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Brazil bans Sam Altman's tech firm Tools for Humanity from paying for iris scans

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31–40 of 66 posts

Re: Brazil bans Sam Altman's tech firm Tools for Humanity from paying for iris scans

#31

I wonder what Altman is thinking. From the outside it seems clear he’s chasing profit, but I wonder if he honestly believes something this concerning will be a force for good and actually used to benefit humanity as a whole.

We've had plenty of insights on what Altman is thinking from one of the people who spent lots of time at his side and know him best: pg.

Lots of pg tweets/comments over the years about how the thing Sam is best at, and what drives him the most, is climbing up ladders and acquiring power.

Re: Brazil bans Sam Altman's tech firm Tools for Humanity from paying for iris scans

#32

[flagged]

Others have called out how silly your comparison is, but Gates and Microsoft have contributed to plenty of local things. Bill and Melinda have given hundreds of millions to local universities [1], tens of millions to local schools [2], millions to local charities [3] and you'll find their names on the donor lists of plenty of local institutions (arts, etc.). You could have seen all of this with a single search for "B…

Now find anything on that list where they didn't get something they wanted in return. They're building a brand, this is marketing.

Re: Brazil bans Sam Altman's tech firm Tools for Humanity from paying for iris scans

#33
post #25

Calling his firm "Tools for Humanity" shows an unusual level of self-awareness for Altman.

How to Serve Man.

In case anyone is not aware, this is a reference to an episode of The Twilight Zone[1].

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Serve_Man_(The_Twilight_Zon...

Re: Brazil bans Sam Altman's tech firm Tools for Humanity from paying for iris scans

#34
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Through their work, the gates foundation has probably saved millions of lives, maybe tens of millions of lives, over the past 25 years. They’ve also been deeply involved with various education reforms in the US. They’re definitely active here.

Their work in education has often been a mixed bag, sometimes spending huge amounts of money to enact initiatives based on little or no empirical research that ultimately hurt the students who have the misfortune of being saved by yet another tech billionaire who believes skill in computer programming and business mean they’re an authority on everything.

Yeah I agree, and chose my words carefully. Their education reform work in the US has been much more murky.

Their work in Africa has had unambiguously huge benefits.

Re: Brazil bans Sam Altman's tech firm Tools for Humanity from paying for iris scans

#35
post #24

I walked by one of these scanning offices in São Paulo a few weeks ago and it looked completely dystopian. Didn't have the impression that the people who showed up there were well informed on what they were signing up for

There is one near home. When I passed by I saw one man stopping a couple in the street and explaining if they couldn’t go inside and give him the money.

Sort of like a beggar, but asking the couple to go inside, scan their iris then giving him the money (since it’s free money anyway). I am not sure how that would work in practice, since I just passing by. But they were paying USD50~60 , a significant amount to make the ask worth it.

Re: Brazil bans Sam Altman's tech firm Tools for Humanity from paying for iris scans

#37
The sad thing is that this really does solve a problem that GenAI is creating. Sam Altman is selling the poison as well as the cure.

I think we will eventually all need to join social networks that are guaranteed to be composed of real humans, and for that we'll need a way to prove someone is a real human. I think passports/government IDs are a good enough solution for this and we don't need to be scanning people's irises.

Re: Brazil bans Sam Altman's tech firm Tools for Humanity from paying for iris scans

#38
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How to Serve Man.

In case anyone is not aware, this is a reference to an episode of The Twilight Zone[1]. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Serve_Man_(The_Twilight_Zon...

Serve... for dinner!

Re: Brazil bans Sam Altman's tech firm Tools for Humanity from paying for iris scans

#39
post #23

I remember when Minority Report came out how many people got sucked in by the Tom Cruise and the Max von Sidow vibes, the Oscar-winning histrionics of the imperiled character, or the sexy special effects and completely missed the subtext around all of this. That everywhere you went, They knew who you are and what you do. I was shocked that people I talked to didn't notice that every vertical surface in the mall had a…

> Did we not watch the same movie?

"My team and I are proud to share with the world something special we've been working hard on. We are finally ready to launch the Torture Nexus, inspired by the unforgettable technology in the classic scifi novel 'Don't create the Torture Nexus'"

Re: Brazil bans Sam Altman's tech firm Tools for Humanity from paying for iris scans

#40
post #37

The sad thing is that this really does solve a problem that GenAI is creating. Sam Altman is selling the poison as well as the cure. I think we will eventually all need to join social networks that are guaranteed to be composed of real humans, and for that we'll need a way to prove someone is a real human. I think passports/government IDs are a good enough solution for this and we don't need to be scanning people's i…

I think it's important to remark that this "could" help solve part of the problems associated with Generative AI. It could also, without many new laws and regulations, be used to create many new problems unique to generative AI.
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