

Re: Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

#248

Post by CamperBob2 »

soheil wrote: post #86
sejje wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes someone more significant, then? What's your measure? People aren't equal, you can't make it so by saying it. The man who died was more significant than the man who killed him.

It's like asking what makes 5 greater than 5. Humans are all significant simply because they have rational minds and are rational beings. A human being cannot impose on others a value or worthiness, because we are rational beings and have independent minds. As you probably have noticed by now this is not me saying these things, it's from Immanuel Kant. I found these lectures on the topic absolutely amazing to watch:…

You need to read some more philosophy (or, I guess, watch some more.) By asserting unconditional equality, you deny the existence of the will. That position can be defended, but I'm skeptical that you're up to the task at the moment.

Re: Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

#249

Post by moron4hire »

You can be a defensive pedestrian, but that's not always going to work. Something like this, a police chase, it defies predictability. It could happen so fast that it doesn't matter if you're completely present and aware, you could still get hit.

Re: Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

#250

Post by oftenwrong »

xanadohnt wrote: post #182
InclinedPlane wrote: post #140

This is a good reminder to always be a defensive and aware pedestrian. Just because you have the light or the right-of-way doesn't mean you are guaranteed a safe crossing of the street. Whenever I cross an intersection as a pedestrian I always look both ways (even on one way streets) and I always keep an eye on cars that are still in motion, especially those that don't appear to be slowing down. It's good to make the…

A highly engineered network of lights, signs, warnings, and all other sorts of traffic guidance actually makes pedestrian and vehicle travel less safe. It's a psychological phenomenon - discussed here: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.12/traffic.html - where the actors stop using situational awareness and total rely on external devices to do their decision making. Safety takes a back seat to obeying the law. Upo…

I just watched this short video about a busy intersection that was successfully redesigned in this way:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vzDDMzq7d0

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