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Zuckerberg 'Admits' Meta's Layoffs Were Ineffective

eshumarneedi.com

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Re: Zuckerberg 'Admits' Meta's Layoffs Were Ineffective

#81
post #39
post #20

Seems like a lot of CEOs overestimated the speed of AI, but also it is inevitable.

it's a common missconception that engineers spend most of their time producing code based on documented requirements in jira tickets. I'd believe that a complete automation of this aspect of our industry would only be enough to provide a 10-20% boost in productivity. Still impressive, but within the range of "Our team improved our CI, build times, development process etc."

This is a bit like going back in time to the beginning of the industrial revolution and estimating the impact of a mechanisation based on comparing the speed of early mechanical looms vs. a skilled human.

It takes years or decades for the automation of an artisan process to shake out, because it involves rethinking how everything around the now-automated process happens, and because the benefits involve the automation's ability to continue scaling beyond a level where human capacity was saturated. We're only at the very beginning of that process for coding, and right now we tend to see LLMs somewhat awkwardly inserted into pre-existing software development lifecycles. But it's unlikely that'll be still be the way we're creating software in 10/20 years time.

Re: Zuckerberg 'Admits' Meta's Layoffs Were Ineffective

#82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is AGI really inevitable ? Claiming something is inevitable is a great way to disarm critical thinking.

Well, if progress stops it can be avoided..

But that's part of the inevitable isn't it? You'll never get everyone to stop. Someone will always do it because they feel it being inevitable that if they don't do it someone else will so might as well do it.

Re: Zuckerberg 'Admits' Meta's Layoffs Were Ineffective

#83

Wang for ceo. Zuck ruined enough lives, let him go become an mma podcaster like he wants.

The guy who was going to lead Meta into a glorious AI future?

Zuck makes the rules. He’s made enough in his time.

Re: Zuckerberg 'Admits' Meta's Layoffs Were Ineffective

#84
post #15

> I can’t tell if Zuckerberg is dimwitted or just evil. I can.

I don't think it is either of those. He is clearly not dumb nor do I think he is inherently evil. The thing is just that he became a billionaire at 23 and did not have to experience any of the grounding and setbacks that turn someone into a responsible adult.

He is basically a middle-aged college bro that always got what he wanted and never had to ask twice for something.

Re: Zuckerberg 'Admits' Meta's Layoffs Were Ineffective

#85

I wonder when (if ever) the companies realize that demoralizing your workforce (and destroying that sector of the job market) doesn't have only advantages. I know plenty of people that reacted with the desired fear, putting in long hours to avoid layoffs, willingness to accept lower pay because the job market sucks, etc. - but I think there are also plenty of the the mythical 10x engineers that just checked out, stop…

Never — remember, these people believe 3 things: 1) empathy is a weakness 2) introspection is a waste of time 3) move fast and break things The only introspection will be along the lines of “we should have moved faster and broken more things”; because of (1) and (2), it can’t progress to the level of “maybe we were completely wrong in a fundamental sense”, because they just don’t perceive human minds outside of their…

> introspection is a waste of time

Even worse, the claim it’s bad

Re: Zuckerberg 'Admits' Meta's Layoffs Were Ineffective

#86

I wonder when (if ever) the companies realize that demoralizing your workforce (and destroying that sector of the job market) doesn't have only advantages. I know plenty of people that reacted with the desired fear, putting in long hours to avoid layoffs, willingness to accept lower pay because the job market sucks, etc. - but I think there are also plenty of the the mythical 10x engineers that just checked out, stop…

> I think there are also plenty of the the mythical 10x engineers that just checked out

I don't think that should be the real fear. The real fear is those 10x engineers still putting in equivalent effort, but now having to spend mental capacity on positioning themselves for future layoffs and worrying about getting fired.

I think we greatly underestimate the performance boost there is in security. When you don't have to worry about plan b, you can be so much more efficient at plan a.

Re: Zuckerberg 'Admits' Meta's Layoffs Were Ineffective

#88
post #64

The title is a weird. Ineffective? At doing what? This is an interesting quote from Zuckerberg: > trajectory of the agentic development over at least the last four months hasn’t really accelerated in the way that we expected Combine that with the other theories about Meta management in the article, I think we have the answer to is Zuckerberg a "dimwitted or just evil". It's probably the former. He can't plan four mon…

>I think we have the answer to is Zuckerberg a "dimwitted or just evil". It's probably the former. Why is this an either/or? Those aren't mutually exclusive.

The way the sentence is structured implies he is evil either way. He is either (dim witted and evil) or (just evil).

Re: Zuckerberg 'Admits' Meta's Layoffs Were Ineffective

#89
post #64

The title is a weird. Ineffective? At doing what? This is an interesting quote from Zuckerberg: > trajectory of the agentic development over at least the last four months hasn’t really accelerated in the way that we expected Combine that with the other theories about Meta management in the article, I think we have the answer to is Zuckerberg a "dimwitted or just evil". It's probably the former. He can't plan four mon…

>I think we have the answer to is Zuckerberg a "dimwitted or just evil". It's probably the former. Why is this an either/or? Those aren't mutually exclusive.

It's like that old saying: “Don't attribute to malice – or incompetence – that which can be explained by path dependency.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Path_dependence

OK, not the saying. Perhaps should be.

Assuming a sufficient base level of competence, more of how things go for company A vs. company B can be explained by random walks through events (their dependent paths) than by management.

A competent and persistent leader can increase the odds, but under close study, fortuitousness and serendipity – or luck of the draw and timing – have more explanatory power.

Meanwhile, just try to make your own luck. Make sure you happen to things, instead of things happening to you.

Re: Zuckerberg 'Admits' Meta's Layoffs Were Ineffective

#90

The title is a weird. Ineffective? At doing what? This is an interesting quote from Zuckerberg: > trajectory of the agentic development over at least the last four months hasn’t really accelerated in the way that we expected Combine that with the other theories about Meta management in the article, I think we have the answer to is Zuckerberg a "dimwitted or just evil". It's probably the former. He can't plan four mon…

Given his war on the whistleblower and what we learned about Meta and Zuckerberg from her he is evil too
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