There are now so many "accelerators" that I get spam from people making products for them. Very weird. I wrote all YC's original software, so every s… - Paul Graham

Later we'll find it hard to believe that masked thugs were dragging people off the street at gunpoint. At least I hope we will, since the other alternative would be to decline into the kind of country where that's normal.

I'm always relieved when some controversy has blown over by the time I hear about it.

You might find contradictory taboos. In one culture it might seem shocking to think x, while in another it was shocking not to. But I think usually the shock is on one side. In one culture x is ok, and in another it’s considered shocking. My hypothesis is that the side that’s shocked is most likely to be the mistaken one.