Ask HN: Who will be the first president from a tech background? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Who will be the first president from a tech background?

5 pointschatmasta13 comments

What do you mean by tech background? Herbert Hoover was an engineer before he became president.

I guess I mean a tech background from the Internet age. Think Larry and Sergei, Zuckerberg, etc. I mean someone who built a unicorn with skills and smarts, someone who is known for their achievements in tech.

I suppose Carly Fiorina would qualify, although I consider her background more traditional business than tech.

Larry Lessig might also qualify as "from tech," but he's an academic just like many other presidents.

It's kind of a non-question at that point because none of these people are particularly respected in their "tech abilities" Even Donald Trump certainly employs a coder or two. When will Terrence Tao, Ed Witten, or even Reid Barton become president? Maybe someday. Maybe when Stephen Hawking becomes King.

Jimmy Carter trained on nuclear reactors in the Navy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_carter#Naval_career

Michael Bloomberg is probably the closest right now who has won an election that is high-profile enough to launch a presidential bid.

I assume you mean US, but if you look globally, at least one already exists. Singapore's PM recently demonstrated a Sudoku solver that he wrote in his free time. http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/06/asia/singapore-pm-code-sudoku/

Lee Hsien Loong (Prime Minister of Singapore), Mathematics Cambridge and compsci (c++) hobbyist.

Bill Gates does quite a few things these days that have more of a focus on making a better world in general. That seems sort of like a president mindset to me. I don't know that he would be someone interested in dealing with all the politics though.

I think Republican Carly Fiorina threw her hat into the ring I took notice.

After all, Fiorina was the most powerful woman in business during her 1999-2000 stint as CEO of Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ), shares of which have had a peak gain of 64.3% since I first recommended them to you in July 2013.

Carly Fiorina is the presidential candidate from Silicon Valley.

Not only was Fiorina the first female to lead a Fortune 20 company, but she served as the captain of a global tech enterprise that was struggling to navigate through the troubled waters of the early 2000s.

Would Tim Wu count?

Kevin Rose

Me.

I like the confidence!

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