Why has this been downvoted? I've heard great things about Strange Loop.
Christmas dinner at the Programmer family's house has been tough this year. Logan was able to make the trip back home from San Fransisco, but is insistent on picking political fights with Grandpa. Mom and Dad keep asking everyone not to focus on politics for the day but Logan yells and calls them just as bad for trying to creating an environment where people with options Logan doesn't like can just sit there and eat ham.
Jake and I started day drinking before presents and are itching to slip away. Wanna go sledding down behind The Academy?
It means that a software engineer with odious politics was not allowed to speak about a completely separate domain [0]. Presumably because of the worry that he might give a rousing speech.
Technology is obviously political. Anyone trying to ignore that has an agenda to maintain the status quo. There is no sense in pretending we're solving mindless puzzles in a vaccuum; we're out to "disrupt" the world.
I didn't consider it when I posted the link, but Strange Loop provides an unusual platform for technologists who actually do "think different". Many use their tech platform to reinforce racism in notoriously racist tech spaces. But some take scifi seriously and try to improve the world. That matters.
Here's the tech good ol' boy world, where you're supposed to passively accept casual racism in ranch houses: "It was really quite lovely. Later that day, in the jeep to the ranch house where everyone was staying, he started up with the casual racism, and everyone ignored him." (https://twitter.com/maradydd/status/606799534983770112)
I didn't say tech couldn't relate to politics, nor do I wish to hang out with racists.
I implied that not all people would care to waste their time in the company of no-platformers. Disinterest is a perfectly reasonable position to take when faced with the proposition of hanging out with people with wildly different political beliefs than yourself.
The idea that some people might dislike no platforming almost as much as they dislike racism shouldn't surprise you.
It's not safe to support organisations that choose whether to platform based on the whims of a mob or their leaders.
Of course other conferences probably considering inviting him and then decided not to for the same reason. You only know about Strange Loop because it got further along the process.
I disagree with Alex Miller's decision about Curtis Yarvin, but as far as I can tell, this is the only controversial speaker related issue that he's made.
Have you actually been to Strangeloop? I have, and I'll go again because the quality of the speakers and attendees is top notch. They're aren't afraid to host some really esoteric stuff. Thus, it's a place to really learn some cool stuff.
I've met Alex at Strangeloop and he seems like a pretty humble and reasonable guy.
His role isn't an easy one, and I see no reason not to attend what has been a pretty excellent run of conferences because of one lapse of judgement by the founder.
Videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_QIfHvN9auy2CoOdSfMWDw