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A Call for Candidates

unitedslate.samaltman.com

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Re: A Call for Candidates

#31

Post by audi100quattro »

baron816 wrote: post #16

How many people here can name their state senator or representative? Of the hundreds of people who might read this, I'm sure only a small handful could do it without looking it up. It's a serious problem that people don't follow state politics at all, and it's not a problem with the people themselves. We need a system that doesn't require people to follow what their president, senator, congressman, governor, state se…

The opposite of everything you just said. People need to be fucking responsible and learn what is right, if you need to experiment, make mistakes, fine. You are personally responsible for the government you get. You can learn before an election, take the day off if you can. There should be a national holiday. Go to meet your congressman once, like you would go to a PTA meeting if you had a child. None of this is hard. If you voted for a 3rd party candidate in FL in 2000 and MI, PA, WI in 2016, it is your fault Bush/Trump are in office. You didn't vote tactically. The rules of democracy are working just fine. We can bring about a constitutional amendment for citizens united, and abolish the electoral college. If people believe those are the right things to be doing, they will happen. If we start educating people now, maybe change will happen in years or decades.

Engineers can be impatient if there aren't quick technical answers. Engineers can also believe the latest research will give them answers, also not true. Quite a few startup founders I've heard have some absolute shit theories about politics. I can understand being a technologist, but a technologist who doesn't take the time to understand politics, or has no experience in politics needs to take the time to listen and learn before trying to impose anything on anyone.

Politics at it's root is civic engagement and it should be back to basics, just like it has been for journalism over the last yr or two.

Re: A Call for Candidates

#32

Post by ZenoArrow »

dantheman wrote: post #10
unityByFreedom wrote: post #2

Cool. I wonder where Altman stands on Citizens United and the aftermath that is super PACs. A big problem to me is how to keep money out of politics wherever possible. I guess this would fall under his "fair government" policy, although I don't see it explicitly mentioned. Do libertarians support having super PACs? That would be yikes to me. Unless that is a primary issue for a candidate, I don't see how we'll ever g…

Citizens United is very clear - it's about free speech. if the New York times wants to release a documentary about a candidate before the election would you stop them? Libertarians, of course, support super PACS, people do not lose their ability to speak when they form a group. To illustrate this point imagine 2 people: a famous movie star and a wealthy movie producer. When the famous person speaks it is news and spr…

> "Citizens United is very clear - it's about free speech."

The problem that people have related to Citizens United is that, in the current system, money = free speech.

This isn't about freedom from persecution, unless you count corporations as people.

Re: A Call for Candidates

#33

Post by dragonwriter »

Without getting into the accuracy of the asserted factual premises, this effort seems doomed from day one unless two critical issues are addressed:

(1) Lack of focus in goals: is this about present economic fairness, political inclusiveness, preserving American hemegony, adjusting the rules of society and the economy to address coming automation, fiscal responsibility, or a return to the past? All of these are cited, with no priorities or uniting structure. This is a messaging problem, sure, but more fundamentally it's a problem of vision.

(2) Lack of focus in methods: this claims to be about California first, but the races Altman says he's interested are the most and, in many ways, the least powerful of California's dozen or so directly-elected executive positions, plus federal legislative positions. If the focus is California-first, then the races of interest should be all of the California statewide Constitutional officers, plus California legislators (and maybe California statewide boards and commissions).

Re: A Call for Candidates

#34

Post by ZenoArrow »

alphonsegaston wrote: post #6

The structural problems of American democracy are because candidates are unaccountable outside (except to their donors) outside a small election window, where they temporarily perform whatever act will allowed them to attain or hold onto power. If Altman is sincere about wanting better candidates, I'd suggest pushing for technology-driven direct democracy, candidates who, in real time, act and respond to feedback fro…

Direct democracy has its problems too. I'd suggest the best compromise is liquid democracy, where you have the right to take a direct vote, but can also defer your voting power to elected official(s) that you trust to act in your interests.

http://youtu.be/fg0_Vhldz-8

Re: A Call for Candidates

#35

Post by troyastorino »

audi100quattro wrote: post #23

I can name one engineer who was president, Jimmy Carter. How many politicians in general are engineers or scientists? How many are in positions Sam mentions? My guess would be Engineers can be politicians, would be the name of my non-profit. This new yorker piece is also a good read: http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/two-nasa-engineers-tr...

Herbert Hoover was also an engineer.

I don't think it was coincidental that both presidents who were engineers were disastrous for the economy (efforts to engineer the macro economy typically fail).

Re: A Call for Candidates

#36

Post by jbob2000 »

California is not the problem. Why would you waste your time supporting the wealthiest, most educated, most progressive state? You would spend millions of dollars and countless hours in California, only to lose because of Texas, Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, etc. etc.

You need to focus your efforts on the red south, which are filled with highly uneducated, highly manipulable people, which political parties use to get elected.

Re: A Call for Candidates

#37

Post by audi100quattro »

troyastorino wrote: post #35
audi100quattro wrote: post #23

I can name one engineer who was president, Jimmy Carter. How many politicians in general are engineers or scientists? How many are in positions Sam mentions? My guess would be Engineers can be politicians, would be the name of my non-profit. This new yorker piece is also a good read: http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/two-nasa-engineers-tr...

Herbert Hoover was also an engineer. I don't think it was coincidental that both presidents who were engineers were disastrous for the economy (efforts to engineer the macro economy typically fail).

And yet, engineering/scientific knowledge is exactly that more politicians need and vice versa, the political skill (civic engagement) is what engineers/scientists need if they're going to run.

Carter was an evangelical, which might have had a lot to do with his one term in office. Hoover did what he could before Keynesian economics, it wasn't all wrong. I'm not sure what you mean by "engineer the macro economy." what would you say the federal reserve does?

Re: A Call for Candidates

#38

Post by dang »

jrs95 wrote: post #17
aaron-lebo wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not really fair. There's lots of political discourse on HN.

I see mods getting after people about it when they're not expressing the generally accepted view around here too, though.

We don't moderate HN that way. Nor is there a 'generally accepted' view in the community about any divisive topic, for the simple reason that the community is too large. The views here reflect the divisions in society as a whole, just as any sufficiently large sample would. (Edit: really I should say 'societies', because there are deep divisions across geographical and cultural lines as well. Those are largely invisible and have a stronger influence than most people realize.)

What does commonly happen is that people with strongly opposing views imagine that the HN community and/or mods are stacked against them. This perception is in the eye of the beholder (a.k.a. a cognitive bias), because all sides make the same claim and in both intensity and direction it always corresponds to the perceiver's own political commitment.

I've written about this a bunch if anyone wants to read more about this dynamic: https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme....

Re: A Call for Candidates

#39

Post by dang »

pvnick wrote: post #7

Political discourse is off-limits on Hacker News * *Except when Sam Altman feels like talking about it

That's completely untrue—actually it's a combo pack of false statements. I've been doing the moderation thing for years now yet still wince when I see such things delivered with such snark.
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