I express some pretty controversial opinions on HN and a few other places where people even sometimes listen to aggressive criticism of the status quo, and it’s kind of part of the package deal that when you walk away from the big time over an objection of conscience, you’re probably pretty passionate about it. I’ve chosen to embrace some pretty contentious relationships with some of the most powerful people in the world because even a few years of living large at the expense (in my opinion) of the public welfare was making me physically ill. Those folks for the most part have chosen to hit back much harder with their much greater resources, but be very careful to make the more vulnerable party by far appear to be the aggressor. There are just limits to how much a guy who walked away from the FAANG pay can menace a C-suite executive or board member at a major corporation.
I try hard to leaven an attitude and articulation around this that depending on one’s taste starts at “passionate” and it’s not ridiculous to call it “strident” or maybe even “toxic” or something with acknowledging thoughtful, public-minded comments like yours at every opportunity.
I would like to acknowledge that you’re very articulate and clearly ethically-motivated remarks and attitude created an opportunity for me to be thoughtful and reasonable in spite of being very frustrated with the status quo, which is not an opportunity afforded on every thread for someone who is engaged in what amounts to some level of “civil disobedience”.
I think everything you’ve said is eminently reasonable, though even describing a position on these topics implies some different difficult dilemmas, many of which you pointed out.
I’d very much like to continue this conversation as it’s one of the most productive I’ve found on the Internet in recent memory, but arbitrarily nesting the thread without more expressed interest from the community is probably pushing it.
If you’d also like to kick the tires on some of these conundrums in a bit more detail, please email me at b7r6@b7r6.net and I will make an effort to reply promptly!
Either way, thank you for raising the bar on the conversation: you pulled my level of debate up, and I doubt I’m alone in that.
I try hard to leaven an attitude and articulation around this that depending on one’s taste starts at “passionate” and it’s not ridiculous to call it “strident” or maybe even “toxic” or something with acknowledging thoughtful, public-minded comments like yours at every opportunity.
I would like to acknowledge that you’re very articulate and clearly ethically-motivated remarks and attitude created an opportunity for me to be thoughtful and reasonable in spite of being very frustrated with the status quo, which is not an opportunity afforded on every thread for someone who is engaged in what amounts to some level of “civil disobedience”.
I think everything you’ve said is eminently reasonable, though even describing a position on these topics implies some different difficult dilemmas, many of which you pointed out.
I’d very much like to continue this conversation as it’s one of the most productive I’ve found on the Internet in recent memory, but arbitrarily nesting the thread without more expressed interest from the community is probably pushing it.
If you’d also like to kick the tires on some of these conundrums in a bit more detail, please email me at b7r6@b7r6.net and I will make an effort to reply promptly!
Either way, thank you for raising the bar on the conversation: you pulled my level of debate up, and I doubt I’m alone in that.