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John Carmack returns to QuakeCon for first time in a decade: ‘I’m so happy I’m now welcome’ (www.videogameschronicle.com)
submitted 1 year ago by nanoUFO@sh.itjust.works to c/games@sh.itjust.works
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[-] money_loo@1337lemmy.com 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

And his explanation here:

My comments on BasedCon

It is unfortunate that Rob has made BasedCon so intentionally provocative. I told him as much after the event last year – I felt a little uncomfortable. There is a demographic that welcomes the in-your-face posturing, but it drives away sympathetic people that would otherwise be happy to talk about craft, stories, and technology.

Even when someone gives you a clear signal, it is a mistake to extrapolate it to an entire constellation of beliefs and behaviors, and then to assume they are contagious by association. That shortchanges a lot of people.

I’m not a culture warrior, and I don’t want to strike blows against anyone. I don’t follow activists on either side, including Rob, because I tend to think that all the negativity and resentment is detrimental to both the author and target.

The back story:

I like hard science fiction stories with a bit of competent libertarian vibe. I have ever since Heinlein, but it isn’t a mainstream genre. People here on twitter introduced me to a few contemporary authors that scratch that itch, and I have happily read a half dozen new books in the last few years from authors I would have otherwise been unaware of. It is great to be able to get a recommendation, read a book, then drop the author a DM and say “Hey, I liked your book!”

One of those authors was Rob Kroese, who had started organizing a small gathering of authors and fans that fell a bit outside the mainstream of SF/fantasy. This is a tiny niche of a niche, but I had had Twitter conversations with three of the authors attending, and I was interested in the contrast with the big commercial SF/fantasy conventions I had attended.

I was initially going to just show up as a fan, but I wound up giving a talk about AI and sitting on panels about aerospace and fact checking novels. I met several more authors, and came back with a backpack full of new books to read. Politics didn’t come up once in my conversations.

https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/1659173689986883584

Meh, still annoying to me personally, his excuse that he likes libertarian sci-fi books so he went to see what it’s like vs “mainstream” cons, is pretty sus.

[-] heavy@sh.itjust.works 19 points 1 year ago

Always interesting how "nerdy" successful dudes with money gravitate towards libertarianism. It usually boils down to not having to pay taxes or reinvest in the communities they extract value from.

[-] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I don't think that's necessarily true. Maybe it is for crypto bros and whatnot, but generally speaking, I think libertarians just think governments should largely treat adults like adults instead of children.

I consider myself libertarian, and the policies I support most would increase my taxes and "investments" in my local community. For example:

  • balance the budget - would pretty much require taxes to be raised because there's no way we'll be able to cut enough with the state of politics as it is
  • create a negative income tax bracket (NIT) - replace many tax credits and welfare programs with a cash based system; adults should use the cash as they need, instead of what the government thinks they need; this is largely a formulation of UBI
  • as part of NIT, eliminate the social security tax cap

I also think we should abolish laws and policies that keep people on unequal footing, such as legalizing or decriminalizing recreational drugs (it's better for a young father/mother to be with their family instead of in jail), ending qualified immunity, etc.

We should also change our education system so all students have the same access to school choice. We could do this by eliminating school buses in urban centers, making mass transit free for students, and requiring cities to ensure all students have access to most schools in the city through better routes and whatnot. If a child thinks they'd be better off at another school, they should be able to work with their counselor to get there, even if their parents are uninterested. We should also provide alternatives to the college track in K-12 schools, such as by allowing an apprenticeship to partially replace regular school so students can learn an in-demand school by the time they finish school.

And so on. Libertarians tend to have different solutions to problems than either major party, that doesn't make this solutions worse or somehow intent on beating down the poor, it's just a different perspective that in many cases can add to the wider discussion.

But maybe John Carmack is the bad form of "libertarian" who just wants what's best for himself. IDK, but I can speak for myself.

[-] Burnt@lemmy.one -1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I miss seeing policies from other libertarians like this!

So fucking sick of the ancaps and how most people view libertarians as just an extension of conservatives that want small government now. They pretty much took over r/libertarian the last few years and pushed out the "socialist" libertarians.

[-] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yeah, I hate that sub. It was okay ~5 years ago, but the last few years it's basically just nonsense.

Essentially, if you don't see libertarian socialism and anarchocapitalism as valid extremes of the same ideology, your view of libertarianism is flawed. Anarchocapitalists view private property as their core principle, and libertarian socialists don't recognize it at all, yet they both consider themselves libertarian. The focus should be on the anti-authoritarian nature of libertarianism, which imo revolves around the Non-Aggression Principle, not property rights. Yet when I look at that sub or most "libertarian" crypto bros and whatnot, they look more like fascists than libertarians.

My favorite libertarian "spokesperson" is Penn Jillette, and his main focus is on the use of force. A quote:

My question is: What would I personally use a gun to accomplish? I would use a gun to stop a rape. I would use a gun to stop a terrorist attack. I would not use a gun to build a library. My morality is such that if I’m not willing to use violence myself, I’d never use violence because I’m a coward, but theoretically if I’m not willing to use violence myself then I can’t condone the government using violence.

You end up having to draw a line somewhere. I just draw the line towards more freedom.

So that's it for me. When it comes to a policy, I look to see if there's a way to solve the problem with more freedom.

I don't like the NIT, but I see it as an improvement over welfare programs because it gives people more choice in how to use those allocated dollars. I don't like raising taxes, but the alternative to solving budget problems is screwing with monetary policy, and to me that's worse because most people don't understand monetary policy. And so on. I want transparency and simplicity from government, and generally lean toward freedom when faced with a decision.

[-] PsychedSy@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

What? Left libs took over that sub and we had to invite statist right-libertarians to the ancap subs because you couldn't talk without being downvoted.

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this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2023
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