Molotov cocktail is hurled at home of Sam Altman • Hacker News Board

Re: Molotov cocktail is hurled at home of Sam Altman

#381

Post by racl101 » Fri, Apr 10, 2026, 11:11 PM UTC

MontyCarloHall wrote: post #12

I don't think most people in tech are quite aware of the level of visceral AI hatred amongst non-techies. I've personally witnessed the worst Thanksgiving dinnertable fight I've ever seen (after someone revealed that their recipe was AI-generated, a couple people literally spat out the food they were enjoying and threw their plates in the trash), and a divorce (a very solid marriage between two people who were once b…

Ironically I have noticed it's techies and white collar workers who fear and/or loathe AI the most. Why? Cause they're the most likely whose jobs have been threatened by it or have already been superseded by it.

My blue collar work buddies don't feel as strongly or as existential about it. To them, it's just this buzzwordy crap that has ruined entertainment or made the quality of services even worse. It's more of an annoyance than an outright fear and/or loathing of it.

Maybe if the bubble pops and the economy tanks and it affects their bottom line they might hate it as much as the aforementioned people.

Re: Molotov cocktail is hurled at home of Sam Altman

#382

Post by seanlinehan » Fri, Apr 10, 2026, 11:12 PM UTC

watwut wrote: post #343

seanlinehan wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The top 1% of income earners pay 40% of all the federal taxes collected. The top 25% pay 89% of taxes. Net of transfers, 60% of households receive more from government transfers than they pay in taxes. The idea that rich people don't pay taxes is just not correct. The entire system is basically rich people subsidizing everybody else through byzantine distributional systems.

What is happening is that they are becomming richer and lower ranks are becomming poorer. Simply, they are so much richer that the little fraction they pay on taxes looks big.

This perception that "lower ranks" are becoming poorer is just empirically not true.

On every metric, people in all income brackets are earning more on both a gross and COL-adjusted basis. It is the case that top quintile income has increased more than bottom quintile income, but a faster relative increase does not mean the other group is getting poorer.

The other very interesting thing is that there is statistically not really a "upper ranks" and "lower ranks". The majority of people in the 1% each year are there for the first (and often only) time. And a very, very small percentage of people in the bottom percentiles remain there for their whole life.

Some interesting research:

* 12% of the population will find themselves in the top 1% for at least one year

* Nearly 70% will spend at least one year in the top 20%

* More than half will have at least one year in the top 10%

* While 12% may reach the top 1% at some point, a mere 0.6% stay there for 10 consecutive years

All of that is to say, the idea that there are is some entrenched upper class waging war against some entrenched lower class is just empirically not true. If you dig through the data what you'll find is:

1. People who are just entering the workforce don't make a lot of money

2. As people spend time in the workforce, they make increasingly more money

3. When they retired, they start making less money but tend to have assets to live on

It's far more dynamic than most people's intuition leads them to believe.

Re: Molotov cocktail is hurled at home of Sam Altman

#383

Post by racl101 » Fri, Apr 10, 2026, 11:13 PM UTC

lbarrow wrote: post #20

MontyCarloHall wrote: post #12

I don't think most people in tech are quite aware of the level of visceral AI hatred amongst non-techies. I've personally witnessed the worst Thanksgiving dinnertable fight I've ever seen (after someone revealed that their recipe was AI-generated, a couple people literally spat out the food they were enjoying and threw their plates in the trash), and a divorce (a very solid marriage between two people who were once b…

Spitting your food out because the AI generated the recipe is so clearly irrational that I chuckled a bit on reading that

First thanksgiving dinner?

Re: Molotov cocktail is hurled at home of Sam Altman

#384

Post by s1artibartfast » Fri, Apr 10, 2026, 11:14 PM UTC

ikkun wrote: post #51

lbarrow wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spitting your food out because the AI generated the recipe is so clearly irrational that I chuckled a bit on reading that

I could see being concerned about food safety; I wouldn't trust an AI recipe to tell me how long/what temperature to cook chicken, and I might not trust someone who uses AI to generate recipes to know either.

I a cook not paying attention or messing up and accurate recipe is overwhelmingly more likely.

IF someone is to the point of worrying about AI recipe risk for chicken, they should have already rejected any food made by amateur or professional cooks due to excessive risk.

Re: Molotov cocktail is hurled at home of Sam Altman

#385

Post by JumpCrisscross » Fri, Apr 10, 2026, 11:15 PM UTC

pesus wrote: post #349

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do you spend much time with people not in the tech world? Most of it. Across the political spectrum. > even if not to such an extreme That’s precisely the point. There is a massive difference between doing or aiding and abetting such behavior, cheering it on, and giving into the impulse of “couldn’t have happened to a worse person” before self correcting. There are a few saints who reject the violence at first glan…

> To what numerical end? How many people live in Iran, who he just threatened to genocide? How many people hold views that Trump thinks make them his enemy, including being critical of ICE? How many immigrants are in the country? It's going to be a very large number, no matter how you slice it.

I mean to what numerical end do Trump’s supporters pick up arms when he calls them to violence.

Re: Molotov cocktail is hurled at home of Sam Altman

#386

Post by throwway120385 » Fri, Apr 10, 2026, 11:15 PM UTC

yfw wrote: post #302

scoofy wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is exactly the point of part one of Fist Stick Knife Gun: A Personal History of Violence , by Geoffrey Canada. Unequal or lack of access to the executive branch of government will create a culture of vigilantism and lends itself to organized crime as a replacement for the policing arm of the state. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fist%2C_Stick%2C_Knife%2C_Gun People become okay with vigilante justice when they see…

We gave up violence and made the state the authority but thats contingent on the social contract being upheld.

We did this in the late 1800's and early 1900's because the upper classes understood that they needed to be afraid of the masses. Prior to that political violence seems like it was the order of the day. The US has always had a pretty strong aristocracy, but the aristocrats were variously either moral people or they at least had enough of a sense of self-preservation that they wouldn't get too greedy.

Re: Molotov cocktail is hurled at home of Sam Altman

#387

Post by lexarflash8g » Fri, Apr 10, 2026, 11:15 PM UTC

therobots927 wrote: post #29

MontyCarloHall wrote: post #12

I don't think most people in tech are quite aware of the level of visceral AI hatred amongst non-techies. I've personally witnessed the worst Thanksgiving dinnertable fight I've ever seen (after someone revealed that their recipe was AI-generated, a couple people literally spat out the food they were enjoying and threw their plates in the trash), and a divorce (a very solid marriage between two people who were once b…

Most SV people live in a bubble inside of a bubble. They don’t understand how their words come across to a significant portion of the population. If they did they would shut the fuck up.

Silicon Valley just means a concentration of influential and powerful actors including venture capitalists, executives, entrepreneurs who decide the fate of the technology industry. Basically the elites of the XYZ sector.

Same can be applied for DC (politics/military), NY (finance), LA (entertainment).

SV was around since the 60-90s but didn't get much attention until beginning of this millenium due to the huge value creation and control they had over the US economy. They just happen to be relevant in recent times. 100s of years ago it was the railroad and oil conglomerates, 1000s of years ago kings and feudal lords. So there is always a powerful influential class who controls the strings -- its a feature of human society.

Re: Molotov cocktail is hurled at home of Sam Altman

#388

Post by racl101 » Fri, Apr 10, 2026, 11:16 PM UTC

kelnos wrote: post #23

linkage wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Politics really is a substitute for religion in America

In secular America at least. Most people in the US are religious, many of them fervently so. And quite a few of them like to mix their religion with politics.

> And quite a few of them like to mix their religion with politics.

The two things they told us not to talk about at the dinner table in order to have a better experience.

Maybe it was solid advice after all.

Re: Molotov cocktail is hurled at home of Sam Altman

#389

Post by throwaway613746 » Fri, Apr 10, 2026, 11:16 PM UTC

lbarrow wrote: post #20

MontyCarloHall wrote: post #12

I don't think most people in tech are quite aware of the level of visceral AI hatred amongst non-techies. I've personally witnessed the worst Thanksgiving dinnertable fight I've ever seen (after someone revealed that their recipe was AI-generated, a couple people literally spat out the food they were enjoying and threw their plates in the trash), and a divorce (a very solid marriage between two people who were once b…

Spitting your food out because the AI generated the recipe is so clearly irrational that I chuckled a bit on reading that

[dead]

Re: Molotov cocktail is hurled at home of Sam Altman

#390

Post by yoyohello13 » Fri, Apr 10, 2026, 11:17 PM UTC

boznz wrote: post #148

lexicality wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Abundance and growing the pie for everyone is also an outcome if this is done right. Do you genuinely believe there's any chance that's going to happen?

I do, because the alternative is unthinkable.

What? This makes no sense. You don't like the alternative so you choose to believe in the best outcome?