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I don't disagree with this, but what I don't understand is the nationalist outrage. Suppose a professor slacked off on their job by taking a long vacation in F

by knzhou 7y ago

I don't disagree with this, but what I don't understand is the nationalist outrage. Suppose a professor slacked off on their job by taking a long vacation in France. That would be wrong and deserving of punishment -- but it wouldn't have set off panic over him "selling out" the country. Yet that is what is happening.

bdcravens 7y ago
I don't think it's "nationalist outrage". The outrage is over violating the rules, as many developers and scientists on HN have done work for the government, and followed the rules. I believe you are seeing a connection (given US government and US commenters) that simply isn't there. Correlation doesn't equal causation; that's a first rule of science.
- auggierose 7y ago
  Sometimes correlation implies causation though: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B077YGFJ8N/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B077YGFJ8N/ref=dp-kindle-redirec...
mturmon 7y ago
It's also good to suspend judgement until the case works its way through the courts. The Wen Ho Lee case is a point of reference here - he was accused of the worst kind of espionage and "convicted" after leaks in the NYT - but then the case dissolved and Lee got a big settlement.
nl 7y ago
Can you link to some comments showing this nationalist outrage? All I see is people going "he was dumb to lie about it".
- yorwba 7y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22177621 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22177621 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22176877 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22176877 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22176830 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22176830 Of course I found them at the bottom where they belong, so I think knzhou is misreading the prevailing sentiment.
  - nl 7y ago
    They are all pretty low-value comments, but only one of them seems to be a nationalist criticism (or two if you count "paid millions to to assist a foreign government - which I think is political but barely nationalist).

by knzhou 7y ago

bdcravens 7y ago

I don't think it's "nationalist outrage". The outrage is over violating the rules, as many developers and scientists on HN have done work for the government, and followed the rules. I believe you are seeing a connection (given US government and US commenters) that simply isn't there. Correlation doesn't equal causation; that's a first rule of science.

auggierose 7y ago
Sometimes correlation implies causation though: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B077YGFJ8N/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B077YGFJ8N/ref=dp-kindle-redirec...

mturmon 7y ago

It's also good to suspend judgement until the case works its way through the courts. The Wen Ho Lee case is a point of reference here - he was accused of the worst kind of espionage and "convicted" after leaks in the NYT - but then the case dissolved and Lee got a big settlement.

nl 7y ago

Can you link to some comments showing this nationalist outrage? All I see is people going "he was dumb to lie about it".

yorwba 7y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22177621 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22177621 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22176877 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22176877 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22176830 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22176830 Of course I found them at the bottom where they belong, so I think knzhou is misreading the prevailing sentiment.
- nl 7y ago
  They are all pretty low-value comments, but only one of them seems to be a nationalist criticism (or two if you count "paid millions to to assist a foreign government - which I think is political but barely nationalist).