Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

He created Oculus headsets as a teenager, now he makes AI weapons for Ukraine

npr.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 132 posts

Re: He created Oculus headsets as a teenager, now he makes AI weapons for Ukraine

#111

Post by Manuel_D »

ahmeneeroe-v2 wrote: post #38

One more comment: >"And the companies that did have expertise, like Google, like Facebook, like Apple, were refusing to work with the U.S. national security community." Idk if this is true. I suspect they--at a minimum--cooperate with the "soft" side of the defense industry (e.g. NSA). However, if they don't, I think there will come a time when we will have to bring them to heel. The world won't have the luxury of su…

Google had an employee revolt over project Maven. However, there were suggestions that this was overblown and mostly driven by foreign national employees. Which, to be clear, does not make their opinions invalid but it does mean it's not necessarily representative of the whole if for example lots of mainland Chinese employees aren't enthusiastic about working for American military capabilities.

Re: He created Oculus headsets as a teenager, now he makes AI weapons for Ukraine

#112

Post by Manuel_D »

tim333 wrote: post #98
ahmeneeroe-v2 wrote: post #38

One more comment: >"And the companies that did have expertise, like Google, like Facebook, like Apple, were refusing to work with the U.S. national security community." Idk if this is true. I suspect they--at a minimum--cooperate with the "soft" side of the defense industry (e.g. NSA). However, if they don't, I think there will come a time when we will have to bring them to heel. The world won't have the luxury of su…

Contrary to that viewpoint I think there is much to be said for separating peaceful non military companies from military ones. Some reasons: Google FB etc are inherently global. Military is inherently regional. Mixing military and civilian tends to cause messes. See Boeing doing military stuff and now their planes and ISS shuttles don't work. Also so Cheney transferring the military biodefense budget to Fauci and the…

> Google FB etc are inherently global. Military is inherently regional

Military is often global, too. We have the term "world wars" for a reason. Boeing has been doing military work long before it's contemporary issue. Most aerospace companies do. In fact a lot of tankers and airborne radars are built on top of civilian aircraft frames.

Re: He created Oculus headsets as a teenager, now he makes AI weapons for Ukraine

#113

Post by Manuel_D »

OKRainbowKid wrote: post #103
renewiltord wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

I love the satire!

The whole part about civilizing the Middle East and Africa sounds dumb. But it does really ring true for Europe, Korea, and Japan. My Polish and Estonian coworkers really do enthusiastically support Pax Americana. Because when you have a hostile (or potentially hostile) country on your border, you actually have to take a sobering look at your country's survival.

Re: He created Oculus headsets as a teenager, now he makes AI weapons for Ukraine

#114

Post by Manuel_D »

AlexandrB wrote: post #51

There's a grim irony to naming military technology companies (Anduril, Palantir) after objects from a story written by a survivor of the meat grinder that was World War I.

Neither of these names are ironic. The name Palantir was chosen to remind the company of surveillance's potential for abuse. Anduril was meant to reference th idea of shaking up American defense, disrupting an industry that's become dominated by a few big players on cost-plus contracts that routinely overrun. Because Anduril is the new sword reforged from Narsil.

That Tolkien was a world war veteran doesn't make it any more ironic. The way you o avoid wars is to deter them: countries aren't selfless magnanimous institutions, they need to know that they'll lose in war in order to keep them from trying to wage it.

Re: He created Oculus headsets as a teenager, now he makes AI weapons for Ukraine

#115

Post by Manuel_D »

rendx wrote: post #90
ahmeneeroe-v2 wrote: post #29

(American here) I don't know anything about Palmer Luckey or Anduril, but I do believe in a strong national defense. As an individual, I can do approximately zero to stop weapons from being used for offense, rather than defense. That is wildly unfortunate and tragic, but (false dichotomy incoming) I would choose that path for my country 100% of the time over being under-armed. "The strong do what they will while the…

If it was really all about non-lethal defense, weapons would look a lot different, and many current weapons would simply be banned, with anyone owning or employing such weapons getting forced -- by non-lethal force -- to give them up.

Warfare is an inherently competitive endeavor. Which is going to win: an army armed with stun batons and pepper spray pitted against an army with machine guns, tanks, and artillery?

Re: He created Oculus headsets as a teenager, now he makes AI weapons for Ukraine

#116

Post by Manuel_D »

itsoktocry wrote: post #50
DolphinAsa wrote: post #4

AI weapons seems like a bad bad idea.

> AI weapons seems like a bad bad idea. AI weapons seems like an inevitability.

"AI" weapons have existed for the better part of a century. The first generation sidewinder missile autonomously homed in on a target. It's logic was simple, and it needed a bright exhaust plume to seek, but it's an autonomously guided munition nonetheless.

Making a quadcopter with a claymore strapped to it home in on enemy troops using image recognition and visible spectrum cameras isn't fundamentally all that different. Most of the complaints - e.g. the potential for friendly fire - existed with older weaponry too. That sidewinder is just going to home in on the hottest IR signature , which may be friendly if employed carelessly.

Re: He created Oculus headsets as a teenager, now he makes AI weapons for Ukraine

#118

Post by ahmeneeroe-v2 »

rendx wrote: post #89
ahmeneeroe-v2 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many (most? all?) nation-states have compulsory service, either triggered in a "draft" or always ongoing (e.g. all young people serve in some way after high school). So no, I don't believe that you as an individual have the right to not work with your nation's national security apparatus, regardless of where you reside. You may think this is only for young people but I think that's just been typical practice/need, no…

> Many (most? all?) nation-states have compulsory service "The following 113 countries and territories have been identified as having no enforced conscription" "The following fifteen countries have been identified as having a civilian, unarmed or non-combatant service optional alternative to compulsory military service" "The following 19 countries have been identified as having no defense forces or as having no stand…

The United States is on the list as having no enforced conscription. I assure you that we do have it. The definition they used for this chart is highly suspect.

Edit: also trying to quantify this using "Count of Nations" rather than "Sum of Populations" is wildly misguided. Saying that Vatican City doesn't have a defense force adds nothing to the conversation.

Re: He created Oculus headsets as a teenager, now he makes AI weapons for Ukraine

#119

Post by ahmeneeroe-v2 »

gaadd33 wrote: post #84
ahmeneeroe-v2 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed on defense procurement revenue vs their current revenue streams. But they are given national-level amounts of resources (eg gigawatts for their data centers). In a wartime footing that would go away unless they re-oriented to serve common effort.

I thought Google purchased things like gigawatts for their data centers on the open market? Can you link to something that shows its bring give to them from the government for free?

I'm struggling to connect your response to what I actually said in my comment.

Re: He created Oculus headsets as a teenager, now he makes AI weapons for Ukraine

#120

Post by hulitu »

Manuel_D wrote: post #114
AlexandrB wrote: post #51

There's a grim irony to naming military technology companies (Anduril, Palantir) after objects from a story written by a survivor of the meat grinder that was World War I.

Neither of these names are ironic. The name Palantir was chosen to remind the company of surveillance's potential for abuse. Anduril was meant to reference th idea of shaking up American defense, disrupting an industry that's become dominated by a few big players on cost-plus contracts that routinely overrun. Because Anduril is the new sword reforged from Narsil. That Tolkien was a world war veteran doesn't make it a…

> Neither of these names are ironic. The name Palantir was chosen to remind the company of surveillance's potential for abuse

You just said it.

War Is Peace. Freedom Is Slavery. Ignorance Is Strength.

Post reply on HN