3 ms·

This tacit endorsement by YCombinator of the likes of Elon Musk and Sam Altman must be condemned in the strongest possible terms. Like Sam Altman's abrupt Face-

• palmotea 2y ago
  > Like Sam Altman's abrupt Face-Heel turn from staunch and eloquent Trump critic into gushing bootlicker [0], Didn't the OpenAI drama (and the other stories about Altman that came out of that) already make it clear he is not a trustworthy person? > it is a shocking wakeup call that Silicon Valley monied interests either lack principles entirely, or else adhere to principles fundamentally at odds with liberal democracy [1]. I'd take it farther: it's testament to a fundamental terribleness of computer geeks. I remember when people would say we'd make better leaders (and we'd say things like that to ourselves). It turns out our kind is way worse.
  • archagon 2y ago
    In fairness, most of these Trump lickers are not "computer geeks." They're venture capitalists and businessmen working in tech who pretend to be geeks.
    • palmotea 2y ago
      > In fairness, most of these Trump lickers are not "computer geeks." They're venture capitalists and businessmen working in tech who pretend to be geeks. I'm not so sure. For instance Marc Andreessen coded as a kid (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marc-Andreessen https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marc-Andreessen) and worked as a software developer employee (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Andreessen#Early_life_and_education https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Andreessen#Early_life_and...). Elon Musk also coded as a kid (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk#Early_life https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk#Early_life) and was doing development for his earliest startup (at least). They started as computer geeks and became "venture capitalists and businessmen" later.
      • archagon 2y ago
        [flagged]
        • palmotea 2y ago
          > Musk lies about fucking everything and "geek" is just his polished marketing image. He does lie all the time, and I definitely don't buy all the "he's a genius" talk, but I would be very surprised if he hadn't coded at all. His primary geek phase may have been mostly confined to childhood, though.
• disqard 2y ago
  I was debating with someone else on here that the "base layer" is "men with guns" [1] They responded that the base layer is "money". I have to concede that the behavior of Tech bosses is easier to explain using the money model. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42938656 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42938656