

Some real Paul Graham bashing (Because no one else is succeeding) - apdinin
http://phlunk.com/office-hours/some-real-paul-graham-bashing

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ephelon
The author asserts that YC's capitalist purpose it at odds with the hacker
ethos of free information.

I would argue that YC is investing in products, not ideas. It has been stated
many times that ideas are not valuable in themselves; their value is derived
from the execution of an idea.

Furthermore, building a product around some open technology provides a
monetary means to improve the technology. If you look through the list of
contributors to many prominent open source components I am certain that you
will find people who contributed because they were building a product that
used the technology.

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phamilton
To me a "hacker" is someone too busy building things to get caught up in the
semantics of why and how. Richard Stallman , for example, is no longer a
hacker. He's too caught up in the "why" of open source software.

"The money problem" as pg calls it, is a significant barrier to being a
hacker. Solve the money problem and you can work on whatever problems you want
without worrying about why and how.

YCombinator seems to be aptly named. It is an attempt to solve the problem of
solving problems. That is why it is the ultimate hack.

