The arguments here about how US can't allow itself to be outpaced by China eeriely remind me of dialogs from Dr Strangelove where they first discuss "nuclear gap" but after the nuclar weapons are applied and the world mostly ends they smoothly transition about worrying about "mineshaft gap".
OpenAI drops ban on military tools to partner with The Pentagon
391–400 of 509 posts
Re: OpenAI drops ban on military tools to partner with The Pentagon
#392Earlier quoted context omitted.
> This is not a view shared by any experts on the ground. Russia still maintains enough potential to cause immense damage to Poland, Finland, and all other of its neighbours, even if they ultimately lose. Rebuilding Ukraine will take many decades and countless billions, and the vast areas Russians have mined will take many centuries to clear. The mines will maim and kill tens of thousands of people - some of who have…
> Russia could certainly cause severe economic damage and kill many people, sure. But find me one credible expert who, given what we know now, supports your "hundreds of millions" claim. Since mid-2023, everyone from think-tanks like the German Council on Foreign Relations to chiefs of defense of Europe have been ringing an alarm bell over Putin's ambitions beyond Ukraine. The population of Germany and Poland alone p…
> The population of Germany and Poland alone pushes the number of people directly at risk of Russian aggression over 100 million.
You think there's a serious risk of a Russian tank column making it to Frankfurt? Lol. Lmao even.
> As of 2024, nobody takes that seriously anymore. Russians too have recognized ineffectiveness of that narrative and have stopped pushing it.
If no-one takes it seriously that's because no-one expects western countries to be principled any more. The language laws are real.
> Indeed. Only a severely brainwashed person would put Russia anywhere near Finland or Sweden when it comes to human rights.
Sure. Finland and Sweden have much better human rights records than Russia, agreed. But they're not the countries that rely on the US nuclear umbrella for defence (joining NATO is not the same thing as being dependent on it); the countries that do have rather murkier records.
Re: OpenAI drops ban on military tools to partner with The Pentagon
#393Earlier quoted context omitted.
I could make literally the opposite argument. Other countries antagonize the US because of its military interventionism. If the US had lower military spending, other countries wouldn't feel the need to be aggressive. It's childish to be pro military. It shows you think arbitrary lines on a map determine who's good or bad.
That's not how humans and nations behave. If you are nice you'll be eaten alive.
Society literally only exists because of collaboration between "nice" people
Re: OpenAI drops ban on military tools to partner with The Pentagon
#394Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're literally dismissing the fact that the USA executed a coup in my country because I didn't acknowledge that it would be bad if Russia did the same thing.
Nope. Unlike you, I am very sympathetic to people who have suffered from countries with imperialistic behaviour. I just don't restrict the list of such countries to only one entry. If you want to educate yourself on how Eastern Europe suffered in the 20th century, then I recommend this book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0465031471
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Re: OpenAI drops ban on military tools to partner with The Pentagon
#395Earlier quoted context omitted.
OpenAI had/has 57 Chinese talent [1], they're probably getting the boot if OpenAI picks up Pentagon contracts. https://macropolo2.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/20...
That would be a great loss of talent. I wish we could make it much easier for those top scientists to become American citizens. Why assume they have loyalty to the CCP? They’re in California, presumably they like hot dogs, monster trucks, and bikinis.
They also like their friends and family members alive and well.
Re: OpenAI drops ban on military tools to partner with The Pentagon
#396Earlier quoted context omitted.
Those deals are not made in one week. Maybe this agreement with the Pentagon has something to do with the drama of a couple of months ago.
That sounds very likely. The ideological purists of the old board would have acted exactly as they did if they learned about this deal at that time.
Would also explain why they were silent afterwards and took the loss sitting down; NSLs are scary stuff (what a democracy! --sorry, republic).
Re: OpenAI drops ban on military tools to partner with The Pentagon
#397Ok so a few weeks ago, virtually every OpenAi employee signed a letter saying “reinstate Altman or I quit”. Is any OpenAi employee wanting to sign a “don’t use OpenAi for war or I quit”? Or was everyone in on betraying all OpenAi’s founding principles from the start?
I don’t see why we should object to equipping our defenses with more advanced technology than those of our adversaries. Maybe forcing vague principles down a company’s throat by a board of uninvolved non-builder types isn’t a strategy for successful internal cultural alignment. The peanut gallery’s objections don’t matter.
I have nothing against it really. But you know these people have signed up to work for a non profit org that specifically wrote it wouldn’t cater to the military.
It’s not like they wanted to work for Palantir or the NSA.
Plus had they signed for Palantir, they probably would have pushed for higher salaries. Corruptins one’s moral values to work on stuff that may be used for evil purposes has its price.
Re: OpenAI drops ban on military tools to partner with The Pentagon
#398Earlier quoted context omitted.
That country was not a "thriving liberal democracy". Unless you count nazi militias as democratic and liberal nowadays. If it werent for the specific nationality the neonazis were shooting at, the water connected alliance would bomb them for being nazis instead.
I agree that Ukraine was not a thriving liberal democracy, it was an infant democracy trying to shake out a corruption infested political class. The issue was not nazi militias, that's Russia's propaganda. Because if nazi militias is your main point of contention I'd need to point you towards the USA for you to take a look as well... Not a thriving democracy either?
The neonazi militias in the US is a consequence of the 2nd amendment thing, right? And I guess they don't actually do anything. There is some "Socialist Rifle Militia" to if I remember correctly.
However, my point is that having a non-trivial amount of active fascist militias doing things with the support of the gov., alone makes a country not a liberal democracy.
But OP seems to have meant another country ...
Re: OpenAI drops ban on military tools to partner with The Pentagon
#399Earlier quoted context omitted.
The USA has a larger military than the next 5 nations combined. The USA is not under threat from anyone. This would still be true if the US military was a tiny fraction of its current size. The USA does, however, use its vast military to attack other countries without provocation, seemingly to protect commercial interests. I don't think it's "childish" to be suspicious of the US Military. I worry about the mentality…
> The USA is not under threat from anyone. That is demonstrably false. In fact, should Texas ever actually secede from the Union they would very quickly find out exactly how much our enemies dislike us. Hard to believe someone actually typed that sentence.
Ok, I'll bite. Who is threatening the USA, or would if the USA's military was the same size as Canada's?
Re: OpenAI drops ban on military tools to partner with The Pentagon
#400Earlier quoted context omitted.
> To counter this polemic comment with a more serious one: the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq after the 9/11 attacks was a central watershed moment in history that lead to a massive shift in the public opinion concerning the US military politics in many countries (and has stayed quite critical of it since then) - including lots of allies of the USA. Nice try, but no. Iraq was bullshit, and even we protested it ours…
Indeed. Iraq was a case of the nation being conned by evil men (Cheney and Rumsfeld). We tried our DAMNDEST to prevent that war. Biggest protests in America ever. Did nothing. Europe is now in its second, third? year of seeing what life without Uncle Sam would be like. Peaceful Lithuanian and Polish villages filled with the corpses of raped girls. The military is important and software engineers need to read more of…
> Europe is now in its second, third? year of seeing what life without Uncle Sam would be like. Peaceful Lithuanian and Polish villages filled with the corpses of raped girls.
wat?