3 ms·

My apologies to the team who I'm sure worked very hard, for sounding very sour. But I just had this visceral reaction to this: Come on guys, all of you smart p

by atonse 4y ago

My apologies to the team who I'm sure worked very hard, for sounding very sour. But I just had this visceral reaction to this: Come on guys, all of you smart people working at these places, doesn't anyone want to tackle a problem that might actually be difficult and meaningful to humanity rather than "how can I come up with novel ways to get people to be stuck on their phones for longer?" Sigh, at least Google in its heyday created the moonshots and was tackling real problems that mattered, self-driving, energy generation, robotics. Not just regurgitating the same old tired "___ but with text" "___ but with 6 second videos" ideas.

RC_ITR 4y ago
It's interesting that you bring up Google, a company founded to 'organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.' Isn't that exactly what Artifact is doing (but instead of rules-based search algorithms, it's using stochastic ML models)? Is the problem that they are comparing themselves to Tik Tok?
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
EGreg 4y ago
I have. I received mostly derision and apathy from 98% of people https://qbix.com/platform https://qbix.com/platform https://intercoin.org/applications https://intercoin.org/applications https://rational.app https://rational.app
- moffkalast 4y ago
  > tackle a problem that might actually be difficult and meaningful to humanity > posts a link to a crypto ponzi scheme > mostly derision and apathy Gee I wonder why.
  - EGreg 4y ago
    Can you please describe how the ponzi scheme works? Seems you can just download open source software and use it without buying any tokens… and even if you did buy tokens, where is the ponzi? Many startups are “almost” ponzi schemes, where money from later stage investors keeps propping up a business that has negative unit economics, offen no revenues. Twitter made zero revenues when it was valued at $100M. Who paid the bills? Twitter has been losing money when Elon’s group bought it. Who’s paying the bills? On the other hand I am giving away software for free, that took 4 years to write, that I paid hundreds of thousands to a team I work with, and took jobs to do it. I give it away for free, you don’t even LOOK at it and call it a ponzi. Yep, my description is accurate. The grandparent commenter asked: doesn't anyone want to tackle a problem that might actually be difficult and meaningful to humanity rather than "how can I come up with novel ways to get people to be stuck on their phones for longer?" This is why. Capital talks. And capital is invested mostly in bullshit that can produce hype, not open source software that can change the world. People don’t look at substance, they follow trends. I give away software for free that solves the very problems many people on HN are hired to solve for years and people can’t be bothered to look unless there is hype around it first. You have your answer right here.
    - moffkalast 4y ago
      Sure that's all well and true, though you somehow missed the part where web3 fits the "bullshit that can produce hype" description perfectly. What separates your app from thousands others that pretend to do something profound but end up rugpulling in a few months? I suppose the part where you actually need to get people's money before running away with it... The entire industry is so tainted by bad actors that only complete hacks are still interested in doing anything in it, which will only continue to reduce the percentage of legit projects until there are none at all. > Seems you can just download open source software and use it without buying any tokens… and even if you did buy tokens, where is the ponzi? All crypto fundamentally works on the principle. Prices are based on popularity and demand alone, or hype as you call it. There's nothing of actual value there. Just because you're a side participant doesn't make it any less that. Like buying a Herbalife drink or something. > Many startups are “almost” ponzi schemes That's entirely correct, and so is most of the stock market (non-dividend paying stocks) and practically all pension systems worldwide pretty much. It's all an unsustainable trainwreck in the long run.
- miamowers 4y ago
  Making my cursor constantly emit particles creates a visceral disgust in me, so like, stop that, and maybe you'll get a better response
  - EGreg 4y ago
    Someone else told me also that I’m using the wrong fonts and colors. They said once they saw Comic Sans used in a text bubble they instantly closed the website and didn’t look any further. Tomorrow I am supposed to interview Noam Chomsky again, with David Harvey. I wonder how many people have said “Noam speaks in such a slow and boring way, I tuned out immediately.” Guess what… he is famous so people don’t say that :) I enjoy getting these reactions because later on when we finally turn on the hype I will have a collection of how people react to substance rather than superficial things and hype. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hnOPu0_YWhw https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hnOPu0_YWhw
RGamma 4y ago
Yet another example that smart =/ wise.
anonporridge 4y ago
Judging by the emerging visceral hatred from society for people like Bill Gates and Elon Musk who have that stated goal of working to make a better world with their wealth and power and make a better present and/or future for humanity, why bother sticking your neck out like that? Keep your head down and give the masses more of the opiate that they keep demanding. /s
- atonse 4y ago
  Even though I (and many others) have deeply respected Musk for all that he’s done the last decade, he’s gone and screwed it up with this idiotic distraction that is twitter. And in the process he’s totally messed up his legacy. The visceral hate for Musk’s actions in the past 6 months feels warranted. I’m annoyed as a Tesla owner that he’s distracted with these silly things instead of staying his original course. Meanwhile Tesla as a company has completely stagnated.
- rurp 4y ago
  > Bill Gates and Elon Musk who have that stated goal of working to make a better world with their wealth and power and make a better present and/or future for humanity This might be hard to believe, but sometimes billionaires say things they don't really mean if it will get them more power.
stainablesteel 4y ago
Actually, facilitating other people to communicate in novel ways in turn facilitates more people doing difficult and meaningful things across more mediums. It may as well be an economic model because demand of communication platforms is bringing out a supply of efficiency and not just addiction. If it's successful it's a net win.
Gatsky 4y ago
Bryan Caplan’s advice: “Stop paying attention to things that aggravate you unless (a) they concretely affect your life AND (b) you can realistically do something about them. Start by ceasing to follow national and world news.”
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
tormeh 4y ago
Allow me to be a bit nihilist: Nothing we do matters. In fact, if you ask why enough you'll realize meaning has no definition that is independent of an observer. So entertainment, as something humans value in and of itself, is perhaps the most worthy cause you can devote yourself to.
- acchow 4y ago
  Perhaps some technology to help tackle some of the world's human suffering instead?
  - moffkalast 4y ago
    Oh but we have the technology for that already. We can nuke each other to extinction which may increase suffering momentarily, but will reduce it to zero in the long run ;)
jjtheblunt 4y ago
to your point, i believe Google also funded 23andMe, which some understandably view as amassing private genetic information but which also surfaces huge-dataset-based actionable health insights for those using the service.
nostromo 4y ago
For all the hate Musk gets, I love that he really does take on big problems. Gates too, obviously. I wish we had more billionaires like them.
TechBro8615 4y ago
News consumption and news media in general is a major societal problem right now. Building a new way of consuming news is not as vapid a pursuit as it may seem at first glance.
- moffkalast 4y ago
  That may be true, but going towards even faster news and shortening our attention spans even more doesn't seem like the step in the right direction. More like just exacerbating the problem.
- atonse 4y ago
  And these guys are saying their app will identify misinformation and encourage people to find good information?
  - TechBro8615 4y ago
    People who "identify misinformation" used to be described as "censorious." I don't want anyone defining misinformation and deciding what to show me. I have no idea what the plans for this app are - the landing page is not exactly rich in detail. But I'm open to trying any app that gives me more control over my informational input streams, without the noise of blogspam, ads, paywalls and all the other nuisances that come with modern day news reading. I appreciate that Gmail filters spam for me, but only as long as I can open the "spam" folder and see for myself which emails were marked as spam. I would not appreciate a service that "filters" my news without offering the same level of transparency.

by atonse 4y ago

RC_ITR 4y ago

It's interesting that you bring up Google, a company founded to 'organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.' Isn't that exactly what Artifact is doing (but instead of rules-based search algorithms, it's using stochastic ML models)? Is the problem that they are comparing themselves to Tik Tok?

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

EGreg 4y ago

I have. I received mostly derision and apathy from 98% of people https://qbix.com/platform https://qbix.com/platform https://intercoin.org/applications https://intercoin.org/applications https://rational.app https://rational.app

moffkalast 4y ago
> tackle a problem that might actually be difficult and meaningful to humanity > posts a link to a crypto ponzi scheme > mostly derision and apathy Gee I wonder why.
- EGreg 4y ago
  Can you please describe how the ponzi scheme works? Seems you can just download open source software and use it without buying any tokens… and even if you did buy tokens, where is the ponzi? Many startups are “almost” ponzi schemes, where money from later stage investors keeps propping up a business that has negative unit economics, offen no revenues. Twitter made zero revenues when it was valued at $100M. Who paid the bills? Twitter has been losing money when Elon’s group bought it. Who’s paying the bills? On the other hand I am giving away software for free, that took 4 years to write, that I paid hundreds of thousands to a team I work with, and took jobs to do it. I give it away for free, you don’t even LOOK at it and call it a ponzi. Yep, my description is accurate. The grandparent commenter asked: doesn't anyone want to tackle a problem that might actually be difficult and meaningful to humanity rather than "how can I come up with novel ways to get people to be stuck on their phones for longer?" This is why. Capital talks. And capital is invested mostly in bullshit that can produce hype, not open source software that can change the world. People don’t look at substance, they follow trends. I give away software for free that solves the very problems many people on HN are hired to solve for years and people can’t be bothered to look unless there is hype around it first. You have your answer right here.
  - moffkalast 4y ago
    Sure that's all well and true, though you somehow missed the part where web3 fits the "bullshit that can produce hype" description perfectly. What separates your app from thousands others that pretend to do something profound but end up rugpulling in a few months? I suppose the part where you actually need to get people's money before running away with it... The entire industry is so tainted by bad actors that only complete hacks are still interested in doing anything in it, which will only continue to reduce the percentage of legit projects until there are none at all. > Seems you can just download open source software and use it without buying any tokens… and even if you did buy tokens, where is the ponzi? All crypto fundamentally works on the principle. Prices are based on popularity and demand alone, or hype as you call it. There's nothing of actual value there. Just because you're a side participant doesn't make it any less that. Like buying a Herbalife drink or something. > Many startups are “almost” ponzi schemes That's entirely correct, and so is most of the stock market (non-dividend paying stocks) and practically all pension systems worldwide pretty much. It's all an unsustainable trainwreck in the long run.
miamowers 4y ago
Making my cursor constantly emit particles creates a visceral disgust in me, so like, stop that, and maybe you'll get a better response
- EGreg 4y ago
  Someone else told me also that I’m using the wrong fonts and colors. They said once they saw Comic Sans used in a text bubble they instantly closed the website and didn’t look any further. Tomorrow I am supposed to interview Noam Chomsky again, with David Harvey. I wonder how many people have said “Noam speaks in such a slow and boring way, I tuned out immediately.” Guess what… he is famous so people don’t say that :) I enjoy getting these reactions because later on when we finally turn on the hype I will have a collection of how people react to substance rather than superficial things and hype. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hnOPu0_YWhw https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hnOPu0_YWhw

RGamma 4y ago

Yet another example that smart =/ wise.

anonporridge 4y ago

Judging by the emerging visceral hatred from society for people like Bill Gates and Elon Musk who have that stated goal of working to make a better world with their wealth and power and make a better present and/or future for humanity, why bother sticking your neck out like that? Keep your head down and give the masses more of the opiate that they keep demanding. /s

atonse 4y ago
Even though I (and many others) have deeply respected Musk for all that he’s done the last decade, he’s gone and screwed it up with this idiotic distraction that is twitter. And in the process he’s totally messed up his legacy. The visceral hate for Musk’s actions in the past 6 months feels warranted. I’m annoyed as a Tesla owner that he’s distracted with these silly things instead of staying his original course. Meanwhile Tesla as a company has completely stagnated.
rurp 4y ago
> Bill Gates and Elon Musk who have that stated goal of working to make a better world with their wealth and power and make a better present and/or future for humanity This might be hard to believe, but sometimes billionaires say things they don't really mean if it will get them more power.

stainablesteel 4y ago

Actually, facilitating other people to communicate in novel ways in turn facilitates more people doing difficult and meaningful things across more mediums. It may as well be an economic model because demand of communication platforms is bringing out a supply of efficiency and not just addiction. If it's successful it's a net win.

Gatsky 4y ago

Bryan Caplan’s advice: “Stop paying attention to things that aggravate you unless (a) they concretely affect your life AND (b) you can realistically do something about them. Start by ceasing to follow national and world news.”

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

tormeh 4y ago

Allow me to be a bit nihilist: Nothing we do matters. In fact, if you ask why enough you'll realize meaning has no definition that is independent of an observer. So entertainment, as something humans value in and of itself, is perhaps the most worthy cause you can devote yourself to.

acchow 4y ago
Perhaps some technology to help tackle some of the world's human suffering instead?
- moffkalast 4y ago
  Oh but we have the technology for that already. We can nuke each other to extinction which may increase suffering momentarily, but will reduce it to zero in the long run ;)

jjtheblunt 4y ago

to your point, i believe Google also funded 23andMe, which some understandably view as amassing private genetic information but which also surfaces huge-dataset-based actionable health insights for those using the service.

nostromo 4y ago

For all the hate Musk gets, I love that he really does take on big problems. Gates too, obviously. I wish we had more billionaires like them.

TechBro8615 4y ago

News consumption and news media in general is a major societal problem right now. Building a new way of consuming news is not as vapid a pursuit as it may seem at first glance.

moffkalast 4y ago
That may be true, but going towards even faster news and shortening our attention spans even more doesn't seem like the step in the right direction. More like just exacerbating the problem.
atonse 4y ago
And these guys are saying their app will identify misinformation and encourage people to find good information?
- TechBro8615 4y ago
  People who "identify misinformation" used to be described as "censorious." I don't want anyone defining misinformation and deciding what to show me. I have no idea what the plans for this app are - the landing page is not exactly rich in detail. But I'm open to trying any app that gives me more control over my informational input streams, without the noise of blogspam, ads, paywalls and all the other nuisances that come with modern day news reading. I appreciate that Gmail filters spam for me, but only as long as I can open the "spam" folder and see for myself which emails were marked as spam. I would not appreciate a service that "filters" my news without offering the same level of transparency.