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Before people ask why this is relevant to Hacker News: he's a great example of how academics, scientists, and even technologists can have effects outside their
by neilk 10y ago
Before people ask why this is relevant to Hacker News: he's a great example of how academics, scientists, and even technologists can have effects outside their field of inquiry. For a mix of reasons, hackers are both securely employable and cultural heroes right now. We may not be Einstein, but there are things we can do.
http://www.livescience.com/50051-albert-einstein-civil-rights.html http://www.livescience.com/50051-albert-einstein-civil-right...
- allendoerfer 10y agoAlso: Einstein.
- chris_wot 10y agoYeah, but I'd still love to see Martin Luther King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" on HN a bit more often: https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham....
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- empath75 10y agoI think not only can we do things, but we are obligated to. Cheering on from the sidelines or even worse offering platitudes like "I support your goals but not your methods" while offering no help or alternatives isn't really helping. If you support change, the do something about it. Call your local officials or congressmen. Donate money to political action committees. If you make peaceful change impossible, then violent change becomes inevitable. We might feel safe today while we're sipping lattes in our gentrified neighborhoods and tisk tisk on Reddit and hacker news, but that safety might be illusory. The wave is coming. You can either help guide it safely to shore or get drowned by it.
- towlejunior 10y agoI will offer that platitude over and over again, Einstein's wonderful definition of insanity be damned. If I could end bigotry tomorrow, I would, but what I won't do under any circumstances is ally myself with people who cry racism at the drop of a hat. They do more harm than good. Call your congressman? Talk about a platitude.
- TruthAndDare 10y agoWhat issue are you talking about? Surely not the same as Einstein, right?