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Having spent a lot of time on HN, I think the demographics here roughly break down to two halves: those who react with empathy to people in weak positions, and

Having spent a lot of time on HN, I think the demographics here roughly break down to two halves: those who react with empathy to people in weak positions, and those who react with disdain. The bulk of this discussion (and many others) really just boil down to this. Sometimes I wonder if the seeming distribution of sociopaths on HN is representative of the general population, or if we have more of them than other communities.

pron 14y ago
I wouldn't call them sociopaths. Keep in mind that Ayn Rand and her Objectivism have had a strong influence on many Americans, many of them in Silicon Valley. One of her SV fans happens to be Travis Kalanick[1], founder and CEO of Uber, so all this is unsurprising. I will not try to argue against objectivism or against what some Americans think that libertarianism means. But I will say that what bothers me most about Rand's followers and many who call themselves libertarians, is how they favor some kinds of power over another. In particular, they believe that the use of money or private property -- no matter how harmful -- is OK, or, at least, reasonable and should be allowed free reign, while unionizing, violence and other kinds of power that are usually the only kinds within the reach of the poor, are wrong and should be constrained. Some even would try to decide what the workers "deserve", while they'll perfectly agree that Mark Zuckerberg deserves whatever he is able to get. [1] http://pandodaily.com/2012/10/24/travis-shrugged/ http://pandodaily.com/2012/10/24/travis-shrugged/
- potatolicious 14y ago
  I'm not sure if we disagree - this aspect of the tech industry's folks bothers me, but I see it as sociopathy - or more specifically, a notable lack of empathy for others. It's not even rationalization most of the time (e.g., "this sucks but it's for the best"), as we see in this post it's outright hostility (i.e., "entitlement", "oh well", "commodity workers", etc). Technology, and startup money, give people an awful lot of influence and power - I'm bothered by the fact that a large portion of our community strut about with a lack of empathy and respect for the inhabitants of this world. I see many members of this community as miniature would-be robber barons. It's something I've been thinking about - I don't generally see this trait in people I know from other fields like science or math, not at this incidence rate anyways. Either there are many more empathy-less people (to avoid the s-word) in other fields than I can see, or there is indeed a higher concentration of them in our field. Neither option sits very well.

pron 14y ago

I wouldn't call them sociopaths. Keep in mind that Ayn Rand and her Objectivism have had a strong influence on many Americans, many of them in Silicon Valley. One of her SV fans happens to be Travis Kalanick[1], founder and CEO of Uber, so all this is unsurprising. I will not try to argue against objectivism or against what some Americans think that libertarianism means. But I will say that what bothers me most about Rand's followers and many who call themselves libertarians, is how they favor some kinds of power over another. In particular, they believe that the use of money or private property -- no matter how harmful -- is OK, or, at least, reasonable and should be allowed free reign, while unionizing, violence and other kinds of power that are usually the only kinds within the reach of the poor, are wrong and should be constrained. Some even would try to decide what the workers "deserve", while they'll perfectly agree that Mark Zuckerberg deserves whatever he is able to get. [1] http://pandodaily.com/2012/10/24/travis-shrugged/ http://pandodaily.com/2012/10/24/travis-shrugged/

potatolicious 14y ago
I'm not sure if we disagree - this aspect of the tech industry's folks bothers me, but I see it as sociopathy - or more specifically, a notable lack of empathy for others. It's not even rationalization most of the time (e.g., "this sucks but it's for the best"), as we see in this post it's outright hostility (i.e., "entitlement", "oh well", "commodity workers", etc). Technology, and startup money, give people an awful lot of influence and power - I'm bothered by the fact that a large portion of our community strut about with a lack of empathy and respect for the inhabitants of this world. I see many members of this community as miniature would-be robber barons. It's something I've been thinking about - I don't generally see this trait in people I know from other fields like science or math, not at this incidence rate anyways. Either there are many more empathy-less people (to avoid the s-word) in other fields than I can see, or there is indeed a higher concentration of them in our field. Neither option sits very well.