7 ms·

Or how about this analogy - Google removing "don't be evil." Does it mean anything? Maybe not, but it probably signifies an internal political shift, and we mig

Or how about this analogy - Google removing "don't be evil." Does it mean anything? Maybe not, but it probably signifies an internal political shift, and we might want to keep an eye out to see what it is.

credit_guy 2y ago
I think that analogy is also imperfect. Google's "don't be evil" motto was just a reflection of beginner's naivete. It's something that a garage-level startup can say. But once you grow past a certain scale, the statement is too vague, and exposes a company to too much litigation risk. Dropping the motto did not reflect the transition of Google from a force of good to a force of evil. It reflected the transition of Google from being an idealist adolescent to being an adult.
- GolfPopper 2y ago
  An "adult" who subsequently moved to the deep end of the alignment pool.
GolfPopper 2y ago
More than this, it shouldn't be taken in isolation. I keeping seeing people trying to analyze each action of the current government of the United States on its own. "Okay, the NIH, rescinded its brand new scientific integrity policy. So what? There's potentially many perfectly valid reasons for doing that!" Which is technically true, but not necessarily useful. But when you look at it in context the picture doesn't remain the same. The NIH is part of Health and Human Services. The same HHS that just launched a major research project headed by a research of questionable ethics who's been stripped of his medical license[1], while the Director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (also part of HHS) just resigned, complaining of 'misinformation and lies'.[2] And those were just example from the last two days. Its the difference between "that might be smoke" and "that might be smoke, this is really hot, and I can see what look like flames". Sure, stripped of context, this could have a great many explanations. But it context, it looks like one piece of a picture that appears to show a HHS up to no good. 1. https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/the-cdcs-reported-hire-for-a-new-vaccine-study-is-a-discredited-misinformation-agent/ar-AA1BVZ49 https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/the-cdcs-reported-hir... 2. https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/top-vaccine-official-resigns-from-fda-criticizes-rfk-jr-for-promoting-misinformation-and-lies/ar-AA1BUp7Q https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/top-vaccine-official-...

credit_guy 2y ago

I think that analogy is also imperfect. Google's "don't be evil" motto was just a reflection of beginner's naivete. It's something that a garage-level startup can say. But once you grow past a certain scale, the statement is too vague, and exposes a company to too much litigation risk. Dropping the motto did not reflect the transition of Google from a force of good to a force of evil. It reflected the transition of Google from being an idealist adolescent to being an adult.

GolfPopper 2y ago
An "adult" who subsequently moved to the deep end of the alignment pool.

GolfPopper 2y ago

More than this, it shouldn't be taken in isolation. I keeping seeing people trying to analyze each action of the current government of the United States on its own. "Okay, the NIH, rescinded its brand new scientific integrity policy. So what? There's potentially many perfectly valid reasons for doing that!" Which is technically true, but not necessarily useful. But when you look at it in context the picture doesn't remain the same. The NIH is part of Health and Human Services. The same HHS that just launched a major research project headed by a research of questionable ethics who's been stripped of his medical license[1], while the Director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (also part of HHS) just resigned, complaining of 'misinformation and lies'.[2] And those were just example from the last two days. Its the difference between "that might be smoke" and "that might be smoke, this is really hot, and I can see what look like flames". Sure, stripped of context, this could have a great many explanations. But it context, it looks like one piece of a picture that appears to show a HHS up to no good. 1. https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/the-cdcs-reported-hire-for-a-new-vaccine-study-is-a-discredited-misinformation-agent/ar-AA1BVZ49 https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/the-cdcs-reported-hir... 2. https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/top-vaccine-official-resigns-from-fda-criticizes-rfk-jr-for-promoting-misinformation-and-lies/ar-AA1BUp7Q https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/top-vaccine-official-...