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Does anyone else see Andrew Yang as the "Rationalist" Candidate? (https://www.reddit.com/r/SneerClub/comments/b972c6/does_anyone_else_see_andrew_yang_as_the/)
posted on April 04, 2019 02:21 AM by u/AcceptableWay
14

I’ve been following his candidacy for some time and have become increasing disgusted as time goes on. Initaly he seemed to be taking some of the more logical if not accurate rationalist policies into the mainstream but as time has gone on, he seems to have descended down an intellectual shitposting route similar to rationalist culture?

Is anybody else hoping he gets slaughtered in the primary?

u/shambibble 35 points at 1554346628.000000

Yang’s been pretty unequivocal about denouncing the alt-right despite the 4chan shitposting (in a way rationalists often aren’t or at least insist on derailing into frozen peaches)

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u/collectallfive 12 points at 1554387031.000000
tbf though with the mainstreaming of a lot of alt-right talking points into regular cOmMoN sEnSe CoNsErVaTiViSm, does it really matter that he's denounced the alt-right?
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u/Soyweiser 5 points at 1554407827.000000
The alt right [certainly doesnt' denounce him](http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/white-nationalists-adopt-clowns-as-their-next-racist-symbol-yes-seriously/) (yes, this is about the clown world meme, but also references yang). Edit: Just saw [this](https://twitter.com/oneunderscore__/status/1116427021800882177) apparantly alt righters are taking over the Yang discord. In the same way it usually happens, showing again, that containment threads/boards (pol/themotte/cw threads) etc are a bad idea.
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u/brokenAmmonite 10 points at 1554393173.000000
nah he's been pretty overt about flirting with the right-shitposter vote even if he publicly denounces them he's bad, OP
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u/DELETED 9 points at 1554345651.000000

Sources?

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u/AcceptableWay 11 points at 1554345992.000000
He's running in the Democratic primary and his signature policy of replacing welfare with BIG for all seems very rationalist, but he's gradually drifted to decrying the plight of Poor White Males to get attention from Tucker Carlson and Co
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u/DELETED 15 points at 1554346214.000000
He has plausible deniability on the white supremacy dogwhistling, at least from what I've seen. Until he starts yapping about needing anti-AGI policy I wouldn't lump him in with Yud & co.
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u/DELETED 2 points at 1554398768.000000
https://www.yang2020.com/policies/regulating-ai-emerging-technologies/
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u/DELETED 5 points at 1554402346.000000
That's a reasonable policy stance. There needs to be clearer regulatory structures for computer technology in general. Still no explicit mention of AGI or alignment (or HP fanfics).
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u/DELETED 7 points at 1554402882.000000
> They also hold the potential to disrupt our economies, ruin lives throughout several generations, **and, if experts such as Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk are to be believed, destroy humanity.** > Human technical knowledge is quickly reaching the point where there are many **existential threats** that could develop without us fully understanding said threat > Prevent technological **threats to humanity** from developing without oversight (emphasis mine)
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u/collectallfive 4 points at 1554386890.000000
he's peddled some soft "great replacement" rhetoric and let's not pretend that courting "intactivists" isn't also courting some anti-semites
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u/DaveyJF 9 points at 1554415087.000000
> let's not pretend that courting "intactivists" isn't also courting some anti-semites This is stupid
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u/collectallfive 0 points at 1554418630.000000
K
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u/vsbobclear 4 points at 1554526719.000000
This is like saying we shouldn't save the environment because that would be allying with environmentalists and some environmentalists are reactionary conspiracy theorists.
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u/collectallfive 0 points at 1554527522.000000
There's a massive difference in effect between the environment collapsing on us and children getting circumcized.
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u/vsbobclear 10 points at 1554373853.000000

He does seem to be popular with the rationalists / IDW, at least on twitter. Based on his background, I’m sure he’s browsed SSC and LW at least a few times. Nevertheless, his policies are definitely interesting and should get more mainstream attention, although Yang himself has become somewhat of a meme.

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u/Snugglerific 8 points at 1554411166.000000

Is there anything more to this guy than another SV techbro promoting UBI? He’ll probably burn out before Iowa.

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u/noactuallyitspoptart 1 points at 1554375655.000000

mark it nsfw ffs, and also don’t do this, it’s decrepitedly boring

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u/NotWithoutIncident 5 points at 1554395585.000000
I know I'm telling you how to run your sub, but allowing these posts at all is going to lead to this. You can't be /r/exmormon for rationalists and /r/shitredditsays for rationalists and /r/badphilosophy for rationalists. Each of those might be valuable, but they require different moderation.
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u/G0ldunDrak0n 9 points at 1554413833.000000
I, for one, enjoy this sub being the beautiful mess that it is. Chaos might not be "valuable," but it is refreshing.
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u/noactuallyitspoptart 2 points at 1554476922.000000
That's basically our whole thing, and I for one am a messy bitch who lives for drama
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u/pipster818 3 points at 1554529670.000000
I disagree, I think a subreddit can have a broad purpose, and there's usually no need to micromoderate like that. At the same time though I don't see the point of a moderator making a stickied comment saying "don't do this" but then allowing it anyway. Kinda seems like a waste of time for all involved.
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u/noactuallyitspoptart 5 points at 1554398927.000000
Why not?
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u/Shitgenstein 15 points at 1554345168.000000

I’ve been following his candidacy for some-time

You might just be the only one.

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u/dgerard 17 points at 1554358183.000000
if you track the alt-right at all, his candidacy follows you
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u/AlexCoventry 3 points at 1554385798.000000

he seems to have descended down an intellectual shitposting route similar to rationalist culture?

Not sure what you mean here. Can you provide some examples?

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u/AcceptableWay 9 points at 1554392248.000000
https://twitter.com/AndrewYang/status/1010207553324806150 I'm not saying that white communities aren't suffering from problems that need targeted help, but I get pretty leery whenever somebody talks about white deaths and birth rates
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u/AlexCoventry 3 points at 1554395697.000000
A bit tone-deaf to bring up something so invidious, perhaps, but personally I'm willing to give people the benefit of the doubt about it unless there's also a pattern of racist alarmism.
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u/G0ldunDrak0n 6 points at 1554414049.000000
> Deaths now outnumber births among white people in more than half the states in the country. is pretty close to racist alarmism IMO.
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u/Ambrose_bierce89 3 points at 1554496910.000000
You think spouting great replacement garbage is only "a bit tone deaf"? Ok, you do you. But to me any great replacement talk is automatically disqualifying for people wanting to be a dem. nominee. We have seen how that shit directly leads to violence in NZ. Also FYI he [dog whistled](https://www.reddit.com/r/ChapoTrapHouse/comments/b2jq85/andrew_yang_dogwhistling_the_great_replacement/) it again in early March this Year. But go ahead and give him the benefit of the doubt. ​
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u/AlexCoventry 2 points at 1554498355.000000
No I don't think that, but that's not what he did, at least in this tweet.
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u/Ambrose_bierce89 1 points at 1554569497.000000
Then what the hell is he trying to say in this tweet then? Edit: Sorry after watching the clip of him at the root it is clear he’s just an uniformed and narcissistic tech bro. But I think that doesn’t change the fact that he is speaking in dog whistles. But I am now willing to accept that the result of internet poisoning.
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u/AlexCoventry 2 points at 1554571118.000000
Yeah, he's definitely going to have a communication problem. I don't think he's a serious candidate.
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u/losvedir 1 points at 1554505392.000000
He discussed that tweet in an interview with The Root: https://www.theroot.com/andrew-yang-says-his-kids-will-drink-flint-tap-water-an-1833774883 . He said there that his point was that sections of our country are disintegrating. It was to support the idea that the metics we track don't actually capture what's going on with the citizens (e.g. life expectancy decreasing). He argues that people of color are *also* facing these issues, not that they're somehow taking over; that the country as a whole is just imploding.
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u/AlexCoventry 2 points at 1554507118.000000
Thanks for the link. I didn't know much about Yang, and now I do. [Here's where he talked about the tweet](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feL0TV7EbgA#t=25m50s).
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u/prdgm33 5 points at 1554345732.000000

I’ve gotten this feeling too.

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u/muns4colleg 1 points at 1554473939.000000

It seems to me that Yang is the last gasp of any affinity with the Democratic party and vaguely left wing policies before they jump ship and just become Republicans.

Kinda similar to what we saw with Bernie (not a commentary on the man himself, just a subset of his supporters in 2016), where there was a number of dudebros clinging to him as a source of white pseudo-socialist populism before being rebuffed and becoming Trumpists.

Andrew Yang himself just comes off to me like a neoliberal who’s specifically targeting hot button young white guy issues (UBI, being a white guy sucks, LEGALIZE IT) to try to meme his way into political significance.

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u/haplogroup_yakub 1 points at 1554563585.000000

000 though…

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u/itisike -1 points at 1554392598.000000

Just gonna drop this here

https://putanumonit.com/2018/10/10/ubi-for-president/

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u/MarxBroshevik 4 points at 1554393286.000000
Why?
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u/itisike 2 points at 1554393328.000000
Prominent rationalist blog discussing Yang
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