crassus

Allegations of "Victim blaming" are a classic tactic to shut down discussion by implying that anyone who steps out of the appropriate mental box will be deemed an accomplice.

Probably a positive environmental effect masking decline in genetic potential IQ, which there is evidence for: http://www.xenosystems.net/dysgenic-reactions/

Basic income is a potentially unlimited liability without any government control over fertility. If the needs of the portion of the population that are net consumers grow quicker than the surplus from net producers, an economic apocalypse happens sooner or later.

In a world of dysgenic fertility, this is guaranteed[1].

[1] http://charltonteaching.blogspot.com/2014/06/dysgenics-is-mo...

Every US Government department operates on a shoestring budget, if you listen to them. It's amazing that they can keep the lights on.

Empathy is easy. Building something worth a damn is hard, and incredibly rare in human history.

Moreover, calling it "luck" discourages others from adopting these repeatably beneficial habits and ideas for pulling a family out of poverty.

How could I make sure my offspring have a better life than I did? If my only option is "luck", then why bother trying?

I know that people will make political hay of this, but there is danger to managing to quarterly statistics. If your economy needs some adjustments to achieve long-run sustainability then it's possible that GDP may fall for a quarter or two and there's nothing wrong with that.

GDP is a great metric for long-term or inter-national comparison. It's terrible as a quarterly national management metric.

The crazy thing is that people go through this experience and want to do it again. A failed startup leaves you burned out, emotionally wrecked, and financially crippled. Why take another ride on that roller coaster? Pride? Status? Money?

That's because our culture is sick. Generalizations about gender has been the main stuff of art, literature, and personal correspondence for 500 years - only now are they offensive.

I'd recommend the author substitute it with "let down", even though it doesn't as accurately describe how she likely feels.

I find it refreshing that we got this level of truth and detail from a startup post-mortem. The price for that transparency is selective opacity in a few still-sensitive areas. I get the deal.

The time is ripe for theogenesis. Who says you politics and religion can't be startups?

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the South Bay is the worst area I've lived in America for meeting people, especially ladies.

Yep! I think you are referring to the SAT data. Fortunately, we have data to test our beliefs: http://isteve.blogspot.com/2014/03/2008-sat-scores-by-race-b...

It's racist in the same ways that SAT, IQ, and PISA tests are racist - Asians and whites do better than other groups.

You can have an admissions test that is meritocratic or one that fits your preferred racial demographics, but not both. Because no two demographic groups are exactly equal.

When I think of feminists, I think of such leading lights of the movement as Adria Richards and Shanely:

https://twitter.com/shanley/status/460472595968569345

Feminists are radical activists, feminism is not about equality, and although everybody deserves respect and consideration as an individual, men and women are not equal and no amount of belief will change that scientific fact.

Democracy killed Jesus and Socrates

Progressivism is a low-evidence ideology, but a high status one due to its dominance of universities. From its high ground in academia, it is also invading tech. But yeah, it's mostly wrong.

We've accepted a value system in the west that more males in a field == bad, unless that field is physically dangerous or otherwise undesirable. So the sex composition of things is noticed and considered important.

However, note that every frontier field is male-skewed, probably due to lower male risk-aversion. So this philosophy is anti-innovation.

This is rich coming from a city with more dingy rent-by-hour flophouses than any other I've ever seen

There needs to be a Godwin's corollary for invoking racism about discussion of issues not involving racism at all. If you can't reason about a political issue without comparing your opponents to Hitler or slave owners, then you probably have a terrible opinion.

This is a "leftist singularity", when the least revolutionary half of the population is purged, and then the least revolutionary half of the purgers is purged, ad infinitum. It ends when the most righteous leftist kills the second most righteous leftist, or outside events intervene.

For examples, see French and Communist revolutions.

This is exactly how opinion worked in East Germany. You didn't have to be a communist, but if you weren't you would never work again.

We have the exact same protection for political expression as East Germany. That's freedom? "The Lives of Others" was a warning, not an instruction manual.

Depending on your point of view, legal abortion is either part of a fundamental right for a woman to control her own body or an unprecedented holocaust. Should you have to pick the "right" choice in order to be employed in the tech industry?

The tech community needs to rewatch "The Lives of Others". Making ideological purity a precondition to employment is fucking terrifying. I'm terrified.

This is how East Germany worked. You weren't usually harmed for holding non-communist beliefs, but you were blacklisted so that you would never work again.

You can turn any political belief into "someone's rights". There are people who believe abortion is a woman's right, and others that believe legal abortion is an unprecedented holocaust. I believe we should be able to work together and respect each other while we work that out.

This is enforcing an ideological litmus test on the industry, policing people's internal beliefs. It is terrifying.

Interesting, Silicon Valley has been called a reprise of Renaissance Florence, and that was male dominated as well.

Because progress means making girls do boy things