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This isn’t the first time something like this happens and I always wonder how are these seemingly smart people earning good money so dumb.
by ErneX 3mo ago
This isn’t the first time something like this happens and I always wonder how are these seemingly smart people earning good money so dumb.
- paxys 3mo agoIntelligence is domain-specific. People who have put too many skill points in technical knowledge often have none left for common sense and street-smarts.
- deleted 3mo ago[deleted]
- groundzeros2015 3mo agoIntelligence is actually extremely general and transferrable - IQ measures meta skills and ability that predicts success in a plethora of areas. If you don’t believe in IQ consider agency and conscientiousness
- wqaatwt 3mo agoStatistically yes but we need to look at the actual distribution and I doubt it’s just a handful of outliers.
- t0mpr1c3 3mo agoNo, stupidity is very general. The statistical association between different areas of ability, which is reified in the concept of IQ, is because people who are bad at one thing are bad at everything. The Stanford-Binet test was developed as a way to measure mental disability, not giftedness. (Einstein would have had an unexceptional score on an IQ test, had he ever taken one. His schoolteachers thought him destined for failure.) To put it another way, polymaths are unusual but idiots are everywhere. And people who are outstandingly good at say, computer engineering can be mediocre at philosophy or business administration. Psychometrists distiguish between crystallized and fluid intelligence. Expertise is a combination of knowledge and ability. But ability itself is multifaceted, and raw talent goes untapped without the motivation to study and the opportunity to work. For most areas of human endeavor, being smart enough is all that is required. Being a genius helped Albert Einstein reimagine physics, but did not make him a better patent clerk.
- groundzeros2015 3mo agoI mostly agree and I don’t think you are contradicting my claim. > stupidity is very general So then what do you call the general ability of the absence of stupidity? Einstein does have a high IQ. > Expertise is a combination of knowledge and ability Yes expertise is not the same as intelligence.
- t0mpr1c3 3mo agoI question the coherence of this notion of intelligence as continuum of domain-general ability. Specific measures of ability tend to cluster at the low end more than they do at the high end. This explains both the correlations among abilities, and the fact that high abilities tend to be domain-specific. An IQ score over 70 has a clinical meaning: it defines the absence of mental retardation. Scores of 90 and 160 are equivalent for this purpose. "Giftedness" in a domain-general sense is an abstract concept that may or may not map onto something real. The validity of IQ testing derives from measuring the other end of the scale.
- atlasunshrugged 3mo agoRight? Just straight up documentation with no shame: From an Axios article on this > Liu celebrated the exploit, according to the filing. "LOL, I found out I can access the [network storage], so funny," he said in a message to a former colleague who was still employed by Apple. https://www.axios.com/2026/07/10/apple-sues-openai-trade-secret-theft https://www.axios.com/2026/07/10/apple-sues-openai-trade-sec...
- ErneX 3mo agoAppalling.
- paul7986 3mo agoIt is but it is the Silicon Valley way and business way for many. Steamroll and do whatever it takes to win and be successful. Morals what are those?
- doginasuit 3mo agoExactly. If ever there was a y'all deserve eachother situation, it is this.
- dylan604 3mo agoThese companies are big enough (especially financially) that I'm really surprised that they do not have their own FBI/CIA/NSA departments in the world of corporate espionage.
- hn_go_brrrrr 3mo agoDon't worry, some do.
- ipdashc 3mo agoMeh. It's one megacorp stealing stuff from another megacorp, hardly "appalling", who cares. I'd probably react the same way; I just wouldn't leak it to my next employer, that's dumb.
- bigyabai 3mo ago"Picasso had a saying -- 'good artists copy; great artists steal' -- and we have always been shameless about stealing great ideas." - Steve Jobs
- yugioh3 3mo agoGreat artists steal ideas, not a painting off a gallery wall.
- jay_kyburz 3mo agoa "metal-finishing technique" _is_ an idea. joke
- brandon272 3mo agoWhen you are bulk copying data off your former employer's network share, that is a lot more than "stealing ideas".
- deleted 3mo ago[deleted]
- simondotau 3mo agoThe concept of applying some kind of Apple-ish texture finish to metal is an idea. A research-heavy, highly specific, finely tuned, multiple step, trade secret, brand signature metal finishing technique is a painting.
- al_borland 3mo agoHaving a certain type of finish on the metal is an idea. Tricking someone into using Apple’s exact trade-secret finishing technique is copying. Making a new, even better technique, that’s so good the general public forgets about Apple and thinks you’re the new benchmark… that’s the kind of stealing that quote is talking about.
- mikeocool 3mo ago
- calebio 3mo agoGoogle/Waymo + Uber/Otto comes to mind here with Anthony Levandowski.
- xnx 3mo agoGoogle and Uber started as courtroom enemies, but probably had to commiserate some on Anthony Levandowski probably being the worst hire they both made.
- kridsdale1 3mo agoWhen all that went down, I was at Facebook. And some recruiter posted the news that Anthony was no longer at Uber, with a message like “this is a great opportunity to secure a top tier hire!” I replied (on Workplace) “Absolutely the fuck NOT.”
- CobrastanJorji 3mo agoAmazing character. Started as a regular robot-loving engineering kid, was in the right place at the right time and earned something like $140 million from Google, mostly from truly ludicrous performance bonuses, went to Uber for another giant payout, was worth nine figures. And sure, he was convicted for crimes, but he got one of those definitely-legitimate Trump pardons. And then he managed to turn that into a negative $50 million net worth. And also he briefly started a religion based around having an AI inventing a Christian god or something because his story wasn't crazy enough.
- xnx 3mo ago> And also he briefly started a religion I always assumed this was a tax-avoidance scheme
- generj 3mo agoIt’s even more ridiculous when choosing to do it Apple. It’s hard to think of a company with more legal resources and which is more protective of its hardware IP.
- kridsdale1 3mo agoAnd vindictiveness. Steve declared thermonuclear war on Google because Android re-skinned to use BUTTONS.
- formerly_proven 3mo ago> Steve declared thermonuclear war on Google because Android re-skinned to use BUTTONS. Was there ever a point in time where Google was not the default search engine on iOS?
- Cyberdog 3mo agoYes, briefly: https://qz.com/apple-google-yahoo-search-engine-safari-antitrust-trial-1851458765 https://qz.com/apple-google-yahoo-search-engine-safari-antit...
- woadwarrior01 3mo ago> because Android re-skinned to use BUTTONS. No. Steve's rage was justified, IMO. It was because Eric Schmidt was on Apple's board while simultaneously being Google's CEO and Google was surreptitiously building Android at the time. Mother of all conflict of interests. There was a recent story that reminded me of it. Mike Krieger was on Figma's board and Anthropic's CPO, while Anthropic was surreptitiously building Claude Design.
- Chu4eeno 3mo agoIt wasn't very surreptitiously, Google very loudly bought Android Inc. for 50 million in 2005, two years before Apple ripped of the phone that won the iF Design Award in 2006, the LG Prada.
- truncate 3mo agoOverconfidence. These people think they are much smarter than others to be caught.
- ofjcihen 3mo agoI’ve been present when the world comes crashing down around people who thought they were too smart to get caught. The surprise in their eyes is always very genuine.
- stavros 3mo agoBecause companies get an advantage by having their people do this. You only hear about the times they get caught, but apparently they get caught so rarely that it's worth it.
- kbelder 3mo agoEverywhere I've ever worked, if I went to management and said "hey, I've got some files from my last job, if you want to see them," they would say "absolutely not, please get rid of them RIGHT NOW," and probably fire me. But, I don't work in Silicon Valley.
- stavros 3mo agoCompanies don't get to be worth billions of dollars without doing something unethical.
- JumpCrisscross 3mo agoIt's people who hold these beliefs who commit these acts. They're so convinced everyone around them is depraved, usually–at least in part–through personal experience, that they don't stop to consider the alternative.
- danshipt 3mo agoNah. Simple logic: look at Thiel and Musk. Two of the most deplorable human beings out there
- loeg 3mo agoI work for a Silicon Valley headquartered company and would expect the same.
- tonyedgecombe 3mo agoI had the opposite issue, I once got criticised for not bringing client information with me.
- jerf 3mo agoINT 18 WIS 3 is a terribly dangerous build in this world.
- deebosong 3mo agoTo your point, I've come across many who conflate the 2. Wisdom seems like making good choices for long-term positive outcomes, where there are no rulebooks, lots of uncertainty, and the incentives thrown in your face to act in one direction are only a tiny fraction of the whole picture. Intelligence seems like an aptitude to grasp concepts that lend itself to wielding a specific thing to a certain utilitarian end. I'm sure others have said it better than me. But the folks I've met who are obviously intelligent seem to lack the ability to understand the consequences of their choices, and have already predetermined they're not only justified in their myopia, but somehow assume/ presume social support from everyone around them no matter how short-sighted their ideas are that come with obvious negative consequences if you look even one-step beyond their immediate outcomes. Something like that. All to support your point.
- nsz65 3mo agoMore like lot of people are leaving Apple for OpenAI (no surprise) and an Apple manager wants to send a signal to everyone leaving to chill with what they walk out with. Corps have to perform a lot of theatre because there is lot of info constantly leaking out.
- zzyzxd 3mo agoThose people are designers. And they don't necessarily understand software, data, or security. When I explained to my non-technical friends about how they were being tracked by website cookies, it sounded like a sci fi story to them. But yes, it's dumb. I was more surprised by how they managed to keep using work devices after termination. This sounds to me like a failure of their manager to do their job to follow the standard exit process.
- miroljub 3mo agoYou assume they have a standard exit process.
- astrange 3mo agoA VP is not a designer, and doesn't have a standard anything.
- fsthrowaway 3mo ago> This sounds to me like a failure of their manager to do their job to follow the standard exit process. It's very safe to assume Apple has a standard exit process, for low level ICs. Tan was Apple's vice president of iPhone and Apple Watch product design. This person worked for Apple for 25 years and likely a friend of top executives. I wouldn't be surprised if he just hugged everyone and casually walked out on his last day.
- Hadriel 3mo agoseemingly smart is the key here. intelligence doesnt make up for ethics.
- loeg 3mo agoYeah but it isn't just unethical, it's also deeply stupid -- you will be caught.
- SoftTalker 3mo agoAnd I'd question the intelligence also. I don't think employment at FAANG means a lot in that regard.
- throwyawayyyy 3mo agoEither people are being really, really silly (which cannot be discounted), or the potential reward is so high as to override whatever qualms a normal person must have. Is that it? Is this people looking at a solid career at Apple or sudden millions from OpenAI, and thinking the risk is worth it somehow? Or, more darkly, is it people thinking _this is my only chance and I have to take it_? Or is it trickle-down lawlessness?
- therealdrag0 3mo agoSometimes the reward is pitifully small. There was a podcast about insider trading and sometimes the insiders will give the information for free or a negligible sum. There’s something in human psychology that facilitates collaboration even in unethical acts.