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Why YC went to DC
181–190 of 407 posts
Re: Why YC went to DC
#182Earlier quoted context omitted.
VR won’t touch every aspect of society and government and corporate operations in five years. AI will.
I remember people saying the same about blockchain and, a little later, "the metaverse". A prominent, large tech company even changed its name to show its commitment to this promising technology!
I mean there is absolutely no reason to think that AI (broadly) and blockchain are going to follow similar trajectories.
I agree that every company becoming an "AI company" is not in the cards. However, I think there is going to be a slow ramp where every startup just throws a few annoying problems at a LLM instead of hiring ML people.
And kinda like the internet it's just a tool that you use when appropriate, but the things where it's appropriate will continue to expand.
Re: Why YC went to DC
#183If you need more things to fix: * Software R&D Amortization - taxes on make-believe profits * Patent law - protect small businesses from patent trolls * Automate government-driven compliance standards - enable small businesses to sell into large companies/government entities, automatic certification when using pre-approved cloud solutions. * Healthcare insurance - employees of SMBs automatically get access to medicar…
Of these, the Section 174 debacle (software R&D amortization) is arguably the problem that needs to be addressed most urgently.
It's kinda nuts how little this is taken seriously on HN.
When combined with:
- Pressure to make use of office spaces again, away from remote work
- The AI bubble
- The layoffs that started before section 174 that demonstrated how headcounts had inflated
- The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank last year
... it is not looking good for software engineers in the US.
Re: Why YC went to DC
#184Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's like VR in 2018. I'd love to see a Silicon Valley season for the current tech environment.
VR won’t touch every aspect of society and government and corporate operations in five years. AI will.
"Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs, who got a sneak preview, said Kamen's creation was as big a deal as the PC, and that it would change the ways cities were designed. Renowned Silicon Valley venture capitalist John Doerr said it might be "bigger than the Internet" and invested millions in it."Re: Why YC went to DC
#185Earlier quoted context omitted.
VR won’t touch every aspect of society and government and corporate operations in five years. AI will.
I remember people saying the same about blockchain and, a little later, "the metaverse". A prominent, large tech company even changed its name to show its commitment to this promising technology!
Sure, but it was fairly obvious to the critical eye that neither blockchain nor VR/metaverse were likely to have much impact beyond a few niches. Neither solves problems many people actually have. And a lot of the tech world rightly scoffed at the whole Facebook/Meta "transformation".
But machine learning has been used for years behind the scenes in things like recommendations and clarification. And LLMs specifically, even in their current infancy, have shown immediate value in some cases (e.g. coding assistants) and obvious potential across a vast number of domains.
Re: Why YC went to DC
#186Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd also prefer to see these standards go away. I haven't seen any proof they are providing meaningful security at any company I've been at and several of them have had massive hacks despite being SOC2 on paper. They also eat up InfoSec time instead of being productive on meaningful stuff like "Hey, are patching everything?" Most of these compliance just seem like barber licenses. A way for existing entities entrench…
Here here. The only thing SOC2 has done in my opinion is to create a multibillion dollar business that mainly just drains resources from companies that may not have them, with no guarantees you're actually secure. This usually devolves into security theatre where the CISO and underlings are putting in tools that drown teams with so much noise it's hard to detect the signal. The people running these programs rarely un…
(It’s "hear hear," since you want people to hear it. Honestly I have no idea whether to say something or not. But I’d want to know, so, just in case it’s helpful.)
Re: Why YC went to DC
#187This article is light on organizational and financial details. You don't just go to DC once, have some meetings, and announce what has to be done, if you're serious.
You open a permanent office, meet with people on the Hill regularly, and spread campaign contributions around liberally. DC is crawling with people whose life it is to help you do that. Just drive around Chevy Chase and see all the luxury shops catering to those people.
Is that slimy and disgusting? You bet it is.
Re: Why YC went to DC
#188I was hopeful YC coming to DC would've meant YC would've been tapping into DC's startup scene. Wishful thinking. Linked is the more common reason (lobbying), but I'm looking forward to more institutions recognizing the talent we have in the DC region.
There's still movement in the region. Anzu-Green today announced a $100 million fund [1] and two weeks ago Andreessen Horowitz announced they're opening a DC office this quarter [2]. Both seem to be targeting B2G investments. [1] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/dc-tech-lobbying-shop-raising... [2] https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2024/05/22/andre... (sorry about the paywall, but it's the original reporting)
Thanks, this is still awesome to read.
Re: Why YC went to DC
#189[flagged]
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Re: Why YC went to DC
#190This new essay by Jack Clark, who was at OpenAI when they made the decision not to release GPT-2 for safety reasons five years ago, feels relevant: https://importai.substack.com/p/import-ai-375-gpt-2-five-yea... > [...] history shows that once we assign power to governments, they're loathe to subsequently give that power back to the people. Policy is a ratchet and things tend to accrete over time. That means whatever…
You know the other thing that is a ratchet?
Experience.
It is true that sometimes you learn something at time T2 that invalidates something you learned at time T1 (T2 > T1), and thus you do need a de-ratcheting system of some sort.
But what actually drives the ratchet is experience with current policy (or lack thereof). "Oh, we had no plans to deal with X, and we got screwed, so lets add policy for X".
The ratcheting aspect of policy reflects the ratcheting aspect of societal experience accumulation.