I expect it has a lot to do with "AI". HN readers are early adopters, so they're probably getting Claude or Claw or some damn LLM to generate their comments in

I expect it has a lot to do with "AI". HN readers are early adopters, so they're probably getting Claude or Claw or some damn LLM to generate their comments in hopes of getting more karma. I also think that Trump winning in 2024, and subsequently revealing himself as nothing but a grifter with authoritarian impulses has something to do with it. Anyone with conservative leanings has either been disgusted by Trump and his admin (they've violated almost all previous "movement conservative" doctrines), or got on the metaphorical Trump Train, and are now utterly confused by why The Storm hasn't come, prices aren't lowered, and there's been nobody sent to Gitmo for a tribunal. None of the conservative people can argue that anything is going well, and are also suffering through an epistemological crisis. The SV tech leaders have turned Libertarianism into a weird combination of an incipient aristocracy and a cult. Obvious legal, personal liberty and freedom violations are ignored in favor of cheering on cryptocurrency and Trump. Everything under heaven is in utter chaos; the situation is excellent.