Probably. However, it was upvoted to number three (hopefully legitimately) and had a couple of interesting comments (including one on the work of Aldous Huxley). Aren't those two factors a major test of appropriatness for news.yc?
Personally, I think it's a fallacy to assume a popular story is an appropriate one. Popularity rules results in Digg, which we're trying to avoid.
the ones in the front of my mine are articles that were perhaps marginally relevant to HN on the topic of the current economic problems.