Live data from Hacker News

A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

blog.coinbase.com

541–550 of 774 posts

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#541

When a group of employees demand that their employers engage in political activism, what they are asking for is the ability to commandeer the resources of the company, whether it be its reputation, money, or labor to advance their political objective. They want to amplify their impact beyond what they can accomplish with their personal resources. I wonder how these same people feel about the political contributions o…

During WWII, IBM supplied the Nazis with mainframe computers and were responsible for untold deaths in exchange for money. It's not that black and white.

This argument is always brought up. But it's insincere, because you're just arguing that the nazies are bad, not that IBM was bad for helping the nazies.

Because if you were, you should also argue that during WW2, any companies that helped the Allies should also befall the same criticism (that of being politically aligned rather than be neutral).

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#542
post #516

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In other words, given the rates of poverty among Black trans women, you don't want her to be allowed to exist. Your view is not above regular politics. It is a view that's firmly embedded within the right wing of regular politics. I personally wouldn't consider it "Nazi" but would definitely consider it deeply transphobic, and exclude you from my friend circle. If I met someone with your view at work, I would avoid a…

Yep — this is Exhibit A as to why this is something I say only anonymously. Any other forum and she’s stunning and brave.

Good. People experiencing the social consequences of expressing bigoted views, and being a little more afraid as a result, is how the world moves forward. A term sometimes used for it is the "democratization of discomfort".

The First Amendment cuts both ways.

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#543

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it's voluntarily formed, it's not authoritarian. When a political faction deems that those who refuse to pay half their income for a highly benevolent social program, will face punitive legal consequences, that is authoritarian. I only bring this up because I suspect you are in support of these kinds of programs.

It is voluntarily formed at the top, but in practice labor is a required aspect of life in a capitalist society. If there are only 10 companies and only one will hire you, with no capital you have zero choice but to work for that company.

Labor is required by nature, not by capitalism.

I quote Frédéric Bastiat:

Man recoils from trouble, from suffering; and yet he is condemned by nature to the suffering of privation, if he does not take the trouble to work. He has to choose, then, between these two evils. What means can he adopt to avoid both? There remains now, and there will remain, only one way, which is, to enjoy the labor of others. Such a course of conduct prevents the trouble and the satisfaction from preserving their natural proportion, and causes all the trouble to become the lot of one set of persons, and all the satisfaction that of another. This is the origin of slavery and of plunder, whatever its form may be - whether that of wars, imposition, violence, restrictions, frauds, etc. - monstrous abuses, but consistent with the thought which has given them birth. Oppressors should be detested and resisted - they can hardly be called absurd.

Slavery is disappearing, thank heaven! and, on the other hand, our disposition to defend our property prevents direct and open plunder from being easy. One thing, however, remains - it is the original inclination which exists in all men to divide the lot of life into two parts, throwing the trouble upon others, and keeping the satisfaction for themselves. It remains to be shown under what new form this sad tendency is manifesting itself.

The oppressor no longer acts directly and with his own powers upon his victim. No, our conscience has become too sensitive for that. The tyrant and his victim are still present, but there is an intermediate person between them, which is the State - that is, the Law itself.

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#544

Earlier quoted context omitted.

During WWII, IBM supplied the Nazis with mainframe computers and were responsible for untold deaths in exchange for money. It's not that black and white.

That was in the early/mid 30s, not during WW2.

Not only is that not factually incorrect, it's pretty trivial to check before you comment. Why didn't you?

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#545

I don't work in a Silicon Valley tech company, so maybe my perspective is out of touch with what's going on in SV. But I thought it was generally understood that there were certain topics you really ought not to talk about at work including religion, politics, disclosing your salary, etc. Has this changed? Or am I misunderstanding something?

Ha, yes I would say things have changed to put it lightly.

The reason the CEO made this policy is because many people felt they were being pressured to be political at work which is the new norm .

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#546
post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see it the other way around. (Almost) everything is political. The mission of the company is not disjoint from the society it is embedded in. Things have become divisive by being able to ignore and blend out the opposing views. By not talking and listening to one another. This is just one more step in that direction. Funnily enough, I think it has been extrapolated by Neal Stephenson in Diamond Age. We will end up…

I certainly agree that the mission of a company can (and preferably) be more than just for profit. However, "to be political" is still a pretty wide range of possible missions. Who calls the shots about what you're going to be political about, and which side you take? And when a group of employees disagree with the shots being called, what kinds of reactions are appropriate or not? I'll take a shot: - I think compell…

> Employment and stock-options are not "fractions of board seats".

i agree that employment is not "fractions of board seats. But stock options (when converted to stock) holds voting power, and thus _do_ represent "factions of board seats". Very little amount, but an amount nonetheless.

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#547
post #308
post #82

I feel like this is the start of a rising tide. I think Brian's stance is great, companies have missions, they should focus on those missions. Everything has become so political that your work, which occupies a large portion of your life, should not be divisive.

Unfortunately I think politics is unavoidable in some (many?) businesses. A financial services company that deals with new currency instruments that aim to supplement or supplant fiat currency is going to be neck-deep in politics pretty often. Coinbase will have to make political decisions, and it's natural that people within the company will have differing opinions -- informed by their personal politics -- as to the…

Coinbase has already made political decisions by choosing to make political campaign donations[1].

[1] https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?...

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#548
post #541

Earlier quoted context omitted.

During WWII, IBM supplied the Nazis with mainframe computers and were responsible for untold deaths in exchange for money. It's not that black and white.

This argument is always brought up. But it's insincere, because you're just arguing that the nazies are bad, not that IBM was bad for helping the nazies. Because if you were, you should also argue that during WW2, any companies that helped the Allies should also befall the same criticism (that of being politically aligned rather than be neutral).

I really would love to grill you on this in real time because I suspect you're simply ignorant of IBM's involvement.

IBM helped with the holocaust. Actively. Past 1939.

IBM is bad for helping the nazis and for helping kill many people.

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#549
post #188
post #82

I feel like this is the start of a rising tide. I think Brian's stance is great, companies have missions, they should focus on those missions. Everything has become so political that your work, which occupies a large portion of your life, should not be divisive.

I see it the other way around. (Almost) everything is political. The mission of the company is not disjoint from the society it is embedded in. Things have become divisive by being able to ignore and blend out the opposing views. By not talking and listening to one another. This is just one more step in that direction. Funnily enough, I think it has been extrapolated by Neal Stephenson in Diamond Age. We will end up…

If I could separate myself from certain segments of our society and never have to deal with them ever again, I'd gladly do that. However I don't keep my fingers crossed. They are too dependent on my money to implement their policies, I doubt they will ever leave productive members alone

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#550
post #506

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do companies have an obligation to be democratic? Are democratic companies common? Protected classes aside, if I start a company I can choose to hire or exclude whomever I choose. I could start a company that only hires registered Republicans, or only people who can't stand the taste of bananas. If this turns out to be a bad business decision (which it probably is), the market will punish me and I'll eventually lose…

I actually find it quite curious that you’re not allowed to discriminate based on religion, but allowed to discriminate based on political views, throughout the West. One is a freely chosen personal belief, and the other is a freely chosen personal belief.

Actually, they’re different. People typically acquire one through indoctrination, and the other... Oh wait, you’re right.
Post reply on HN