Ask HN: Is it unwise to post conservative opinions as a tech worker?

Work is something that should in theory unite us as we work on a mission together in exchange for compensation.

I get that external factors affect people different (I know I deal with my own shit), but I wish work would be an outlet away from those things to focus on something all together.

Then there are mobs. If you'll get even remotely popular there's a non-zero chance you'll end up getting stalked by some weirdos from twitter/4chan. Lots of these people have close to infinite free time, no moral compass whatsoever, nothing better to do and possibly a mental illness that makes them obsess over certain topics. They will spread misinformation about you all over the internet or will try to get you fired from your current job over something you wrote 7 years ago. If you use your real name they'll quickly find out whatever they can about you and use that to harass you or your family.

Personally, I refrain as much as possible from posting about anything political on the internet, real name or not. It's a huge waste of time that adds nothing positive to a daily life.

There is, however, a tendency to take extreme positions and that needs to be fought. We must always debate in good faith - and ensure ourselves that we are doing so in good faith - that we listened, that our opinions are based on objective truths, and that we are willing to change our opinions when confronted by evidence against them.

I would lean against posting your political opinions on the internet, and instead step away from the computer and you know, spend time with friends. Get some fresh air and exercise. If you want to have some political influence showing up in person is, I don't know, at least a million times more effective than posting internet opinions.

I think about it this way: co-operation depends on trust and shared values, the lack of which hinders or prevents this.

Every one of us is a bag of values, and some of these will often intersect with some of those we work with. Since team work is an active act of co-operation, it makes more sense for me to actively share those values that are broadly in agreement with those that will improve the work relationship.

Engaging with political debate on Twitter is a terrible idea no matter what your ideology, no matter how mainstream your opinions.

> I used to identify with the left but now I lean conservative

Elon Musk claims this too, but posts all kinds of nonsense. He can get away with it, you can't. Assuming that you are a sane user of the internet however, you should be alright.

Sharing opinions does reduce cognitive noise, but it also promotes and enforces cognitive bias. Which is a fair trade you might think, and in many practical domains it is. But under democratic system, we already have instruments to reduce noise. We have polls and elections. Democracy is well suited to mitigate cognitive noise.

But not bias. Imagine 100 people. 10 of them are experts in some particular field. The rest is completely clueless. Now let's hold a poll on some binary question from that field. Of 10 experts, let's say only 8 get the answer right because of the noise, let's call it a 20% noise. Of 90 non-experts, however since they all answer fully noisy anyway, roughly 45 will vote right statistically. The vote is the 53 vs 47 in favor of the right answer.

Now let's say, there is a bias that skews the result 10% towards the wrong call. In an expert community, this is not a big deal. 9 out of 10 experts will get the answer right. But among the general population, this would account for 9 votes in the wrong direction. The votes are now 45 vs 55, and the wrong decision is taken.

TL&DR Democracy is statistically more vulnerable to cognitive bias than to cognitive noise. And sharing opinions reduces noise but promotes bias.

https://archive.is/I7xFz

https://www.realcleareducation.com/speech/

https://archive.is/b5UII

You answered your own question.

It seems to work well, I get along with all sorts of people with wildly different, often cooky, views. In my opinion that's more important than signaling my political leanings.

Another place where we had significant reach to a large audience we actively curated anti-conservative content.

It was like being immersed in a dunk tank of elementary school children but most of them had college degrees yet no common sense or world wisdom.

If you organized an event which was “insufficiently diverse” they would gang up on you on twitter and lynch you publicly.

I truly feel the shrillness has eased off. I think as people got older, and the political landscape changed I see a lot less of it.

I feel a lot more comfortable having based opinions publicly, the army of children seem to be much quieter now.

Before - the fear was palpable. I didn’t feel comfortable following conservatives because morons on twitter would literally comb through your likes and follows and “out you” for not being liberal.

It was so unbelievably childish and pervasive that you could literally feel it.

I think it’s nowhere near as bad as it used to be. I remember just how bad it was, especially in 2016. I think it became a parody of itself during the trump administration and my hope is a lot of people grew out of it.

Me: Holy shit! You were censored for wanting lower taxes?

Con: LOL no...no not those views

Me: So....deregulation?

Con: Haha no not those views either

Me: Which views, exactly?

Con: Oh, you know the ones