6 ms·

Sam: "I'm not in it for the money. I have principles." World: "But what if it was like, a lot of money?" Sam: "Oh alright you convinced me. Fuck my principles

by feoren 2y ago

Sam: "I'm not in it for the money. I have principles." World: "But what if it was like, a lot of money?" Sam: "Oh alright you convinced me. Fuck my principles."

pj_mukh 2y ago
What do you do with a a lot of money past a point? A corporate controlled AGI being just a stop on the way to build another private space agency seems like a...letdown.
- talldayo 2y ago
  To be honest, I would take a private space agency 7 days out of the week with that kind of capital. We have no fundamental proof that LLMs will scale to the intelligence levels that we imagine in our heads. The industry application for LLMs is even weaker than computer vision, and the public sentiment is almost completely against it. Sam's product is hype; eventually people are going to realize that Q* and Strawberry were marketing moves intended to extend OpenAI's news cycle relevancy and not serious steps towards superintelligence. We were promised tools, and they're shipping toys. I could tell you in very plain terms how a competitor to Boeing and SpaceX would benefit the American economy. I have not even the faintest fucking clue what "AGI" even is, or how it's profitable if it resembles the LLMs that OpenAI is selling today.
  - cdchn 2y ago
    Private space agency and LLMs both seem like big industries going nowhere driven by sci-fi hopes and dreams.
    - sfblah 2y ago
      Not sure I agree with you here. I use LLMs all the time for work. I've never once used a space agency for anything.
      - cdchn 2y ago
        I think they're both overhyped by sci-fi optimism but I would agree (even being mostly an AI minimalist) the impact of LLMs (and their improvement velocity) is a lot meaningful to me right now. I mean satellites are cool and all.
      - macintux 2y ago
        GPS, weather forecasting, tv broadcasting…I’ve been using a space agency for as long as I’ve been alive.
      - blendergeek 2y ago
        My Dad uses SpaceX to work from home every day.
        starspangled 2y ago
        SpaceX is not a private space agency though, it is a private space launch and satellite communications company, which has revolutionized access to space and access to communication, providing enormous social benefit. People use SpaceX every day even if they never connected to a starlink -- the lower costs that governments pay for space launches means more money for other things, not to mention no longer paying Russia for launches or engines.
    - blendergeek 2y ago
      Its interesting how first impressions can be so deceiving. The world's largest private space agency (SpaceX) has completely changed the game in rural internet connectivity. Once upon a time, large chunks of the US had no reliable high speed internet. SpaceX has brought high-speed low-latency internet to every corner of the globe, even the middle of the ocean and Antarctica. This isn't going nowhere even if it seems that way.
      - latexr 2y ago
        > SpaceX has brought high-speed low-latency internet to every corner of the globe Which sounds all well and good until you realise it’s at the complete whims of one highly misinformed and reactionary individual. He’s one made-up article away from turning sides and fucking everything up. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink_in_the_Russo-Ukrainian_War#General_reactions_over_Elon_Musk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink_in_the_Russo-Ukrainia... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Views_of_Elon_Musk#Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Views_of_Elon_Musk#Russian_inv...
        inemesitaffia 2y ago
        It's not going nowhere though.
  - pj_mukh 2y ago
    I would agree with you that a space agency is also useful (maybe more useful some days of the week). Sam disagrees and thinks he can do better without a non-profit board now. I'm glad we live in a world where he gets to try and we get to tax him and his employees to do other things we consider useful.
  - hackernewds 2y ago
    This comment reeks of Steve Ballmer opinion of Apple and the Internet early days. If you work at any decent technology company, you realize AI applications every where and the pending mass layoffs. Or nimbler startups replicating their work more efficiently.
    - k__ 2y ago
      Fair. On the other hand, just because the execs who do the layoffs bought into the narrative it doesn't mean they're right.
    - talldayo 2y ago
      This comment reeks of Tim Cook's opinion of OpenAI in the late days of Apple's inability to create anything innovative in-house.
- vasco 2y ago
  Kid Rock did it first, but a golden toilet would be my answer.
- BrianHenryIE 2y ago
  Let me recommend my favourite TikTok/YouTube channel of late, The Forest Jar what annoys you?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9Le1ibX2zY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9Le1ibX2zY > if you went to a group of investors and pitched a board game where the winners get space ships and the losers die, they'd call you crazy. But if you suggested to those same investors that perhaps we shouldn't organize our entire society that way, they'd call you crazy.
  - pj_mukh 2y ago
    "where the winners get space ships and the losers die," The Social Security budget is $1.4 Trillion, just the federal welfare budget is >$1Trillion (not including state budgets), and then there's medicare. Meanwhile, the NASA budget is <$25B (with SpaceX's operating budget and profits being a fraction of that) I wish we lived in that simple of a world. But we don't.
    - permo-w 2y ago
      this is a complete non-sequitur. the US social security budget does not go to one person or a small group of oligarchs
      - pj_mukh 2y ago
        “the winners get space ships and the losers die, they'd call you crazy” Was the original quote. I just showed that you could get rid of all rockets ever made and it would be a rounding error for any funds used to save the “losers” from dying. How is that a non-sequitur?
- KSteffensen 2y ago
  Cure cancer? Solve this climate change thing?
- latexr 2y ago
  > What do you do with a a lot of money past a point? Feed the hungry. House the homeless. Give away money unconditionally to those in need. Build hospitals in poor countries. Fight disinformation on crucial topics (such as climate change). Provide disaster relief. Not build more power hungry technology that exacerbates our current problems. Do literally anything positive for another person, that does not harm others. The list is pretty big when one isn’t selfish; there’s no law forcing anyone to build space agencies. A lack of imagination is not an excuse.
  - pj_mukh 2y ago
    "Feed the hungry. House the homeless" Funnel $10B in housing to Los Angeles and you'll build less than 100 units of housing, because the inflationary push of that money would balloon the cost of per unit housing. I don't want to imagine the effect of that on middle class housing. Funnel $10B of food to xyz famine region and you've undercut local farmers for generations. Happens all the time [1]. And that's assuming you can get the aid past local corruption. These problems aren't as simple as people assume, and I'm low-key happy young naive Billionaire's are avoiding these issues instead of trying to throw their weight around. FWIW: Sam's already funneled a bunch of money into green energy production[2]. [1]: https://haitisolidarity.net/in-the-news/how-the-united-states-crippled-haitis-domestic-rice-industry/ https://haitisolidarity.net/in-the-news/how-the-united-state... [2]: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/25/sam-altman-backed-nuclear-startup-oklo-to-start-site-work-for-idaho-microreactor.html https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/25/sam-altman-backed-nuclear-st...
    - exceptione 2y ago
      > Funnel $10B in housing to Los Angeles and you'll build less than 100 units of housing, because the inflationary push of that money would balloon the cost of per unit housing. I don't want to imagine the effect of that on middle class housing. Doesn't make sense to me. An uptick in construction work will not be an inflation balloon. More disposable income doesn't mean 1:1 more spending. If you build a lot of (social) housing, you put at worst a lot of people a roof above their head. Families having less financial stress might lower crime rate and improve children school scores. They might save to start businesses or find their other talents. For some, this might be a downside tough. It makes workers more educated, healthier, more stable, less desperate and less dependent on bosses, plus they might be less angry so politically less exploitable too.
ninepoints 2y ago
Anyone who had any respect for Sam "Give me your eyeball data" Altman was always delusional.
downrightmike 2y ago
And that is why SkyNet decided immediately to destroy everyone.
grahamj 2y ago
Sam: That was child's play for me

by feoren 2y ago

Sam: "I'm not in it for the money. I have principles." World: "But what if it was like, a lot of money?" Sam: "Oh alright you convinced me. Fuck my principles."

pj_mukh 2y ago

What do you do with a a lot of money past a point? A corporate controlled AGI being just a stop on the way to build another private space agency seems like a...letdown.

talldayo 2y ago
To be honest, I would take a private space agency 7 days out of the week with that kind of capital. We have no fundamental proof that LLMs will scale to the intelligence levels that we imagine in our heads. The industry application for LLMs is even weaker than computer vision, and the public sentiment is almost completely against it. Sam's product is hype; eventually people are going to realize that Q* and Strawberry were marketing moves intended to extend OpenAI's news cycle relevancy and not serious steps towards superintelligence. We were promised tools, and they're shipping toys. I could tell you in very plain terms how a competitor to Boeing and SpaceX would benefit the American economy. I have not even the faintest fucking clue what "AGI" even is, or how it's profitable if it resembles the LLMs that OpenAI is selling today.
- cdchn 2y ago
  Private space agency and LLMs both seem like big industries going nowhere driven by sci-fi hopes and dreams.
  - sfblah 2y ago
    Not sure I agree with you here. I use LLMs all the time for work. I've never once used a space agency for anything.
    - cdchn 2y ago
      I think they're both overhyped by sci-fi optimism but I would agree (even being mostly an AI minimalist) the impact of LLMs (and their improvement velocity) is a lot meaningful to me right now. I mean satellites are cool and all.
    - macintux 2y ago
      GPS, weather forecasting, tv broadcasting…I’ve been using a space agency for as long as I’ve been alive.
    - blendergeek 2y ago
      My Dad uses SpaceX to work from home every day.
      - starspangled 2y ago
        SpaceX is not a private space agency though, it is a private space launch and satellite communications company, which has revolutionized access to space and access to communication, providing enormous social benefit. People use SpaceX every day even if they never connected to a starlink -- the lower costs that governments pay for space launches means more money for other things, not to mention no longer paying Russia for launches or engines.
  - blendergeek 2y ago
    Its interesting how first impressions can be so deceiving. The world's largest private space agency (SpaceX) has completely changed the game in rural internet connectivity. Once upon a time, large chunks of the US had no reliable high speed internet. SpaceX has brought high-speed low-latency internet to every corner of the globe, even the middle of the ocean and Antarctica. This isn't going nowhere even if it seems that way.
    - latexr 2y ago
      > SpaceX has brought high-speed low-latency internet to every corner of the globe Which sounds all well and good until you realise it’s at the complete whims of one highly misinformed and reactionary individual. He’s one made-up article away from turning sides and fucking everything up. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink_in_the_Russo-Ukrainian_War#General_reactions_over_Elon_Musk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink_in_the_Russo-Ukrainia... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Views_of_Elon_Musk#Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Views_of_Elon_Musk#Russian_inv...
      - inemesitaffia 2y ago
        It's not going nowhere though.
- pj_mukh 2y ago
  I would agree with you that a space agency is also useful (maybe more useful some days of the week). Sam disagrees and thinks he can do better without a non-profit board now. I'm glad we live in a world where he gets to try and we get to tax him and his employees to do other things we consider useful.
- hackernewds 2y ago
  This comment reeks of Steve Ballmer opinion of Apple and the Internet early days. If you work at any decent technology company, you realize AI applications every where and the pending mass layoffs. Or nimbler startups replicating their work more efficiently.
  - k__ 2y ago
    Fair. On the other hand, just because the execs who do the layoffs bought into the narrative it doesn't mean they're right.
  - talldayo 2y ago
    This comment reeks of Tim Cook's opinion of OpenAI in the late days of Apple's inability to create anything innovative in-house.
vasco 2y ago
Kid Rock did it first, but a golden toilet would be my answer.
BrianHenryIE 2y ago
Let me recommend my favourite TikTok/YouTube channel of late, The Forest Jar what annoys you?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9Le1ibX2zY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9Le1ibX2zY > if you went to a group of investors and pitched a board game where the winners get space ships and the losers die, they'd call you crazy. But if you suggested to those same investors that perhaps we shouldn't organize our entire society that way, they'd call you crazy.
- pj_mukh 2y ago
  "where the winners get space ships and the losers die," The Social Security budget is $1.4 Trillion, just the federal welfare budget is >$1Trillion (not including state budgets), and then there's medicare. Meanwhile, the NASA budget is <$25B (with SpaceX's operating budget and profits being a fraction of that) I wish we lived in that simple of a world. But we don't.
  - permo-w 2y ago
    this is a complete non-sequitur. the US social security budget does not go to one person or a small group of oligarchs
    - pj_mukh 2y ago
      “the winners get space ships and the losers die, they'd call you crazy” Was the original quote. I just showed that you could get rid of all rockets ever made and it would be a rounding error for any funds used to save the “losers” from dying. How is that a non-sequitur?
KSteffensen 2y ago
Cure cancer? Solve this climate change thing?
latexr 2y ago
> What do you do with a a lot of money past a point? Feed the hungry. House the homeless. Give away money unconditionally to those in need. Build hospitals in poor countries. Fight disinformation on crucial topics (such as climate change). Provide disaster relief. Not build more power hungry technology that exacerbates our current problems. Do literally anything positive for another person, that does not harm others. The list is pretty big when one isn’t selfish; there’s no law forcing anyone to build space agencies. A lack of imagination is not an excuse.
- pj_mukh 2y ago
  "Feed the hungry. House the homeless" Funnel $10B in housing to Los Angeles and you'll build less than 100 units of housing, because the inflationary push of that money would balloon the cost of per unit housing. I don't want to imagine the effect of that on middle class housing. Funnel $10B of food to xyz famine region and you've undercut local farmers for generations. Happens all the time [1]. And that's assuming you can get the aid past local corruption. These problems aren't as simple as people assume, and I'm low-key happy young naive Billionaire's are avoiding these issues instead of trying to throw their weight around. FWIW: Sam's already funneled a bunch of money into green energy production[2]. [1]: https://haitisolidarity.net/in-the-news/how-the-united-states-crippled-haitis-domestic-rice-industry/ https://haitisolidarity.net/in-the-news/how-the-united-state... [2]: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/25/sam-altman-backed-nuclear-startup-oklo-to-start-site-work-for-idaho-microreactor.html https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/25/sam-altman-backed-nuclear-st...
  - exceptione 2y ago
    > Funnel $10B in housing to Los Angeles and you'll build less than 100 units of housing, because the inflationary push of that money would balloon the cost of per unit housing. I don't want to imagine the effect of that on middle class housing. Doesn't make sense to me. An uptick in construction work will not be an inflation balloon. More disposable income doesn't mean 1:1 more spending. If you build a lot of (social) housing, you put at worst a lot of people a roof above their head. Families having less financial stress might lower crime rate and improve children school scores. They might save to start businesses or find their other talents. For some, this might be a downside tough. It makes workers more educated, healthier, more stable, less desperate and less dependent on bosses, plus they might be less angry so politically less exploitable too.

ninepoints 2y ago

Anyone who had any respect for Sam "Give me your eyeball data" Altman was always delusional.

downrightmike 2y ago

And that is why SkyNet decided immediately to destroy everyone.

grahamj 2y ago

Sam: That was child's play for me