6 ms·

Ask HN: Are their any politicians that know anything about technology?

3 points by jppope 8y ago

I've been reading a lot of articles recently that plain scare me... Figured I would ask if anyone knows of any politicians or candidates with even the slightest understanding of technology?

neuroticfish 8y ago
Andrew Yang understands the fact that we're heading towards ubiquitous automation.
- jppope 8y ago
  Fair enough, but many people believe that without understanding the underlying drivers...
elamje 8y ago
I believe there’s a congressman in Kentucky that is an MIT grad and tech entrepreneur. Edit: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Massie https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Massie
- overcode 8y ago
  A libertarian republican from Kentucky... while your answer might be technically correct, I really don't think that this is the rare gem of a politician that OP is looking for.
  - jppope 8y ago
    I'm actually okay with just knowing who is competent enough to make decisions. I'm super worried (I think correctly that our leadership isn't capable of understanding some of the complex issues that our society is about to face) Like this guy as a judge: https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/19/16503076/oracle-vs-google-judge-william-alsup-interview-waymo-uber https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/19/16503076/oracle-vs-googl...
    - overcode 8y ago
      Someone's education or knowledge of technology is a bad indicator of how competent they would be in decision making.
      - jppope 8y ago
        I'm not using that as a proxy for ALL decision making. I'm representing that making decisions that concern technology would be better performed by people that understand technology. Implicitly our political class might not be good with tech because they are not digital natives, from which one could infer that decisions on topics such as artificial intelligence, or biotechnology might be difficult. I was hoping for counter examples. Article https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/8/7/16105120/politicians-elderly-death-disability-mccain-supreme-court https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/8/7/16105120/politicia...
        overcode 8y ago
        I understand where you coming from but I don't think that a politician's apparent knowledge about a subject is a good indicator of how good their decisions regarding this subject will be.
  - elamje 8y ago
    Don’t think being in a particular party disqualifies you from knowing tech. Pretty sure the guy ran in the spot he would have the best chance of winning, not the place he prefers as many politicians do this.
    - overcode 8y ago
      Of course it doesn't. My point is that even if you have knowledge about technology/science, that's completely irrelevant when you then go on to support and represent people who actively ignore science/expertise and have no concept of evidence based decision making.
- jppope 8y ago
  That is a solid find!
chatmasta 8y ago
Beto O'Rourke, a Democratic candidate for the 2020 US Presidential election, was a member of "America's oldest hacking group." [0] https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-politics-beto-orourke/ https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-poli...
- jppope 8y ago
  If I remember correctly Beto's involvement with the Cult of the Dead Cow was mainly from an essayist standpoint. Less from the technical perspective. I could be wrong
twunde 8y ago
If you're interested in the systematic reasons why congress as a whole is not tech savvy, you should probably skim through the Congressional Research Service's profile of Congress: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44762.pdf https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44762.pdf Among the tidbits: - the average age of Reps in 2018 was 57.8 years and senators was 61.8 years - 167 Members of the House (37.8% of the House) and 55 Senators (55% of the Senate) hold law degrees - There are 6 software company executives in the House and 2 in the Senate In direct response to the original question Ron Wyden of Oregon pops up a fair amount in tech and tech-related questions.
jppope 8y ago
The Current list: - Ron Wyden - Thomas Massie - Beto O'Rourke
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

3 points by jppope 8y ago

I've been reading a lot of articles recently that plain scare me... Figured I would ask if anyone knows of any politicians or candidates with even the slightest understanding of technology?

neuroticfish 8y ago

Andrew Yang understands the fact that we're heading towards ubiquitous automation.

jppope 8y ago
Fair enough, but many people believe that without understanding the underlying drivers...

elamje 8y ago

I believe there’s a congressman in Kentucky that is an MIT grad and tech entrepreneur. Edit: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Massie https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Massie

overcode 8y ago
A libertarian republican from Kentucky... while your answer might be technically correct, I really don't think that this is the rare gem of a politician that OP is looking for.
- jppope 8y ago
  I'm actually okay with just knowing who is competent enough to make decisions. I'm super worried (I think correctly that our leadership isn't capable of understanding some of the complex issues that our society is about to face) Like this guy as a judge: https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/19/16503076/oracle-vs-google-judge-william-alsup-interview-waymo-uber https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/19/16503076/oracle-vs-googl...
  - overcode 8y ago
    Someone's education or knowledge of technology is a bad indicator of how competent they would be in decision making.
    - jppope 8y ago
      I'm not using that as a proxy for ALL decision making. I'm representing that making decisions that concern technology would be better performed by people that understand technology. Implicitly our political class might not be good with tech because they are not digital natives, from which one could infer that decisions on topics such as artificial intelligence, or biotechnology might be difficult. I was hoping for counter examples. Article https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/8/7/16105120/politicians-elderly-death-disability-mccain-supreme-court https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/8/7/16105120/politicia...
      - overcode 8y ago
        I understand where you coming from but I don't think that a politician's apparent knowledge about a subject is a good indicator of how good their decisions regarding this subject will be.
- elamje 8y ago
  Don’t think being in a particular party disqualifies you from knowing tech. Pretty sure the guy ran in the spot he would have the best chance of winning, not the place he prefers as many politicians do this.
  - overcode 8y ago
    Of course it doesn't. My point is that even if you have knowledge about technology/science, that's completely irrelevant when you then go on to support and represent people who actively ignore science/expertise and have no concept of evidence based decision making.
jppope 8y ago
That is a solid find!

chatmasta 8y ago

Beto O'Rourke, a Democratic candidate for the 2020 US Presidential election, was a member of "America's oldest hacking group." [0] https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-politics-beto-orourke/ https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-poli...

jppope 8y ago
If I remember correctly Beto's involvement with the Cult of the Dead Cow was mainly from an essayist standpoint. Less from the technical perspective. I could be wrong

twunde 8y ago

If you're interested in the systematic reasons why congress as a whole is not tech savvy, you should probably skim through the Congressional Research Service's profile of Congress: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44762.pdf https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44762.pdf Among the tidbits: - the average age of Reps in 2018 was 57.8 years and senators was 61.8 years - 167 Members of the House (37.8% of the House) and 55 Senators (55% of the Senate) hold law degrees - There are 6 software company executives in the House and 2 in the Senate In direct response to the original question Ron Wyden of Oregon pops up a fair amount in tech and tech-related questions.

jppope 8y ago

The Current list: - Ron Wyden - Thomas Massie - Beto O'Rourke

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]