Free markets are effective but need regulation at some point to prevent them becoming abusive monopolies. The EU collectively represents the interests of its citizens and is telling large media that if they wish to make money off EU customers then they should at least buy some local produce.
Why stop with Jobs and Musk? What about Einstein and Newton? These people are driving our race forward with momentous achievements and the author is picking at their character flaws?
Sorry but this article just seems like petty feminism looking for an axe to grind. Glance over the author’s other posts.
I was originally accepted and then got the second mail about the mistake and it being opened up.
This may sound sour but it’s just some honest feedback, even if it’s bitter to swallow. For an accelerator that prides itself on grooming some of the world’s best in technology this is a trivially amateur mistake that just shouldn’t have happened. There should have been a double check process for the notifications. Any other company would have been lynched on HN.
Saying you’re opening it up is a popular response but talk is cheap. It’s easy to make it sound like it’s a better thing but the reality is it’s a devalued experience for those originally chosen. Both in terms of advisor bandwidth and the quality signalling of being selected. Any company who partakes in this course is now not considered special at all. YC took the easy road and sold out a pound of their credibility for that but that’s their prerogative.
So I won’t be participating because of this as time is precious and it’s no longer worth it for where I’m at but good luck to the others who still do. Respect to everyone who breaks out of the conventional lanes to try and make the world a better and more exciting place.
This looks like another case of a spec/technology that is searching for a problem to solve. The first three bullet points are mere 'first world problems'.
Hate speech and harassment on social networks can be addressed by regulators placing responsibility on social networks. Most regulation (e.g. GDPR) does guide behaviour of corporates. Yes, some of them subvert it but that doesn't mean the system is critically flawed. It's then just a case of increasing independence of the regulators and stronger enforcement. The remaining issues can be addressed through various existing political levers, look at how the EU squashed ridiculous cellular roaming rates between EU countries.
Decentralisation of networks just seems like another idealistic distraction of human intellect (like cryptocurrencies) but that's just my own opinion.