ajamesm

There's no reason American men can't see this project as a success and an inspiration, instead of some kind of indictment on their gender or whatever.

Also, there is no such thing as farming, because the terrestrial carbon cycle is zero-sum

Maybe not IBM :o) I think they learned their lesson last time they sold tech to help doorkickers round up undesirables

Seconded! Loved this book.

Listen to what users are overwhelmingly saying: actually fix harassment/spam/bots. Fix the opaque, unaccountable useless support processes.

Twitter is fine for what it is, and all it needs to do is stay consistent, not suck, not burn money, not force opportunities

Run the Jewels just released their latest album entirely for free, and hit #1 in sales anyway, so

OK, somewhat less skeptical now. I'll read up on this. Thanks.

I wasn't interested in whether you're using them, I just want to know if you can define the term.

Or, if you'd care to share any interesting papers or resources related to the cryptography you've implemented!

Can you tell me what a homomorphism is?

Not for my own enlightenment, I just want to know if I should hold my breath for your eventual open-sourcing.

if you think communism is political, but capitalism isn't, you're an ideologue, full stop.

> McCarthyism was political, nothing to do with economics.

McCarthy hunted down communists (supposed and actual).

> The whole idea of capitalism is that people join together in free association to trade for mutual benefit. The responsibility ends there.

It appears to me that you are conflating 'socialism' with 'planned economy' and 'capitalism' with 'free market'.

If capitalism is not political because it's just a system of economic organization, then it's not political to dismantle capitalism and institute a socialist economy.

Economic systems are SO radically political that people used 'socialist' as a slur against Obama. McCarthyism. CIA overthrow of democratically-elected socialist governments. Not political?

Not to pick on Peter Thiel, but he's a convenient and recent example. He donated $1.25M to Trump. He wouldn't have had $1.25M to donate to Trump if people didn't earn that money for him. You can cast it as wishy-washy, indirect, etc. but at the end of the day that check cleared.

I don't think there's any neutrality in the process and we shouldn't pretend there is.

Participating in YC is assenting to American capitalism and working to enrich YC investors, which is a political act. Cooperating with Peter Thiel is a political act. Expanding the labor supply in markets with unions is a political act. Disrupting healthcare is a political act. Employment under H1B visas is political.

YC can admit [your candidate here] supporters and say 'we won't discriminate based upon your political affiliations or your vote' but they will absolutely discriminate against each other's political aims because of the political ramifications of the any work done by technologists.

In tandem with the gag order, though, there's the angle of entirely halting the work of government agencies.

'Virtue signaling' is a criticism of people who put social approval before productive work. Someone who 'virtue signals' isn't opposed to a cause, though they exploit it out of narcissism.

But in this case, the entire point of these EOs is that they are specifically crafted to interfere with gov't agencies, while appearing to cut through red tape. It's red meat for the base, but that's just a bonus.

The ACLU, in the past week, received as much $ in online donation as it has over the past six years.

Cash talks and bullshit walks. Tell me, if you're a free-market conservative, why YC or the ACLU should disregard such a resonating and clear message from the market.

seems like the meaning is shifting from "non-sacrificial action taken solely to signify virtue" with "any action taken in the name of virtues I don't embrace"

uh, going outside? I thought that was a 'sky is blue' level of common knowledge.

Yes. That's because Uber ISN'T a neutral platform for ride sharing, it's a taxi service with employees.

What 'Godwin' himself had to say: https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/12/14/...

  First, let me get this Donald Trump issue out of the way: If you’re thoughtful about it and show some real awareness of history, go ahead and refer to Hitler or Nazis when you talk about Trump. Or any other politician.

The Holocaust wasn't a sudden event. It was preceded by a steady breakdown of protections and social norms -- see Night and Fog laws, Kristallnacht, etc. There's a lot of history before it came down to concentration camps, and it started with things like attacking the press and clamping down on visas.

Yup, that's the short-term drawback. You correctly identified it. Now, contrast it with the long-term drawbacks of not organizing at all.

You know, you can participate in these protests and help steer their direction. It's not like planning committees get together and grep HN comments; you gotta show up.

If you're "turned off" by how activism is going, Free Market Libertarian, you should put your money where your mouth is and present a more workable alternative.

Hoffa is directly collaborating with Trump. You can see for yourself how the left is reacting to union organizers pulling for right-wingers.

(In this case, they dislike Hoffa's collaboration, but nobody started calling for the dissolution of unions.)

How does it feel, knowing people with the mentality of 6 year olds are doing more to affect change than you are?

I would expect Uber to ensure drivers are organized and informed about strikes and empowered to join them, if they were truly a neutral ride-sharing platform.

Really, they're just a business that employs people whom they don't want to classify as employees, and would sooner drown their riders in a lake than see them organize.

> The taxi drivers' strike was in poor taste anyway.

Most taxi drivers are immigrants and many are refugees, whose families are directly affected by this ban; I'm sure your own personal notion of good taste was far from their minds.

> When you start a startup, you get pushed off the side of a cliff with a bag of aerospace parts.

Here's a pain point for someone to solve: why the fuck does the VC process necessitate pushing unequipped people off cliffs?

Local and grassroots orgs! You can do a TON just by helping with the basics:

- Streamlining & securing data entry.

- Website maintenance, CMS configuration.

- Procurement & cost savings (helping people get cheap, reliable laptops)

- OPSEC (e.g. moving people to secure message)

- IT support

- and more! Show up and ask what they need.

I know that, personally, I can get caught up in feelings of guilt when I feel like I'm not doing enough. But there are things that you can do for free in 30 minutes as a knowledgeable software engineer; those things can save someone $5,000 or a week of their time. That's huge.

I'm not offering a moral judgment, or making a statement about the efficacy of those tactics. I'm saying it's nothing new.

(On a related note, there are some regulations around mass layoffs: https://www.doleta.gov/programs/factsht/warn.htm

American companies will run a series of layoffs JUST below the limit to avoid the reporting mandates! Kind of like structuring deposits of $9,999 to avoid the reporting requirement at $10k. Interesting.)

How many companies donate to super-PACs, the DNC, RNC, etc.?

In this case, the mechanism of political action is constricting the labor supply instead of giving cash to politicians.

It seems crazy for a company to force workers to join a protest, until you think about how they force workers to turn a profit and then donate to politicians that would happily oppress those same workers.

By choosing the right half to piss off.