[bbor]

You don’t need to be a sociopath to be conditioned into holding sociopathic views. Plus, I think your objection is relying really heavily on “benign” — in a situation of this gravity, who’s to say what’s benignly relative and what’s worth arguing about?

[skygazer]

Perhaps HN visitors are not benign, I have no idea. They mostly seem reasonable and friendly to me. I’m only saying calling groups of people you don’t know any particular thing, who are not homogeneous, is fraught and uncharitable. Not to mention thinking you’re the only person with moral clarity amongst your heathen peers, is, well, not a recipe for a great time. Why even come here then?

[bbor]

People with non-benign views are still worth talking to :). I bet some of my current views turn out to be harmful and regrettable in hindsight. Definitely didn’t mean to attack the inherent/essential character of Hacker News Residents, just defend the original point and point out the inherent validity of calling a particular belief set “sociopathic”