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Hacker News represents hackers, not Boards of Directors. The hackers of OpenAI overwhelmingly demanded Sam back. Everyone here should be happy.

627467 3y ago
Reading through comments I felt that at least superficially many in HN thought this was a fight between "business exec(s) and technical/qualified scientists" as if any organization can exist based purely on technical (as in technological or academic) expertise. If anything, this novela should tech the importance of politics in any human organization.
yumraj 3y ago
Their wallets demanded Sam back. The original, founder hacker lost.
- behringer 3y ago
  Just the way the users here like it.
  - yumraj 3y ago
    You may want to speak for just yourself. I’m also a user here, with a differing opinion. There’s no singular unified HN opinion.
- civilized 3y ago
  Who exactly are you referring to?
  - yumraj 3y ago
    Ilya, lost. One of the original hackers I should have said. There are other original hackers.
    - YetAnotherNick 3y ago
      Unless you assume that Ilya is straight out lying, here is his public reaction on Sam being reinstated: There exists no sentence in any language that conveys how happy I am[1] [1]: https://twitter.com/ilyasut/status/1727434066411286557 https://twitter.com/ilyasut/status/1727434066411286557
      - yumraj 3y ago
        Unless you read it literally, that there is really no sentence in any language to convey how happy he is. ;) He was part of the firing board, so in that sense he did lose. Either way we’ll find out in the upcoming days/weeks/months.
        YetAnotherNick 3y ago
        He has basically guaranteed himself loosing by saying he don't know why Sam was fired and regretful of board action. He was in a lose lose situation.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
ahahahahah 3y ago
[flagged]
- 0xDEAFBEAD 3y ago
  I think maybe what you're trying to say here is that HN tends to be anti-capitalism. Personally, I'm pro-capitalism. As a capitalist bean counter, I feel that it's important for OpenAI to uphold its "primary fiduciary duty" to me and other humans, as described in its charter: https://openai.com/charter https://openai.com/charter
queuebert 3y ago
Why do the hackers support Sam? He's the least hacker-y of the major players at OpenAI. Seems like more of a fundraiser, marketing type with little technical skills. Hackers traditionally support technically competent people.
corethree 3y ago
That demand on HN was an unfounded gut based reaction that you typically expect from a mob. People were saying stuff like the board was mentally deficient for doing what they did. How likely is it for the board to be actually dumb to the point of actual stupidity? If you think about it, the board being actually mentally challenged is an extremely low probability but that was the mob reaction. When given so little information they just go with the flow even if the flow is unlikely. Now with more articles, the mentality has shifted. Most people don't even remember their initial reaction. Yeah It looks like everybody on this thread has flipped, but who admits to flipping? Ask anyone and they'll claim they were skeptical all along. People say The hacker news crowd is different, better... I'd say the hacker news crowd is the same as any other group. The difference is they think they're better. That includes me... as I'm part of HN so don't get all offended.
- 0xDEAFBEAD 3y ago
  As bad as the mob mentality is on HN, I think it is much worse on Twitter. I got a bunch of upvotes here on HN for linking the charter and pointing out that terminating OpenAI as an organization would be quite consistent with the charter. I didn't see the same point getting much play on Twitter at all. I think the fact that upvotes are hidden on HN actually helps reduce the mob mentality a significant amount. Humans have a strong instinct to join whichever coalition appears to be most powerful. Hiding vote counts makes it harder to identify the currently-popular coalition, which nudges people towards actually thinking for themselves.
wraptile 3y ago
Yes that's why the hackers got a seat on the board now! Oh wait it was the $$$ that got a seat instead...

627467 3y ago

Reading through comments I felt that at least superficially many in HN thought this was a fight between "business exec(s) and technical/qualified scientists" as if any organization can exist based purely on technical (as in technological or academic) expertise. If anything, this novela should tech the importance of politics in any human organization.

yumraj 3y ago

Their wallets demanded Sam back. The original, founder hacker lost.

behringer 3y ago
Just the way the users here like it.
- yumraj 3y ago
  You may want to speak for just yourself. I’m also a user here, with a differing opinion. There’s no singular unified HN opinion.
civilized 3y ago
Who exactly are you referring to?
- yumraj 3y ago
  Ilya, lost. One of the original hackers I should have said. There are other original hackers.
  - YetAnotherNick 3y ago
    Unless you assume that Ilya is straight out lying, here is his public reaction on Sam being reinstated: There exists no sentence in any language that conveys how happy I am[1] [1]: https://twitter.com/ilyasut/status/1727434066411286557 https://twitter.com/ilyasut/status/1727434066411286557
    - yumraj 3y ago
      Unless you read it literally, that there is really no sentence in any language to convey how happy he is. ;) He was part of the firing board, so in that sense he did lose. Either way we’ll find out in the upcoming days/weeks/months.
      - YetAnotherNick 3y ago
        He has basically guaranteed himself loosing by saying he don't know why Sam was fired and regretful of board action. He was in a lose lose situation.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

ahahahahah 3y ago

[flagged]

0xDEAFBEAD 3y ago
I think maybe what you're trying to say here is that HN tends to be anti-capitalism. Personally, I'm pro-capitalism. As a capitalist bean counter, I feel that it's important for OpenAI to uphold its "primary fiduciary duty" to me and other humans, as described in its charter: https://openai.com/charter https://openai.com/charter

queuebert 3y ago

Why do the hackers support Sam? He's the least hacker-y of the major players at OpenAI. Seems like more of a fundraiser, marketing type with little technical skills. Hackers traditionally support technically competent people.

corethree 3y ago

That demand on HN was an unfounded gut based reaction that you typically expect from a mob. People were saying stuff like the board was mentally deficient for doing what they did. How likely is it for the board to be actually dumb to the point of actual stupidity? If you think about it, the board being actually mentally challenged is an extremely low probability but that was the mob reaction. When given so little information they just go with the flow even if the flow is unlikely. Now with more articles, the mentality has shifted. Most people don't even remember their initial reaction. Yeah It looks like everybody on this thread has flipped, but who admits to flipping? Ask anyone and they'll claim they were skeptical all along. People say The hacker news crowd is different, better... I'd say the hacker news crowd is the same as any other group. The difference is they think they're better. That includes me... as I'm part of HN so don't get all offended.

0xDEAFBEAD 3y ago
As bad as the mob mentality is on HN, I think it is much worse on Twitter. I got a bunch of upvotes here on HN for linking the charter and pointing out that terminating OpenAI as an organization would be quite consistent with the charter. I didn't see the same point getting much play on Twitter at all. I think the fact that upvotes are hidden on HN actually helps reduce the mob mentality a significant amount. Humans have a strong instinct to join whichever coalition appears to be most powerful. Hiding vote counts makes it harder to identify the currently-popular coalition, which nudges people towards actually thinking for themselves.

wraptile 3y ago

Yes that's why the hackers got a seat on the board now! Oh wait it was the $$$ that got a seat instead...