While I agree with most of this I think it's somewhat too strict. For many people their twenties is the only time they will have time, money and vigour. If you get the chance you should take advantage of that.
It would be more interesting if people could reply why they disagree. I'm not the first one to come to this conclusion, hemlis is a public example. You simply can't compete with large companies several years after the fact without differentiating.
A feature like this doesn't really matter in the context of competing with mainstream messaging services because their value is to a large extent in things like brand and network effect. The notion that you're just one feature away from mainstream adaptation is often a misconception. In reality there's limited potential in living in the shadow of something else.
History shows us that you can't compete by being a lesser version of something else. There's nothing wrong with trying to make the application more attractive, but at the same time trying to shoehorn in features rather than doing things where you have an advantage is less likely to be meaningful.
I personally don't think the sentiment of "8 Christmases", as presented in the essay, is that helpful. The solution to scarcity isn't to rely on a few moments, nor necessarily to "prune bullshit", it's to create more good moments. Maybe there is only 8 Christmases, but there's 416 Sunday dinners and countless other Holidays. Christmas is only that special because that's the holiday that Americans still (somewhat) universally celebrate.
Sort of expected a better interview when I heard "The National Press Club". This is mostly "What do you think about x? I think this and that" read from notes.
"Tech", as the article uses it, tend to be less Donald Knuth and more Woody Allen in the sense that "80 percent of life is showing up". The "best of the best" is mostly busy being the best. Cities usually fail to attract talent because there aren't enough substance to their claims and they therefor can't get people to show up.
Yeah, while I can appreciate the question (curiosity is a good things) I don't think anyone with experience of software should be surprised. When you consider things like passwords, credit cards, wifi login and e-mail addresses the question is really why aren't more things like sim cards. (which is kind of what Apple is trying to do these days?)
Socioeconomic status is an important factor in how we behave. The argument here is that people with more money are less kind because having more money makes them less kind. Unless you're making a specific argument were someones skin color is the prime factor in making someone more criminal that statement isn't factually correct. So no, it's not the same thing, but your frequent rhetorical outrage is noted.
It's much harder to have a killer app when the technology isn't universally appealing yet. When (if) you can get 8k high frame rate displays, gigabit+ internet connection and better graphics card at a price that will make enough people buy it, then it will make sense to produce good content. We are probably not there yet for some time though.
Sure, or if you find a way to find certain vulnerabilities quicker. A bug with 5 year life span that you can find in 1 month doesn't require you to find them too frequently and more projects that fixes such bugs in 1 year will also be vulnerable.
This is what I would assume someone like the NSA does. They would have calculated a window of where it's most advantageous for them to find a bug and will then spend the resources at that time. Both in terms of bug life time and severity, but also user share.
I wouldn't say "all projects". The statement is based on that they introduce and remove vulnerabilities at a certain rate. A project that introduces less vulnerabilities or finds them faster would be less likely to have privately known vulnerabilities at any given time.
> [...] but he provided ample explanations for his actions anyway.
As far as I know he hasn't provided any explanation for what people are actually concerned about.
> Is it me or you feel like you can decide who is part of the community and who is not? Why is that?
If you can decide that he is, why can't I decide that he isn't? In a society that respect the individual we can all decide who we want to associate with.
> Neither is fair or sane.
If people have the right not to support him then it's also their right to not support YC or any other organization they think is benefiting Thiel. You seem to expect a scenario where people should dismiss their own opinions so Thiel can enjoy more freedom.
> No, that's not what I am arguing. What I am arguing is demanding that people will be purged from the community and everybody cuts ties with them because they views do not agree with yours is not a good thing. You can disagree with Thiel, you can argue with Thiel, you can ignore Thiel, you can do whatever you want. But if you demand that YC severs ties with Thiel because he committed thoughtcrimes - that's where lose my goodwill completely.
Thiel voluntarily choose to strongly support Trump without thinking he owed anyone an explanation. That's his prerogative, but it doesn't afford him much favors in the form of being a part of the community. People have the right not to support Thiel or organizations he is a part of. What do you suggest they do? Is it more fair to boycott YC and the companies they have invested in rather than to ask for the resignation of Thiel?
As far as I know, freedom of speech protects you from the government. Since YC is not the government freedom of speech isn't applicable, but anti-discrimination or employment law could be. In fact if the government would limit YCs freedom to not associate with Theil, as guaranteed by freedom of speech, that could technically be a greater violation of rights. This is why some libertarians think that private discrimination should be legal.
> In short, we should condone private — but not government — discrimination, even if the rationale is that a service provider simply doesn’t want to deal with the persons seeking service. That rationale — however offensive it may be in some circumstances — is implicit in our right not to associate, which is the flip side of our constitutional right of association, guaranteed by the First Amendment.
I actually think it's easier to be ambitious in Europe. Both in absolute terms, since it's easier to access good education education and working environment, and in relative terms, since there's more room to work harder than everyone else.