No, it takes a person given to speculation. I think it's disingenuous to use the dot com era as your example because of the shear magnitude of value that was being created during that time period.
I remember the 90's. I think it takes a revisionist to say raising the top marginal rate was what caused the economic boom. I would guess the big drivers were low oil prices and that dot com thing.
No reason to engage. I think "discussing" a topic with another "online persona" is almost always a waste of time. I also find most comments to be speculative, argumentative, uninformed opinions, trolling, jokes or trash. It is great finding a decent comment chain, but usually I'm late to the show(like now)!
When I was young I enjoyed commenting and voicing my opinion, after 25 years online, I no longer derive satisfaction from it.
It's anecdotal, but the one company I worked with in the south which had a very conservative, christian, "family" culture was the most diverse team I've ever had the pleasure of working with. My team consisted of 2 black developers, 1 asian female, 3 indian females, 2 indian males and 3 white males(including me). There was never a hint of racism or sexism, we all came together for the mission of the company, and we all loved the different foods, experiences and perspectives we brought to the table.
OTOH, I have been with a couple companies and seen racism and sexism in the form of jokes and comments that were done in poor taste, but it was just a group of white/asian progressive males so no harm? Again, all anecdotal. I'm sure other people have had complete opposite experiences, and thats to be expected. Racism is not always about hate or politics, it can show its self through ignorance and unfamiliarity.
I've been a lurker for almost the entirety of HN. I created an account just to post this because I believe politics, especially political stereotyping has no business on HN. I would hate to see this forum burned out like Reddit.