Comment by michaelochurch | Hacker News Reader

Comment by michaelochurch | Hacker News Reader

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One kid getting dinner is obviously no big deal, there is however something percieved to be wrong with it being normal for the rich to buy access for their kids to business opportunities. You are probably right that it is massive overanalysis considering the subject

Correct. I don't think anyone here thinks Paul Graham is a bad man. I've never met him, but he seems like a good person who didn't intend to become a lightning rod. However, this was a dick move.

If they're going to give away spots at a YC dinner to teenagers-- and I think that's a good idea-- then they should give them to winners of a computing, math, or science competition. Or young people in the computing field who overcame some disadvantage.

This just proves that Silicon Valley has nothing left that can't be sold. Even the purr of a cat will eventually be metered and priced if these people can find a way.

Let's assume that most people in YCombinator are among the best and the brightest. Well, now the time of top talent is a just another resource to be sold off to rich, entitled Joffreys. Speaking for top talent here, I'm fucking offended.

> winners of a computing, math, or science competition

Because parental resources don't have extreme effects on these competitions as well? Or is it just an easy-to-propose feel-good alternative?

Sheesh. pg obviously foresaw negative reactions, but this entire thread is simply ridiculous. Please just step back and ask yourselves how your comments affect yourselves. Is it really healthy to view access to YC as some kind of golden ticket? The YC application must basically be a free-to-enter lottery! (I must be pretty foolish for not playing all these years.)

To the extent that silly valley is currently a bubble-fueled casino, complaining isn't going to put a stop to that, and dinner for a not-fully-formed teenager fulfilling their parents' expectations does little to augment that. And to the extent that there are still real companies being built on technological merit, some inspiration and accelerated social connections will do little to further disrupt that.

Because parental resources don't have extreme effects on these competitions as well? Or is it just an easy-to-propose feel-good alternative?

I took part in those competitions. There were plenty of winners from humble backgrounds and non-coastal regions. Plenty of years, the winner would be from some no-name town in the Midwest. Sure, being privileged helped, but there was real diversity, and most people with the talent had a chance.

Sheesh. pg obviously foresaw negative reactions, but this entire thread is simply ridiculous.

Does someone foreseeing negative reactions to something, and then doing it anyway, mean those negative reactions should not occur? If I steal something, I'm pretty sure I'll get negative reactions (social disapproval, risk of physical harm, jail time, etc.) because, as it were, it's actually the wrong thing to do. If I do it, I can't dismiss people's hatred for that action as somehow invalid by saying, "yeah, I knew that would piss you off." The fact that I knew beforehand that people would find the action offensive doesn't mitigate it's general wrongness.

I don't believe his actions are wrong. I do believe they piss people off.

You (and everyone else on this thread) can be pissed off. That doesn't change the fact that one lucky rich kid is going to learn quite a bit for an evening, or that a couple of lucky poor kids are going to be able to attend an elite pre-school that they wouldn't otherwise be able to go to. Just because you (well, "we", I ain't going either) aren't that lucky kid doesn't mean it's not a good thing.

It's quite possible for an act to be the right thing to do and still hated.

> the winner would be from some no-name town in the Midwest

Is that supposed to be the pinnacle of unprivilege? I'd bet the sheer majority of these winners had parents who had time to be very proactive in their education. Or is considering that privilege inconvenient for this conversation?

For negative reactions, you'll invariably get concern trolls who take issue just to feel like they're helping some plight (unless you're already pandering to concern trolls), so no, it's not the same type of expectation as "stealing". But my point there was only to contrast that expected noise with the overwhelming actual reaction.

Feel free to engage my main point - to the extent that YC/SV is still meritocratic, then this dinner is not a guaranteed acceptance to that meritocracy.. and to the extent that SV has become an insider network for flipping Instagrams, access to bubblicious capital is necessarily facilitated by social connections and fueling outrage toward a small time charitable event because it can be pigeonholed as a symptom is a great way to ignore the actual cause of the decay.

I agree with michaelochurch. I think this is less important that where the money will be spent than what kind of culture your are creating.

In my observation, here in India (I am from India) that a child born in a poor family remains poor for whole of his life . There are exceptions, but this is true for most of the cases. In my opinion, the reason behind is that the society and culture makes feel a child of poor family that he/she is poor in all aspect of life. This goes to un-conscious mind of children that they are poor and they never come out this thought when they grow up and even if they are very very talented.

Please do make such kind of culture where kids feel bad simply because their parent can't afford something for them. Please do not make kids feel that they belong to a poor family. I can see the current bid is $20K which is a big amount even for a middle class family.

I know that world is not perfect, but we can try making it better at least by not playing the money games in kids matter. If you think further, this kind of culture is a way to society where only children of rich people will get proper healthcare, education etc.

Even the purr of a cat will eventually be metered and priced if these people can find a way.

Hey, isn't that the Uber kittens thing?

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