[witoldc]

I remember the first time I learned of Kim - 10+ years ago.

From the early days, his questionable 'projects', his legal troubles back home, his money making schemes, him defrauding people on BMW M5 forums, etc. Then I didn't hear about him for 10 years.

When his name came out during the Megaupload uproar, I immediately remembered his name and his antics and without knowing anything about Megaupload I knew he was guilty as sin just based on his record.

[neotek]

>without knowing anything about Megaupload I knew he was guilty as sin just based on his record.

What a frightening way to think.

[mpclark]

With respect, not at all. Just like it is said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, continually giving this guy the benefit of the doubt is naive.

[neotek]

Actually, it's the basis of every just legal system in the world. You don't try a man on his past convictions, you try him on the evidence.

[fusiongyro]

Agreed, but while people can change, they usually don't. Doesn't justify what governments have done to him though.

[witoldc]

I judge people based on their past actions. Not on their hypothetical potential. Kim has a history of fraud and questionable activities going back _decades_. If that makes my way of thinking frightening to you, so be it.

[buro9]

People are oddly repetitive, and most tend to show the same character in the future that they've shown in the past.

That much is true.

But to take that notion and to say that all people will always repeat their past... that isn't true.

For whatever percent of people that would repeat their past, there remains at least a few that will learn from their past and change their future behaviour.

What is scary is that what you've expressed does not allow for rehabilitation or for people to learn from their past. What you've expressed is a view that once someone has been judged, then that leopard cannot change it's spots.

Taking your view to the logical conclusion: Experience counts for nothing, as no-one can learn from it. Teaching counts for nothing, as no-one can learn from it.

Here we are on HN, where one of the mantras repeated over and over is test and pivot. Try something, find you're wrong, learn from it, seek a different direction. To learn from failure what not to do in the future.

Your moral philosophy is that personal change and improvement is impossible as the leopard cannot change it's spots. This precludes from the outset any chance for social mobility, any chance of rehabilitation, any chance of humanity learning from our own history.

It is indeed a scary thought.

[mibbitier]

Please don't ever do jury duty.