Anybody who's been on HN for more than a month knows there is a set of topics that will trigger massive discussion threads, for which there is a generally accepted community opinion. If you go against those opinions, you will be downvoted. Go ahead: try saying that you're against the very idea of a basic income for all citizens in a BI thread.
The downvotes on the parent post are IMO a symptom of that. I'd defy anyone to tell me exactly which one of the rules at https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html this his/her post is breaking, besides, perhaps "posting perennial flamewar topics." And, if you have to call this a flame war topic, I would suggest that actually proves my point.
I'm not going to hang out on algolia for an hour to dig up the post, but I'm 99% sure PG ended up endorsing downvotes-as-disagreement (or at least condoning it).
Being safe from criticism.
Because it's a reasonable argument to make. Saying "you can't take this from me and claim it is a bad thing when I do it but a good thing when you do it" is a perfectly fine way to respond.
(note: I don't actually mean fuck you. I'd like to think y'all can see what I did there.)
Isn't HackerNews just an extreme safe-space for SV programmers?
Ok ok ok. I'm not trying to say they're the exact same. But what I am saying in response to your post is... so? That all sounds fine and totally reasonable. I don't see a problem.
I am amused how in the past two weeks the word "safe space" has been weaponized by the liberal left. First they demanded safe spaces. Then they were laughed at on a national scale. Now they throw back "oh yeah... well YOU'RE a safe space so fuck you!". I've seen it in multiple contexts and expect to see it more.