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What I Didn't Say

paulgraham.com

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Re: What I Didn't Say

#321

Post by gfodor »

jsmthrowaway wrote: post #59
freyrs3 wrote: post #36

I'm not sure I want to work in an industry where some offhanded quip can lead to the kind witchhunt and character assassination like we saw over the last few days. Paul Graham may have some views that seem controversial to some people, but don't we all? I really blame the tabloidization of the tech press and the "twitter controversy of the day" bandwagon effect for these kind of incidents.

There are people who wake up in the morning, just like you or me, and instead of doing something productive with their time begin the day's hunt for a topic to be offended about. These are people that spend every day searching for something that offends them so that they can bitch to their followers about it and feel like they are producing some real change in the world. Think on par with "Fox News commentary," excep…

the SJW thing is in the most classic sense a meme. it's spread into tech and it's really disappointing. i don't really get it. the only explanation I have is that it offers people the feeling that they are somehow smarter than the rest of the sheep for realizing the effects of "the patriarchy" and "privilege". They have a more enlightened perspective and one which has easy to use go-to rhetorical defenses when called into question. These views also have the attribute of making the person feel like they are by definition always on the morally right side of any argument, since they are de facto always supportive of the victim. (Since they define the victim.)

The problem is that these things are set up to be unfalsifiable, and claiming that perhaps situation A or B was not in fact influenced by some hidden, systemic, nefarious thing like the patriarchy sets you up to be labeled at best ignorant and at worst sexist/racist/intolerant/etc. Simple explanations for cause and effect events in society are by definition suspect, if they cannot be tied to some larger scale societal struggle and narrative. It's basically a intellectual framework that has built up immunity from criticism via built-in argumentative tricks, similar to various forms of pseudo-science.

This is not to say there aren't plenty of places where discrimination happens and needs to be confronted. But it is not always the answer, and it is certainly not always the dominant factor in our day to day lives. Folks like the one you posted above seem to see everything in life through this lens, and it colors their opinions on everything, from the important to the mundane.

Re: What I Didn't Say

#323

Post by kazagistar »

crazygringo wrote: post #63
ericabiz wrote: post #32

As a female founder, I think this is a well-thought-out, articulate response, and I appreciate pg stepping up to say something about women in tech. In a similar vein, I'd love to see YC take on one or both of the following: 1) Do at least one application cycle completely blind. How could you accomplish this? Much like in the concert auditions where this was first tried, put people behind a curtain--and then use techn…

Blind applications would be great if they were possible, but I suspect they would be as helpful as a blind audition for concert conductors -- i.e., not at all. When you evaluate a team, you need to be able to judge their confidence, see how they interact with each other, get a feel for the trustworthiness, the way they look at you when they answer a question, and so on. If you can't see them, and their voice is disto…

Time and time again, studies have shown that people attribute more positive attributes like kindness and honesty to people who are more physically attractive, irrelevant of sex. This holds even when people are explicitly warned beforehand and told to keep their bias in check.

Re: What I Didn't Say

#324

Post by mjburgess »

mattmanser wrote: post #301
mjburgess wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fine, he was mischaracterized and he replied. But jesus, > pg's response is actually priceless: it is like a soft-spoken witness upending a bullying lawyer who had just viciously attacked him, leaving the attacker reeling for all to see. What's with the almost cult-like reverence for this largely pseudo-intellectual entrepreneur?

pg, a pseudo-intellectual? I'm frankly surprised you've been here for 2 years and never realised. You see the ycombinator in news.ycombinator.com? In this website? That's pg's company. Do you know what ycombinator is? That he started the seed funding movement? That he was blogging about hacking startups before people even really realised you could hack startups? Before lean startup existed? That he's written his own…

None of his achievements as an entrepreneur give him insights into philosophy, political economy or anything else he writes on. I granted him "entrepreneur" status. He can have "compu-sci" intellectual too.

You can see my comment here on his pseud-osity: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6988150 to save repeating myself.

Re: What I Didn't Say

#326

Post by DigitalJack »

mjburgess wrote: post #302
jraines wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

pg's writing has made a big impact among a lot of people, the majority of whom don't view him as a cult-like leader or personality at all. It sounds like you disagree with his ideas; what qualifies someone as an intellectual in your book and not a pseudo-intellectual?

"pseudo" was a little strong. But if you have any serious familiarity with his "off-topic" rants, youll see he writes about issues glibly and with a severe lack of information. I dont mind "academic journalism", I do it a lot myself: write on difficult topics for a lay audience and maybe sacrifice a little accurasy a long the way. I think pg likes be seen making points more than he wants further understanding/truth/e…

Would you mind naming some; I'm curious now. I don't follow pg very closely.

Re: What I Didn't Say

#327

Post by kategleason »

from a female founder:

PG picks the best.

it's time we step up to plate ladies. if we want to compete toe to toe with the gents then we have to be better than the ones we are up against. period. if you're better, trust me, he will pick you regardless of your gender.

it might even be in your favor if you just happen to be a woman on top of being better :)

Re: What I Didn't Say

#328

Post by kazagistar »

ars_technician wrote: post #201
nashequilibrium wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1.)The fact the female founders are asking for this, tells you that they don't feel on par with the way things are being done today. 2.) Paul has admitted to being susceptible to the Mark Zuckeberg effect, at least he was honest about that and should be respected for the fact that he realizes that. Most VC's i believe also fall into this trap but don't admit it. 3.) Now what are we going to do about this? Shrug our s…

>1.)The fact the female founders are asking for this, tells you that they don't feel on par with the way things are being done today. How many are asking for this? Where are your stats?

You appear to be requesting science in order to justify doing science. I am here to tell you that is silly.

Re: What I Didn't Say

#329

Post by Perihelion »

Dewie wrote: post #299
Perihelion wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I recognized that this is a self-preservation tactic and (thought) I implied I wished it weren't needed. Please read some of the other things I said -- I'm actually on the same side as him.

> No, I recognized that this is a self-preservation tactic and (thought) I implied I wished it weren't needed. This seems to contradict when you previously wrote that it is up to him, and him alone, to change his behavior, when here it seems to be actually a needed tactic bourn of forces outside of his control. Allocating 50% blame doesn't seem terribly sympathetic, either. But never mind, I have probably nitpicked m…

Well, at the end of the day he really is the only one who can change his behavior. I'm not saying I'll be mad if he doesn't, it was simply my way of saying "Don't give up on us because we're not all bitches."

I didn't feel that this warranted more or less blame on anyone's part. He seems like he might assume a woman is up tight based on his experiences -- I can't change how he feels about that. Unfortunately I also can't change the women that caused him to feel that way. All I can do is try my hardest to not be like the women he speaks of and ask him to reconsider his position.

I appreciate the nitpicking fwiw. I think you misinterpreted what I said, possibly due to the fact that I sometimes suck with words.

Re: What I Didn't Say

#330

Post by Crito »

__pThrow wrote: post #224
Crito wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it really surprise or disturb you that PG takes a special interest in things said about himself? It should not.

I think pg is very influential in tech and he has missed several opportunities to speak out for the powerless being abused. I think this is made worse when he runs Hacker News, and lets that platform be used in a very similar case to defend himself. My original post references "First They Came" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came_... ) That's not to suggest feminist bullying is anything close to Nazi Germa…

If PG spent his time addressing each injustice in the world individually, he would not have enough time for anything else in his life. He has however kindly provided the world with essays on honest discourse, and provided us with a platform that we can use to discuss various injustices in our industry.

PG 'throwing in' during "Donglegate" would not have done anything to improve the situation.

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