> India is a land of lawlessness and that's a reality.
It's a little more subtle : well connected people to whatever they want and get away with no consequences. People who dare to oppose these powerful people discover the true meaning of hell. It's true practically everywhere in the world including the US.
IMO for all the shit that social networks receive (for good reasons), one of the side effects is that it's a lot easier to share such gross violations of law an example of which are the above videos. In a way social networks give people power.
There is an implicit assumption in his definition of an introvert that is introvert == cut off from society. This is just plain wrong. An introvert is a a shy, reticent person and this does not imply that he is cut off from society or does not understand social interactions. I would argue that it's the exact opposite. Introverts understand social relationships and the "real world" very, very well. They just don't actively take part in social interactions much.
> The first is the idea that measurement of things like quality and success can be objective, perfect and fair. These are not objective facts, they are highly contextual and can be manipulated by power struggles, charisma, clever marketing, or outright fraud.
The article is concerned with startups with a very small team working on it. Measurement is easier than in large teams of people. I don't see OP disputing this directly. The question of power struggles, charisma etc does not arise in startups with a small team.
> A second critical assumption being posited in Graham’s essay is that one person’s direct contribution can be disentangled from that of others.
No, it's easier to have a better idea of what people in a small team contribute than in a large team.
> Although he never says this payoff is guaranteed, he doesn’t deny it either
First valid criticism.
> Here is the crux of Graham’s assumption that programmers are the real engine of the value chain. He ignores the fact that without the infrastructure and ancillary components of the business, it isn’t so easy to simply translate that new piece of software into pure profit.
That's exactly what small startups do, where the founders manage everything from code to sales to legal work (in the initial stages of a startup).
> Graham so desperately wants to justify his own wealth as the righteous product of his own personal labor without acknowledging the effects of either luck or power
Uncalled for personal attack, but yes, luck plays a major role.
> “Smallness = Measurement”. Here, he uses the analogy of the “ten best rowers” who, if you take them out of a large system and put them together with a shared goal, will necessarily be superior.
In comparison to large teams, measurement is easier in small teams. Team dynamics are still important, whether the team is small or large.
> It is amazing how well this piece serves as marketing fodder for Graham’s venture capital arm, Y Combinator.
Looking at it from a cynical perspective, yes. Nothing stops people from questioning or rejecting (or dismissing) his work publicly as lots of people on HN and twitter do.
> Libertarianism != Meritocracy
This section has some valid criticisms of libertarianism and PG's implicit bias towards it.
Facebook provides an option to download an archive of your data, you should have downloaded it before deleting your account. Apart from having all your data, it would have been the final nail in your Facebook coffin. To say the least, the data scared the f*ck out of me : they knew me better than any of my family or friends. The ad tracking data was...bang on target, they had facial recognition data, all the locations I signed in from. I sometimes joke that Fb knows more about people than the Government of the user. It's true!
Genuine question : do you think a privacy oriented social network where users pay a small annual fee (around $5) would work? Think Whatsapp (use phone number as an id, no native discovery, only connect through phone contacts, encrypted user data only to prevent database leaks from causing damage) + Facebook (feed like feature, share photos, videos, direct messaging, group messaging). No user tracking, no ads, just a no bullshit social network where the average Joe would feel right at home and also one which the HN crowd would use, assuming social networks have a place in their lives.
The only productive use of Facebook is to keep in touch with people. If you do this using alternative methods (Whatsapp, email or direct phone calls) then you save yourself from the continuous stream of garbage that is the news feed.
If a story was posted earlier and got significant attention (comments and upvotes) and the same story is posted again, it would be considered a duplicate or [dupe] the second time around. The timeframe to repost a story that got significant attention is one year i.e you can repost a story one year after it got significant attention and it won't be considered a dupe.
> It's very disappointing to see the level of vitriol directed towards people who are just trying to build a better life in this country, especially here on HN.
This line along with the rest of the comment is completely written out of context. I have no idea how your reply is relevant.
I get the impression that this new bill is like putting lipstick on a pig which is the current system. I was hoping the amendments to the H1-B bill would be one of the silver linings of a Trump presidency, but I guess not anymore.
The way Signal handles key changes is a not very user friendly for non-tech users. When the user's key changes, Signal does not automatically resend dropped messages like Whatsapp does. Curious whether the Signal users in the Government are aware of this.
Something very similar happens in the movie The Recruit. Must watch for hackers.
I hope the authorities don't go after him for making this public though.
I don't know what it would take for Governments around the world to acknowledge the importance of encryption and anonymity tools. Access to private data cuts both ways, if the Government can do it so can the black hats. Maybe a large scale hack of Government networks devastating the economy will bring them to their senses.
Given the allegations of Russia's involvement in the recent election, whether true or not, I was expecting Governments around the world to think deeply about cyber security issues. Looks like that won't happen anytime soon.
That is dumbing HN down a lot. This community is much more than that: hackers share cool articles, have vibrant discussions and the comments section is probably the least toxic of all comments sections. YC related posts are very popular and YC itself is promoted heavily, but the community is much more than just YC.
The term "free software" is used rather ambiguously in the article. The free software that is referred to in the article is free as in beer. The more commonly used meaning of the word (among hackers) implies free as in freedom. If you want to learn more refer here https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html
> India is a land of lawlessness and that's a reality.
It's a little more subtle : well connected people to whatever they want and get away with no consequences. People who dare to oppose these powerful people discover the true meaning of hell. It's true practically everywhere in the world including the US.
IMO for all the shit that social networks receive (for good reasons), one of the side effects is that it's a lot easier to share such gross violations of law an example of which are the above videos. In a way social networks give people power.