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I got downvoted for suggesting this. Don’t know why HN is so quick to dismiss whistleblower deaths as coincidences

Waterluvian 2y ago
Because it’s almost always correct and feeding oxygen to conspiracies further pollutes the space and numbs people to when there really are sinister actors at play. I think it’s a tricky situation. Most of the time it’s noise and unproductive. But we also don’t want to sterilize the environment so far that we can’t ever question things. There’s a tricky balance.
DaSHacka 2y ago
Ironically, despite the name "Hacker News", I've noticed many are quick to adopt the official narrative largely unquestioningly
- ThrowawayR2 2y ago
  I'll just leave this here: "High conspiracy belief is associated with low critical thinking ability" (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/acp.3790 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/acp.3790), previously discussed in https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27806447 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27806447. Most here on HN seem to have fairly high critical thinking ability.
- ramblerman 2y ago
  If a hacker just went against the official narrative as a knee jerk reaction that would make them more like a rebellious teenager no? In a sense you are agreeing that this as tragic as it is probable needs no further discussion
- throwaway123127 2y ago
  The spirit is completely gone, isn't it? When a hacker was mysteriously hanged in 1988, people discussed it for years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tron_(hacker) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tron_(hacker) Now everyone is accusing others of "conspiracy theories" and browbeating everyone to follow the party line.
- goodpoint 2y ago
  hacker news has always been hacker the same way a hot dog is a dog.
lewdwig 2y ago
The alternative here is accepting it’s perfectly reasonable to think that Sam Altman decided it would be a good idea to have an ex-employee (of no particular import) murdered for expressing their opinion on Twitter.
- Cheer2171 2y ago
  > Sam Altman decided What is more plausible is a "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?" [1] situation. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_no_one_rid_me_of_this_turbulent_priest%3F https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_no_one_rid_me_of_this_tur...
  - mcmcmc 2y ago
    Especially given his whole cult of personality schtick
    - Lerc 2y ago
      I know a lot of people hate Altman with a passion, but I haven't encountered that depth of feeling going in the other direction. The strongest advocation I have seen for him has be to say that he is an extremely persuasive and talented organiser with vision. The only thing that distinguishes that from any other superlative laden blurb you could find about just about any tech CEO is the persuasive attribute.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- guerrilla 2y ago
  I can't tell. Are you saying it's not?
- barrell 2y ago
  Surely that’s not the only alternative? I can think of countless others. Personally I do not want to start any conspiracies myself by listing them, but this is hardly a binary choice
smeeger 2y ago
[flagged]
brvsft 2y ago
[flagged]

Because it’s almost always correct and feeding oxygen to conspiracies further pollutes the space and numbs people to when there really are sinister actors at play. I think it’s a tricky situation. Most of the time it’s noise and unproductive. But we also don’t want to sterilize the environment so far that we can’t ever question things. There’s a tricky balance.

DaSHacka 2y ago

Ironically, despite the name "Hacker News", I've noticed many are quick to adopt the official narrative largely unquestioningly

ThrowawayR2 2y ago
I'll just leave this here: "High conspiracy belief is associated with low critical thinking ability" (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/acp.3790 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/acp.3790), previously discussed in https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27806447 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27806447. Most here on HN seem to have fairly high critical thinking ability.
ramblerman 2y ago
If a hacker just went against the official narrative as a knee jerk reaction that would make them more like a rebellious teenager no? In a sense you are agreeing that this as tragic as it is probable needs no further discussion
throwaway123127 2y ago
The spirit is completely gone, isn't it? When a hacker was mysteriously hanged in 1988, people discussed it for years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tron_(hacker) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tron_(hacker) Now everyone is accusing others of "conspiracy theories" and browbeating everyone to follow the party line.
goodpoint 2y ago
hacker news has always been hacker the same way a hot dog is a dog.

lewdwig 2y ago

The alternative here is accepting it’s perfectly reasonable to think that Sam Altman decided it would be a good idea to have an ex-employee (of no particular import) murdered for expressing their opinion on Twitter.

Cheer2171 2y ago
> Sam Altman decided What is more plausible is a "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?" [1] situation. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_no_one_rid_me_of_this_turbulent_priest%3F https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_no_one_rid_me_of_this_tur...
- mcmcmc 2y ago
  Especially given his whole cult of personality schtick
  - Lerc 2y ago
    I know a lot of people hate Altman with a passion, but I haven't encountered that depth of feeling going in the other direction. The strongest advocation I have seen for him has be to say that he is an extremely persuasive and talented organiser with vision. The only thing that distinguishes that from any other superlative laden blurb you could find about just about any tech CEO is the persuasive attribute.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
guerrilla 2y ago
I can't tell. Are you saying it's not?
barrell 2y ago
Surely that’s not the only alternative? I can think of countless others. Personally I do not want to start any conspiracies myself by listing them, but this is hardly a binary choice

smeeger 2y ago

[flagged]

brvsft 2y ago

[flagged]