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Conservatism is about preserving existing structures and hierarchies, or even returning to the past. Progressivism is about changing things in the face of new
by smt88 5y ago
Conservatism is about preserving existing structures and hierarchies, or even returning to the past.
Progressivism is about changing things in the face of new evidence. So is libertarianism, in some flavors.
Why is it surprising that technologists, who constantly think about the future, would be progressive?
We also know that one of the best predictors of whether someone is progressive is how much education they've had. Another is youth. Tech founders skew younger and more educated.
- jfengel 5y agoDespite that, I see a lot of very conservative opinion on HN. Although technology has a fundamentally future-facing nature, the amount of money and power involved in tech creates a counter-force. Often, that shows up as a form of libertarian -- other "flavors" than the ones you mentioned. Those flavors tend to focus on property and money rights, and treat tech as an equalizer such that you, too, could have money and property if only you were smart and hard-working. That's conservative in that it tends to reinforce existing patterns. They do tend to be older, but that flavor of libertarianism has long been popular with young men, especially in tech. (Cf the punch line "The other involves orcs".) I don't know how often this translates into conservative tech companies, but HN implies that there must be a lot of conservative tech individuals at these companies.