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Yes, the US has a messed up healthcare system. It's terrible, but it's not something that tech can fix. It's a political problem, so this is politics and is dis

Yes, the US has a messed up healthcare system. It's terrible, but it's not something that tech can fix. It's a political problem, so this is politics and is disappointing to see politics at top of HN.

bilbo0s 7y ago
>so this is politics and is disappointing to see politics at top of HN.. Huh? There's always politics at the top of HN.
Retra 7y ago
Political problems are mostly communication problems, and communication is tech.
- jsloss 7y ago
  Can you expand on your point? Because it makes no sense to me.
  - inflatableDodo 7y ago
    Not OP, but if you put on an exclusively technical hat, nearly everything boils down into some combination of energy, manufacture and telecoms.
  - Retra 7y ago
    Political problems are generally solved by organizing, evaluating, and disseminating information. All of which are technical problems. In fact that's how all problems are solved, and every problem can be political under the right circumstance.
  - deadbunny 7y ago
    If all you have is a hammer then everything looks like a nail.
    - Retra 7y ago
      What if all you have is a human brain?
  - RandomBacon 7y ago
    While one facet of politics is about control/power, another major facet of politics is just about public service and people wanting the same outcome, but disagreeing how to get there. With communication, both sides of an issue can find a solution that they both agree on to reach the same outcome.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
dkersten 7y ago
HN isn't a tech-only place. There's plenty of politics, business & investment (with an emphasis on startups for obvious reasons) and other non-tech topics here all the time.
- Sahhaese 7y ago
  From the news guidlines: > Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. I'd like to hear you out if feel this is a new or interesting phenomenon.
  - dkersten 7y ago
    And yet there are political posts (as well as the other things I mentioned) all the time and they rarely get downvoted to oblivion or flagged. shrug, I personally have very little interest in politics, so I'm with you on this, but the fact is that, against the guidelines or not, these posts happen all the time, get upvoted and generate lots of discussion (and in this particular case, I found nthompson's comment interesting enough that it was worth checking the comments) Besides, the guidelines also say "Please don't complain that a submission is inappropriate."
    - viraptor 7y ago
      > And yet there are political posts (as well as the other things I mentioned) all the time and they rarely get downvoted to oblivion or flagged. Survivor bias. You can't downvote an article, but there's lots of them that reach high comment/vote radio or get flagged and you never see them.
    - rectang 7y ago
      Direct partisan advocacy gets rejected swiftly. It's possible to have an interesting discussion on issues that have a political side, like health care, if you can live within the constraint of avoiding excessive partisanship and focus on the more abstract problem. Health care pricing is actually a great example and I've learned a lot from discussions of it on HN.
crehn 7y ago
HN isn't only about tech.
maxxxxx 7y ago
A lot of people here try solve problems by starting companies or creating technology. So instead of solving the "problem" of serving more ads like a lot of the best tech people do at Google and Facebook I am happy that the people here care about this very real problem and hopefully some of us will do something about it.
josefresco 7y ago
This again? Why doesn't anyone read the guidelines, or see the 1 million other posters who ask this same question, only to be corrected and sent a link to ... the guidelines! https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Maybe I'm old and grumpy, or maybe I've been on HN too long but this comes up waay to often. /rant
- detaro 7y ago
  The poster had addressed that already: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19797003 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19797003
  - josefresco 7y ago
    "already"... their post came after mine. rolls eyes
    - detaro 7y ago
      Their post has id 19797003, yours 19797206. When I posted theirs was "5 hour ago", yours "4 hours ago".
      - josefresco 7y ago
        I hear you, but I can also guarantee you that comment was not there when I made mine. There was the parent comment, and maybe 4-5 replies, no nested replies at all. Even if it was, my point stands. Offtopic? Politics? Downvote - no need to comment and derail the conversation. Hilarious that you tracked that down, that's perfectly demonstrative of what I love and hate about sites like this. It's been fun arguing with you Internet stranger!

bilbo0s 7y ago

>so this is politics and is disappointing to see politics at top of HN.. Huh? There's always politics at the top of HN.

Retra 7y ago

Political problems are mostly communication problems, and communication is tech.

jsloss 7y ago
Can you expand on your point? Because it makes no sense to me.
- inflatableDodo 7y ago
  Not OP, but if you put on an exclusively technical hat, nearly everything boils down into some combination of energy, manufacture and telecoms.
- Retra 7y ago
  Political problems are generally solved by organizing, evaluating, and disseminating information. All of which are technical problems. In fact that's how all problems are solved, and every problem can be political under the right circumstance.
- deadbunny 7y ago
  If all you have is a hammer then everything looks like a nail.
  - Retra 7y ago
    What if all you have is a human brain?
- RandomBacon 7y ago
  While one facet of politics is about control/power, another major facet of politics is just about public service and people wanting the same outcome, but disagreeing how to get there. With communication, both sides of an issue can find a solution that they both agree on to reach the same outcome.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

dkersten 7y ago

HN isn't a tech-only place. There's plenty of politics, business & investment (with an emphasis on startups for obvious reasons) and other non-tech topics here all the time.

Sahhaese 7y ago
From the news guidlines: > Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. I'd like to hear you out if feel this is a new or interesting phenomenon.
- dkersten 7y ago
  And yet there are political posts (as well as the other things I mentioned) all the time and they rarely get downvoted to oblivion or flagged. shrug, I personally have very little interest in politics, so I'm with you on this, but the fact is that, against the guidelines or not, these posts happen all the time, get upvoted and generate lots of discussion (and in this particular case, I found nthompson's comment interesting enough that it was worth checking the comments) Besides, the guidelines also say "Please don't complain that a submission is inappropriate."
  - viraptor 7y ago
    > And yet there are political posts (as well as the other things I mentioned) all the time and they rarely get downvoted to oblivion or flagged. Survivor bias. You can't downvote an article, but there's lots of them that reach high comment/vote radio or get flagged and you never see them.
  - rectang 7y ago
    Direct partisan advocacy gets rejected swiftly. It's possible to have an interesting discussion on issues that have a political side, like health care, if you can live within the constraint of avoiding excessive partisanship and focus on the more abstract problem. Health care pricing is actually a great example and I've learned a lot from discussions of it on HN.

crehn 7y ago

HN isn't only about tech.

maxxxxx 7y ago

A lot of people here try solve problems by starting companies or creating technology. So instead of solving the "problem" of serving more ads like a lot of the best tech people do at Google and Facebook I am happy that the people here care about this very real problem and hopefully some of us will do something about it.

josefresco 7y ago

This again? Why doesn't anyone read the guidelines, or see the 1 million other posters who ask this same question, only to be corrected and sent a link to ... the guidelines! https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Maybe I'm old and grumpy, or maybe I've been on HN too long but this comes up waay to often. /rant

detaro 7y ago
The poster had addressed that already: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19797003 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19797003
- josefresco 7y ago
  "already"... their post came after mine. rolls eyes
  - detaro 7y ago
    Their post has id 19797003, yours 19797206. When I posted theirs was "5 hour ago", yours "4 hours ago".
    - josefresco 7y ago
      I hear you, but I can also guarantee you that comment was not there when I made mine. There was the parent comment, and maybe 4-5 replies, no nested replies at all. Even if it was, my point stands. Offtopic? Politics? Downvote - no need to comment and derail the conversation. Hilarious that you tracked that down, that's perfectly demonstrative of what I love and hate about sites like this. It's been fun arguing with you Internet stranger!