[jonstewart]

Serious question: Palladium’s other cofounder is a white nationalist neoreactionary. Is one degree of separation from white nationalism sufficient distance for HN culture?

It is very hard for me to see such dross posted and discussed seriously, earnestly, when everything I’ve been taught about critical thinking as a hacker is to be skeptical, whether of function return codes, technical documentation, or people writing and/or funding obscure online long-form magazines with strong ties to white nationalism/IDW/alt-right/neoreactionarism. As a DC resident, one year after Jan 6, it’s dismaying to see Palladium on the front page, and discussed so credulously here.

[bawolff]

So your argument is, because of the author's moral failings, we should reject his arguments out of hand without considering them?

And you make this ad hominem argument in the name of critical thinking?

[someguydave]

Out of curiosity did your skepticism lead you to read the essay and consider his ideas?

[jonstewart]

I read the first half but then switched to skimming the rest. It’s long-winded and not particularly well-written. I concur with the basic thesis that there are potentially more important things to life than work (or a particular job, at least), and that one should prioritize how to spend one’s time. Also, I agree that the more one pulls on the thread of one’s natural interests, the more likely one is to be rewarded —- Pasteur’s “fortune favors only the prepared mind.” There’s a. undercurrent of sexism, however naive, that made it hard for me to read.