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A Call for Candidates

unitedslate.samaltman.com

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Re: A Call for Candidates

#41

Post by alphonsegaston »

jrs95 wrote: post #19
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…

There was basically an episode of Black Mirror about this

Which one? Hated in the Nation? The Waldo Moment? I think that both of those kind of argue that digital network systems can't exist alongside traditional governance without overtaking them. I'm talking about trying to integrate the two to prevent those kind of dystopian outcomes. Although with the advent of a figure like Trump, our "Waldo Moment" might have already come.

Re: A Call for Candidates

#42

Post by jrs95 »

alphonsegaston wrote: post #41
jrs95 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was basically an episode of Black Mirror about this

Which one? Hated in the Nation? The Waldo Moment? I think that both of those kind of argue that digital network systems can't exist alongside traditional governance without overtaking them. I'm talking about trying to integrate the two to prevent those kind of dystopian outcomes. Although with the advent of a figure like Trump, our "Waldo Moment" might have already come.

The Waldo Moment was what I was thinking of

Re: A Call for Candidates

#43

Post by unityByFreedom »

laser wrote: post #18
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…

To be contrarian for a second, perhaps there isn't enough money in politics? Look how much candidates like Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump were able to raise directly from constituents, despite being snubbed by big money. What if we give more direct democratic funding tools to the public, like vouchers, to counteract corporate interests, other special interest groups, and the rich? Restricting political expenditure s…

I don't think you'll ever remove money from politics entirely. But I do think it has gotten out of hand, and somewhat criminal, in recent years. I won't say more than that, lest I rant about current politics.

Re: A Call for Candidates

#44

Post by lkbm »

soulbadguy wrote: post #29

Non american citizen living in the US. Just a couple of though while reading "most" of it. > I was one of the last children of the American Century. I’m not quite ready to let it go. If we don’t take action now, the US will be surpassed as the world superpower. I’d like to get back to the values that made our country the envy of the world. I still believe in American exceptionalism, and even with Trump in the White H…

> > We should require that Californian politicians and senior civil service send their kids to public schools. They need to be aligned.

> This would be a game changer...

I'm sceptical. Some public schools are great, and what happens is rich people pay the high prices to live in those districts. The parents where I work definitely choose housing based on what schools their kids will go to, and it drives the property values of those neighborhoods.

Forcing politicians' to send their children to public schools won't help the low-performing schools that rich people already can avoid by choosing expensive. It will help ensure public education for wealthy families is good, and little else.

(Disclaimer: I'm mostly familiar with school districting in Texas. Maybe California is different, but this seems like the normal case most places in the US.)

Re: A Call for Candidates

#45

Post by unityByFreedom »

baron816 wrote: post #28
unityByFreedom wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We need a system that doesn't require people to follow what their president, senator, congressman, governor, state senator, mayor, and city councilman, along with dozens of other elected officials, are doing while in office. ... so you don't want a representative government? Couldn't disagree more. Sure it's tough to keep up with everything they're doing. But I like being able to look into it at my leisure, and I t…

> ... so you don't want a representative government? No, that's not what I'm saying. > Really unclear to me how you would accomplish your goals without eliminating democracy as we know it. Then you should study other electoral systems. At the state level, you could have proportional representation and then just vote for the party you want. That would allow for multiple parties, and it's much easier to follow what a p…

> At the state level, you could have proportional representation and then just vote for the party you want. That would allow for multiple parties, and it's much easier to follow what a party supports and does than it is to follow an individual.

So, give even more power to parties? No thanks. Independent should always be an option. It isn't under your system.

Re: A Call for Candidates

#46

Post by krapp »

jrs95 wrote: post #26
laser wrote: post #24

Why did this get flagged? A bunch of people being sour? If the technology community cannot come together here to find solutions to the problems of government, where shall we gather?

probably related to this: "Political discourse is off-limits on Hacker News * *Except when Sam Altman feels like talking about it"

Mainstream political discourse is off limits, unless it presents something of intellectual merit, a new or interesting phenomenon, or has some more than tangential relationship to the tech community.

If anyone else had posted something like this, it would have rightly been flagged as well.

Re: A Call for Candidates

#47

Post by unityByFreedom »

ZenoArrow wrote: post #30
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not really about fair government. Just different government. I don't think government will ever be fair, but at least ours can be changed.

I'd suggest the best hope the US has for a better government is Wolf PAC, which is essentially a PAC to get rid of PACs (by constitutional amendment, so it can't be easily overturned): http://www.wolf-pac.com/ It's had some success already, with some states signing up to it, but plenty of work remaining to push it forward.

That's interesting. Thanks for sharing. If only he would describe how wolf-PAC intended to achieve its goals, and why it is necessary, in the video on the front page. I had to read the Wikipedia page to discover that.

Side-rant. So many people are bad at getting to the point in YouTube videos...

Edit: now I see their front page video is intended to be news, not an intro. I think it should be an intro. Whatevs

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