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Uber’s Anthony Levandowski out as Advanced Technologies lead amid legal fight

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Re: Uber’s Anthony Levandowski out as Advanced Technologies lead amid legal fight

#141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I for sure would have remembered some rinky dink motorcycle lining up for the start in Primm in 2005. His team didn't make it past the NQE in LA, IIRC.

The physical object is in the Smithsonian [1]. There's footage of it falling over in 2005 [2][3]. Is that enough? :-P 1) http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah... 2) http://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/news-photo/the-blue-tea... 3) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1bkhviWgSg

Alas, no.

The 2005 Grand Challenge was divided into two parts: the national qualification event, where you went around an obstacle course on a closed raceway in an effort to qualify for a limited number of race slots, and the real race, which was a brutal 150 mile course through some pretty gnarly desert terrain.

Blue Team never made it past the NQE, which is why everyone's obsession with the motorbike makes no sense to those of us who actually made it to the real deal.

The Smithsonian's decision to memorialize Levandowski's engineering mediocrity is, to say the least, puzzling.

Re: Uber’s Anthony Levandowski out as Advanced Technologies lead amid legal fight

#142
post #52

Anthony is overrated and a complete psychopath. He doesn't understand it's basic right from wrong. In his mind IP is boundless and his, not Googles. This comes from 5 years of working in fairly close contact. Zero morals. He is what's wrong with Silicon Valley - on equal grounds to Travis from Uber. I can completely see this all being planned for years just like circumventing the iPhone App Store rules. As a Google s…

But he must be good. $120M+ in compensation.

This line of reasoning is how Bernie Madoff stole $18 billion. "Look at how successful he is! He must be a great investor!"

One way to look at it is that capitalism basically involves two activities: creating value for others and moving money into your very own pocket. Overall, they're correlated. They have to be, or the system would collapse. But in any specific instance, a rich person may only be good at one of them.

Re: Uber’s Anthony Levandowski out as Advanced Technologies lead amid legal fight

#143
post #90

Funny how actvities creating most unemployment attract most money.

Isn't that completely logical. If you build something that makes it so that you don't need 20 people making 50k/yr doing it anymore, you're saving 1m/yr which is very lucrative for anyone.

Re: Uber’s Anthony Levandowski out as Advanced Technologies lead amid legal fight

#144
There is also a supposed conversation between him and Larry Page before he left. From what I've read, Larry supposedly knew a lot about the circumstances of his leaving, and what transpired in that meeting supposedly will undermine Waymo's position. He's being deposed, but apparently Uber is only allowed to ask him one question, which is odd.

Edit: downvoted as expected. I bet that 9 out of 10 people upvoting these stories and downvoting every comment that is in the least supportive of Uber or critical of Google are bitter Google employees.

Re: Uber’s Anthony Levandowski out as Advanced Technologies lead amid legal fight

#145
post #122
post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's Keynes with another perspective: > When the accumulation of wealth is no longer of high social importance, there will be great changes in the code of morals. We shall be able to rid ourselves of many of the pseudo-moral principles which have hag-ridden us for two hundred years, by which we have exalted some of the most distasteful of human qualities into the position of the highest virtues. We shall be able to…

I like that quote, but I disagree with it. I don't think "love of money as a possession" is a good thing, but I think it's pretty rare compared to the "love of money as a means to the enjoyments and realities of life." One of the most life-changing experiences I've ever had was swimming in a bioluminescent bay in Puerto Rico. I've never seen so many stars overhead in contrast to absolute darkness (you have to be in r…

But the discussion is about why do you need more than $100M. All you are describing is well within the realm of $100m. Even low ten millions is plenty -- let's say you arrive to 20M when you are 30 years old and expect to live another 60 years. This means that if you set aside 5M for safety etc you still can have a $20k "salary" every month if the money is invested in a way that it keeps up with inflation. That's a $5k plane ticket, 200 USD/night hotel room and 300 USD/day on food and such. Forever. And that's just 20M.

Re: Uber’s Anthony Levandowski out as Advanced Technologies lead amid legal fight

#146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An obvious difference between IP theft and muggings, however, is that the later also entails threats of violence (and sometimes even assault & battery). That's why robbery is generally considered more heinous than burglary, where the victims are typically not present or asleep. I'd agree though that some sort of dollar figure should be attached to the psychological trauma of being mugged, so that great-enough white-c…

I'll bet if you asked most people what they would prefer less, getting beat up or losing $500 million, the would answer the latter.

[deleted]

Re: Uber’s Anthony Levandowski out as Advanced Technologies lead amid legal fight

#147
post #52

Anthony is overrated and a complete psychopath. He doesn't understand it's basic right from wrong. In his mind IP is boundless and his, not Googles. This comes from 5 years of working in fairly close contact. Zero morals. He is what's wrong with Silicon Valley - on equal grounds to Travis from Uber. I can completely see this all being planned for years just like circumventing the iPhone App Store rules. As a Google s…

Do you really think he should be in prison for intellectual property infringement ?

> Do you really think he should be in prison for intellectual property infringement?

This is loaded language.

When you say "intellectual property infringement" people think of implementing something that violates some vague patent somewhere, or some other frivolous thing.

This is completely different - he stole gigabytes worth of documents from his employer. It's not "infringement". It's theft, plain and simple.

Re: Uber’s Anthony Levandowski out as Advanced Technologies lead amid legal fight

#148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll bet if you asked most people what they would prefer less, getting beat up or losing $500 million, the would answer the latter.

Which distributed among all Google shareholders is $100 each?

Sure. Basically the guy wronged 5 million people, $100 each. Makes it a significantly greater crime than a comparable mugging of a single victim.

Re: Uber’s Anthony Levandowski out as Advanced Technologies lead amid legal fight

#149
post #52

Anthony is overrated and a complete psychopath. He doesn't understand it's basic right from wrong. In his mind IP is boundless and his, not Googles. This comes from 5 years of working in fairly close contact. Zero morals. He is what's wrong with Silicon Valley - on equal grounds to Travis from Uber. I can completely see this all being planned for years just like circumventing the iPhone App Store rules. As a Google s…

Do you really think he should be in prison for intellectual property infringement ?

[deleted]

Re: Uber’s Anthony Levandowski out as Advanced Technologies lead amid legal fight

#150
post #52

Anthony is overrated and a complete psychopath. He doesn't understand it's basic right from wrong. In his mind IP is boundless and his, not Googles. This comes from 5 years of working in fairly close contact. Zero morals. He is what's wrong with Silicon Valley - on equal grounds to Travis from Uber. I can completely see this all being planned for years just like circumventing the iPhone App Store rules. As a Google s…

I've known him personally, it was clear he'd end up like his hero Gordon Gekko since high school. The saddest part is that he didn't need to, hopefully since he's still young he can redeem him self.
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