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Paul Graham just posted a directly relevant blog today on the challenges of being a "moderate" in polarized times. http://paulgraham.com/mod.html http://paulgr

Paul Graham just posted a directly relevant blog today on the challenges of being a "moderate" in polarized times. http://paulgraham.com/mod.html http://paulgraham.com/mod.html

PaulDavisThe1st 7y ago
Interesting link, but this line is just absurd: "In the 20th century, a lot of very smart people were Marxists — just no one who was smart about the subjects Marxism involves." I have no idea what Graham was thinking, or if he was thinking at all, when he wrote this line. There have been hundreds, thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of people all around the world who easily crossed the threshold of "smart" in fields like economics, social policy, government, psychology, game theory and many more - and they were Marxists too.
- david927 7y ago
  I'll give Paul credit for trying to be a thinker in a time period where fewer make that effort. The problem that he faces is that he's an exemplar of the thinking of his location; he's the embodiment of the Silicon Valley mindset, which is both narrow and flawed. Like others in the valley, he has a habit of giving new labels to previously well-explored ideas and refusing to consider any economic model that isn't skewed towards the very wealthiest.
foolinaround 7y ago
the generalizations pg makes are too broad. > The defining quality of an ideologue, whether on the left or the right, is to acquire one's opinions in bulk. You don't get to pick and choose. Your opinions about taxation can be predicted from your opinions about same-sex marriage. Now,if a person were a conservative christian, them being a conservative would drive their position on taxation, while being christian would drive their position on gay marriage, however that alone would not make them an idealogue. I think the idealogue is one who has come to his position, without considering the opposite position, thereby discounting it completely.

Paul Graham just posted a directly relevant blog today on the challenges of being a "moderate" in polarized times. http://paulgraham.com/mod.html http://paulgraham.com/mod.html

PaulDavisThe1st 7y ago

Interesting link, but this line is just absurd: "In the 20th century, a lot of very smart people were Marxists — just no one who was smart about the subjects Marxism involves." I have no idea what Graham was thinking, or if he was thinking at all, when he wrote this line. There have been hundreds, thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of people all around the world who easily crossed the threshold of "smart" in fields like economics, social policy, government, psychology, game theory and many more - and they were Marxists too.

david927 7y ago
I'll give Paul credit for trying to be a thinker in a time period where fewer make that effort. The problem that he faces is that he's an exemplar of the thinking of his location; he's the embodiment of the Silicon Valley mindset, which is both narrow and flawed. Like others in the valley, he has a habit of giving new labels to previously well-explored ideas and refusing to consider any economic model that isn't skewed towards the very wealthiest.

foolinaround 7y ago

the generalizations pg makes are too broad. > The defining quality of an ideologue, whether on the left or the right, is to acquire one's opinions in bulk. You don't get to pick and choose. Your opinions about taxation can be predicted from your opinions about same-sex marriage. Now,if a person were a conservative christian, them being a conservative would drive their position on taxation, while being christian would drive their position on gay marriage, however that alone would not make them an idealogue. I think the idealogue is one who has come to his position, without considering the opposite position, thereby discounting it completely.