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This is absolutely not what I would have expected. I love Paul Graham but he's always criticised the EU for having too much of a heavy hand regulating things a

by s_dev 2y ago

This is absolutely not what I would have expected. I love Paul Graham but he's always criticised the EU for having too much of a heavy hand regulating things and 'stifling innovation' while there is plenty of room for nuance here -- the EU can be doing both. I think this suggests many in YCombinator are not as 'Libertarian' as they originally thought and there small mindset change happening.

lblume 2y ago
By this point, it should be fairly clear that unregulated markets lead to monopolies. If modern libertarianism still entails "the freer the markets, the freer the people" I would consider this to be empirically disproven[1]. [1] Except for minimal states which have not succeeded in reality because some type of strong organization's force will likely always exceed the market's implicit one.
- s_dev 2y ago
  I'm hoping YCs next 'big' move for growth is to open an accelerator in either the UK or the EU. The US is moving in the wrong direction and the EU needs institutions like YC. Plenty have tried and failed to replicate YCs success both in the US and the EU but I think YC could make it happen.
  - thecleaner 2y ago
    YCs success has nothing to do with just YC (not to take credit away) but rather from the fact that the US is a large unified well-regulated market. EU has sensible rules sure but the market isnt unified and the individual countries dont have big enough markets to sustain large numbers of software companies. YC itself is honestly quite open with their knowledge but its just that EU in itself is a pretty terrible place to run a business. Lots if regulation, some good ones.
malthaus 2y ago
you have to judge people for their actions, not their philosophical essays. ycombinator (which, nota bene, also spawned sam) is nothing but distilled capitalism with a fig leaf to appeal to a subset of nerd culture and you all ate it up
FinnKuhn 2y ago
If you are against heavy handed regulations I think supporting the DMA is only logically as those regulations are now coming from gatekeepers such as Apple or Google so limiting them in what they are allowed to do is fully compatible with this mindest I believe.
- s_dev 2y ago
  The Libertarian philosophy is concerned with limiting the powers of government not companies. I think people are seeing that companies can wield as much power and influence as governments can and yet have no democratic mandate or similar accountability mechanisms that we impose on governments.

by s_dev 2y ago

lblume 2y ago

By this point, it should be fairly clear that unregulated markets lead to monopolies. If modern libertarianism still entails "the freer the markets, the freer the people" I would consider this to be empirically disproven[1]. [1] Except for minimal states which have not succeeded in reality because some type of strong organization's force will likely always exceed the market's implicit one.

s_dev 2y ago
I'm hoping YCs next 'big' move for growth is to open an accelerator in either the UK or the EU. The US is moving in the wrong direction and the EU needs institutions like YC. Plenty have tried and failed to replicate YCs success both in the US and the EU but I think YC could make it happen.
- thecleaner 2y ago
  YCs success has nothing to do with just YC (not to take credit away) but rather from the fact that the US is a large unified well-regulated market. EU has sensible rules sure but the market isnt unified and the individual countries dont have big enough markets to sustain large numbers of software companies. YC itself is honestly quite open with their knowledge but its just that EU in itself is a pretty terrible place to run a business. Lots if regulation, some good ones.

malthaus 2y ago

you have to judge people for their actions, not their philosophical essays. ycombinator (which, nota bene, also spawned sam) is nothing but distilled capitalism with a fig leaf to appeal to a subset of nerd culture and you all ate it up

FinnKuhn 2y ago

If you are against heavy handed regulations I think supporting the DMA is only logically as those regulations are now coming from gatekeepers such as Apple or Google so limiting them in what they are allowed to do is fully compatible with this mindest I believe.

s_dev 2y ago
The Libertarian philosophy is concerned with limiting the powers of government not companies. I think people are seeing that companies can wield as much power and influence as governments can and yet have no democratic mandate or similar accountability mechanisms that we impose on governments.