4 ms·

How does a billionaire have to associate with poor people? They can live in a complete bubble: house in the hills, driven by a chauffeur, private jets, private

by gib444 9mo ago

How does a billionaire have to associate with poor people? They can live in a complete bubble: house in the hills, driven by a chauffeur, private jets, private islands for holidays etc...?

aspaviento 9mo ago
The people who cook for them, the people who clean for them, the ones who take care of their kids, the one who sell them stuff or serve them in restaurants...
- pbhjpbhj 9mo ago
  Also, they're not building the house or the jet, they're not growing the food, ... people close enough can be chosen for willingness to be sycophants and happiness to be servants. Unless you're feeding yourself from your own farm, or manufacturing your own electronics, there are limits to even a billionaires ability to control personnel.
- ceejayoz 9mo ago
  They have separate kitchens for the prep, the cleaners work while they’re out on the yacht, they have people to do the buying, and the restaurants they visit have very well trained staff who stay out of the way.
  - coldtea 9mo ago
    All that is irrelevant to the point: they still need to have those poor people around them, trust them, and even trust their security to them.
    - pixl97 9mo ago
      And this is all very easy to control. First is you get a particular group of people to work for you. You tell them they are better than all the other poor people out there, that is get them to be nationalistic/racist, etc. You also give them a little bit more than the abjectly poor so they have something they fear to lose. You also let them know if they upset the situation they are in retribution will be swift and brutal and affect anyone they know and love.
      - direwolf20 9mo ago
        And this is how every societal hierarchy is structured.
      - coldtea 9mo ago
        So easy to control that most rich people throughout history were murdered by their guards and close helper circle.
        pixl97 9mo ago
        "Most rich people that were murdered" is a different statement from "most rich people"
        kjkjadksj 9mo ago
        Epstein had a staff of 70 on that island kept mum
        int_19h 9mo ago
        The vast majority of rich people don't get murdered. Those that do, yes, usually get murdered by those in position to do that (i.e. those that have physical access to them). That's neither interesting nor relevant though.
- shimman 9mo ago
  nah, if slave owners like Thomas Jefferson and George Washington could reorient their entire lives around not seeing the "ick" of chattel slavery I think modern billionaires can do the same thing even easier now if they wanted.
nkrisc 9mo ago
Unless they’re living entirely by themselves, they will always be dependent on poor people.
sh3rl0ck 9mo ago
The poor maids and servants, the poor chauffeur, the poor chef, etc.
Der_Einzige 9mo ago
The fact that people see that basically the singularity is happening but can't imagine that humanoid robots get good rapidly is why most people here are bad futurists.
- danaris 9mo ago
  > the singularity is happening [Citation needed] No LLM is yet being used effectively to improve LLM output in exponential ways. Personally, I'm skeptical that such a thing is possible. LLMs aren't AGI, and aren't a path to AGI. The Singularity is the Rapture for techbros.
  - Der_Einzige 9mo ago
    If you look at the rapid acceleration of progress and conclude this way, well, de nile ain't just a river in egypt. Also yes LLMs are indeed AGI: https://www.noemamag.com/artificial-general-intelligence-is-already-here/ https://www.noemamag.com/artificial-general-intelligence-is-... This was Peter Norvig's take. AGI is a low bar because most humans are really stupid.
    - danaris 9mo ago
      What rapid acceleration? I look at the trajectory of LLMs, and the shape I see is one of diminishing returns. The improvements in the first few generations came fast, and they were impressive. Then subsequent generations took longer, improved less over the previous generation, and required more and more (and more and more) resources to achieve. I'm not interested in one guy's take that LLMs are AGI, regardless of his computer science bonafides. I can look at what they do myself, and see that they aren't, by most very reasonable definitions of AGI. If you really believe that the singularity is happening now...well, then, shouldn't it take a very short time for the effects of that to be painfully obvious? Like, massive improvements in all kinds of technology coming in a matter of months? Come back in a few months and tell me what amazing new technologies this supposed AGI has created...or maybe the one in denial isn't me.
      - 9mo ago
lbreakjai 9mo ago
You still have to find the kids to rape.

by gib444 9mo ago

How does a billionaire have to associate with poor people? They can live in a complete bubble: house in the hills, driven by a chauffeur, private jets, private islands for holidays etc...?

aspaviento 9mo ago

The people who cook for them, the people who clean for them, the ones who take care of their kids, the one who sell them stuff or serve them in restaurants...

pbhjpbhj 9mo ago
Also, they're not building the house or the jet, they're not growing the food, ... people close enough can be chosen for willingness to be sycophants and happiness to be servants. Unless you're feeding yourself from your own farm, or manufacturing your own electronics, there are limits to even a billionaires ability to control personnel.
ceejayoz 9mo ago
They have separate kitchens for the prep, the cleaners work while they’re out on the yacht, they have people to do the buying, and the restaurants they visit have very well trained staff who stay out of the way.
- coldtea 9mo ago
  All that is irrelevant to the point: they still need to have those poor people around them, trust them, and even trust their security to them.
  - pixl97 9mo ago
    And this is all very easy to control. First is you get a particular group of people to work for you. You tell them they are better than all the other poor people out there, that is get them to be nationalistic/racist, etc. You also give them a little bit more than the abjectly poor so they have something they fear to lose. You also let them know if they upset the situation they are in retribution will be swift and brutal and affect anyone they know and love.
    - direwolf20 9mo ago
      And this is how every societal hierarchy is structured.
    - coldtea 9mo ago
      So easy to control that most rich people throughout history were murdered by their guards and close helper circle.
      - pixl97 9mo ago
        "Most rich people that were murdered" is a different statement from "most rich people"
      - kjkjadksj 9mo ago
        Epstein had a staff of 70 on that island kept mum
      - int_19h 9mo ago
        The vast majority of rich people don't get murdered. Those that do, yes, usually get murdered by those in position to do that (i.e. those that have physical access to them). That's neither interesting nor relevant though.
shimman 9mo ago
nah, if slave owners like Thomas Jefferson and George Washington could reorient their entire lives around not seeing the "ick" of chattel slavery I think modern billionaires can do the same thing even easier now if they wanted.

nkrisc 9mo ago

Unless they’re living entirely by themselves, they will always be dependent on poor people.

sh3rl0ck 9mo ago

The poor maids and servants, the poor chauffeur, the poor chef, etc.

Der_Einzige 9mo ago

The fact that people see that basically the singularity is happening but can't imagine that humanoid robots get good rapidly is why most people here are bad futurists.

danaris 9mo ago
> the singularity is happening [Citation needed] No LLM is yet being used effectively to improve LLM output in exponential ways. Personally, I'm skeptical that such a thing is possible. LLMs aren't AGI, and aren't a path to AGI. The Singularity is the Rapture for techbros.
- Der_Einzige 9mo ago
  If you look at the rapid acceleration of progress and conclude this way, well, de nile ain't just a river in egypt. Also yes LLMs are indeed AGI: https://www.noemamag.com/artificial-general-intelligence-is-already-here/ https://www.noemamag.com/artificial-general-intelligence-is-... This was Peter Norvig's take. AGI is a low bar because most humans are really stupid.
  - danaris 9mo ago
    What rapid acceleration? I look at the trajectory of LLMs, and the shape I see is one of diminishing returns. The improvements in the first few generations came fast, and they were impressive. Then subsequent generations took longer, improved less over the previous generation, and required more and more (and more and more) resources to achieve. I'm not interested in one guy's take that LLMs are AGI, regardless of his computer science bonafides. I can look at what they do myself, and see that they aren't, by most very reasonable definitions of AGI. If you really believe that the singularity is happening now...well, then, shouldn't it take a very short time for the effects of that to be painfully obvious? Like, massive improvements in all kinds of technology coming in a matter of months? Come back in a few months and tell me what amazing new technologies this supposed AGI has created...or maybe the one in denial isn't me.
    - 9mo ago

lbreakjai 9mo ago

You still have to find the kids to rape.