5 ms·

I knew before even reading that the senator would be Ron Wyden. He's a treasure and the most tech-literate politician I know of. Oregon is lucky to have him, an

I knew before even reading that the senator would be Ron Wyden. He's a treasure and the most tech-literate politician I know of. Oregon is lucky to have him, and we could use a lot more like him.

nickysielicki 5y ago
Respectfully, the most tech-literate politician is without a doubt Thomas Massie, who went to MIT for both his undergrad in electrical engineering and his masters in mechanical engineering, who formed a decently successful startup working on novel computer input mechanisms. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Massie#Early_life,_education,_and_business_career https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Massie#Early_life,_educ...
- totalZero 5y ago
  Thomas Massie is an example of what I like to call the "tetazoo paradox": As a person gets more adept regarding technology, their capacity to communicate with laypeople about technology diminishes. The best advocates for tech literacy are not the most tech-literate, but rather the ones in the middle ground who are smart enough to understand the technology and patient enough to communicate about it with laypeople who are a few eureka moments behind. We occasionally find wonderful people like Richard Feynman who can sidestep this inverse relationship, but not frequently.
- ssklash 5y ago
  Fair enough. I think it would be more accurate to say that Wyden is the most vocal and effective when it comes to tech-related issues.
- verall 5y ago
  And yet he is publicly against Net Neutrality and doesn't believe in climate change. Tribal affiliation takes priority over technical ability I guess.
  - adventured 5y ago
    Political affiliation doesn't have to be the factor there at all. He can also think you're wrong about those topics - in the counter positions to his views - and he can believe his argument is strong and well supported, superior to the arguments on the other side. I've met a lot of very smart people in my lifetime that are wrong about all sorts of prominent topics, despite being well-read on the topics in question. Pick nearly any subject and you can bet there are smart people on both sides that will disagree, and some of them will bring very potent arguments to the table even when they're wrong.
  - vxNsr 5y ago
    And yet: Massie operates a cattle farm in Garrison, Kentucky, with his wife, Rhonda, and their four children.[153][154] They live in a solar-powered home that Massie built himself.[155][156] He is a Methodist.[157]
  - someguydave 5y ago
    your tribe or his tribe?
    - Apocryphon 5y ago
      > On April 10, 2019, Massie got in a tense exchange with former Secretary of State John Kerry during Kerry's testimony to the House Oversight and Reform Committee when Massie called Kerry's political science degree from Yale University a "pseudoscience degree" and called Kerry's position on climate change "pseudoscience." Kerry responded, "Are you serious? I mean this is really a serious happening here?"
- dzonga 5y ago
  reminds me of the politicians in my native country. very well educated either lawyers, engineers or doctors. but idiots and corrupt. I would rather have a non degreed non corrupt politician.
  - seniorivn 5y ago
    that's a horrible choice to make, an honest idiot with great power might bring a disaster without even knowing it. I would prefer a highly competitive political system with all sorts of different people as politicians, that has little to none power to affect real people's lives without consent
  - saiya-jin 5y ago
    There is some common perception that an educated person is automatically a moral person. I can see why on average it could increase chances a bit, but my life experience contradicts this quite a bit. Upbringing, general environment and society, the rewards morality brings bear make much bigger impact. I would say even traveling the world, especially the not-so-nice parts and meeting poor ie via backpacking, has much bigger effect on personality than education. Just one example out of many - last weekend had long conversation with very successful and very smart urology surgeon here in Switzerland, where he repeatedly stated how covid is great and godsend and mankind should be culled, too bad that not more are dying from it etc. The same person who in his early 30s is quite a bit overweight, has type 3 diabetes, can't handle physical effort, passed to his kid some genetic abnormality and if he got covid he would probably have some serious issues. I couldn't change his opinion a nanometer. A doctor. Needless to say my faith in humanity decreased a bit on that evening. That and everybody has a price. Or almost everybody. Definitely those that manage to get to top politics and remain there for decades, it ain't for average joe and nice honest folks in any way.
- tclancy 5y ago
  Actions speak louder than CVs. That reads like an argument from authority.
- kelnos 5y ago
  And yet, he's a climate-change denier who wants the EPA disbanded, seemed to downplay the seriousness of COVID-19, and voted against human-rights bills relating to Hong Kong and China. I guess "tech-literate" isn't really worth that much as a label.
jasonwatkinspdx 5y ago
He's one of the very few politicians I support with little to no reservations about him getting stuff really wrong. We are indeed extremely proud to have him. I know enough people wired into local politics that if he had some huge hidden dark side, it'd be out there. He really is pretty much what he puts out there.
UncleOxidant 5y ago
As an Oregonian I also strongly suspected that it was Ron Wyden prior to opening the article. Oregon is fortunate to have two good Senators (Wyden and Merkley).

I knew before even reading that the senator would be Ron Wyden. He's a treasure and the most tech-literate politician I know of. Oregon is lucky to have him, and we could use a lot more like him.

nickysielicki 5y ago

Respectfully, the most tech-literate politician is without a doubt Thomas Massie, who went to MIT for both his undergrad in electrical engineering and his masters in mechanical engineering, who formed a decently successful startup working on novel computer input mechanisms. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Massie#Early_life,_education,_and_business_career https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Massie#Early_life,_educ...

totalZero 5y ago
Thomas Massie is an example of what I like to call the "tetazoo paradox": As a person gets more adept regarding technology, their capacity to communicate with laypeople about technology diminishes. The best advocates for tech literacy are not the most tech-literate, but rather the ones in the middle ground who are smart enough to understand the technology and patient enough to communicate about it with laypeople who are a few eureka moments behind. We occasionally find wonderful people like Richard Feynman who can sidestep this inverse relationship, but not frequently.
ssklash 5y ago
Fair enough. I think it would be more accurate to say that Wyden is the most vocal and effective when it comes to tech-related issues.
verall 5y ago
And yet he is publicly against Net Neutrality and doesn't believe in climate change. Tribal affiliation takes priority over technical ability I guess.
- adventured 5y ago
  Political affiliation doesn't have to be the factor there at all. He can also think you're wrong about those topics - in the counter positions to his views - and he can believe his argument is strong and well supported, superior to the arguments on the other side. I've met a lot of very smart people in my lifetime that are wrong about all sorts of prominent topics, despite being well-read on the topics in question. Pick nearly any subject and you can bet there are smart people on both sides that will disagree, and some of them will bring very potent arguments to the table even when they're wrong.
- vxNsr 5y ago
  And yet: Massie operates a cattle farm in Garrison, Kentucky, with his wife, Rhonda, and their four children.[153][154] They live in a solar-powered home that Massie built himself.[155][156] He is a Methodist.[157]
- someguydave 5y ago
  your tribe or his tribe?
  - Apocryphon 5y ago
    > On April 10, 2019, Massie got in a tense exchange with former Secretary of State John Kerry during Kerry's testimony to the House Oversight and Reform Committee when Massie called Kerry's political science degree from Yale University a "pseudoscience degree" and called Kerry's position on climate change "pseudoscience." Kerry responded, "Are you serious? I mean this is really a serious happening here?"
dzonga 5y ago
reminds me of the politicians in my native country. very well educated either lawyers, engineers or doctors. but idiots and corrupt. I would rather have a non degreed non corrupt politician.
- seniorivn 5y ago
  that's a horrible choice to make, an honest idiot with great power might bring a disaster without even knowing it. I would prefer a highly competitive political system with all sorts of different people as politicians, that has little to none power to affect real people's lives without consent
- saiya-jin 5y ago
  There is some common perception that an educated person is automatically a moral person. I can see why on average it could increase chances a bit, but my life experience contradicts this quite a bit. Upbringing, general environment and society, the rewards morality brings bear make much bigger impact. I would say even traveling the world, especially the not-so-nice parts and meeting poor ie via backpacking, has much bigger effect on personality than education. Just one example out of many - last weekend had long conversation with very successful and very smart urology surgeon here in Switzerland, where he repeatedly stated how covid is great and godsend and mankind should be culled, too bad that not more are dying from it etc. The same person who in his early 30s is quite a bit overweight, has type 3 diabetes, can't handle physical effort, passed to his kid some genetic abnormality and if he got covid he would probably have some serious issues. I couldn't change his opinion a nanometer. A doctor. Needless to say my faith in humanity decreased a bit on that evening. That and everybody has a price. Or almost everybody. Definitely those that manage to get to top politics and remain there for decades, it ain't for average joe and nice honest folks in any way.
tclancy 5y ago
Actions speak louder than CVs. That reads like an argument from authority.
kelnos 5y ago
And yet, he's a climate-change denier who wants the EPA disbanded, seemed to downplay the seriousness of COVID-19, and voted against human-rights bills relating to Hong Kong and China. I guess "tech-literate" isn't really worth that much as a label.

jasonwatkinspdx 5y ago

He's one of the very few politicians I support with little to no reservations about him getting stuff really wrong. We are indeed extremely proud to have him. I know enough people wired into local politics that if he had some huge hidden dark side, it'd be out there. He really is pretty much what he puts out there.

UncleOxidant 5y ago

As an Oregonian I also strongly suspected that it was Ron Wyden prior to opening the article. Oregon is fortunate to have two good Senators (Wyden and Merkley).