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Sam Altman's knack for dodging bullets with a little help from bigshot friends

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Re: Sam Altman's knack for dodging bullets with a little help from bigshot friends

#11

Post by gkoberger »

richbell wrote: post #8
gkoberger wrote: post #7

You don't have to like Sam. But people who do big things, by definition, have to get there by pushing things along at a cadence that differs from most other people. I'm not necessarily saying it's a good thing, but I don't get why every article about Sam seems to be surprised that the guy who helped build something nobody thought was possible (AI this decade) got there by doing things in a fast, unique way. If he fol…

This comment reminds me of when Bird's CEO described their intentional subversion of municipal legislation as "innovating on the regulatory front." A lot can be accomplished by skirting pesky rules and regulations. It isn't something commendable.

This is a fallacy. You can't say "this other CEO did something" if you're trying to make a point about Sam. If you have a problem with Sam doing something illegal, say it.

I'm not saying Sam has never done anything illegal, but most of the outrage seems to be that he doesn't follow social/business norms (not that he doesn't follow rules/regulations/laws).

Re: Sam Altman's knack for dodging bullets with a little help from bigshot friends

#12

Post by skullone »

gkoberger wrote: post #7

You don't have to like Sam. But people who do big things, by definition, have to get there by pushing things along at a cadence that differs from most other people. I'm not necessarily saying it's a good thing, but I don't get why every article about Sam seems to be surprised that the guy who helped build something nobody thought was possible (AI this decade) got there by doing things in a fast, unique way. If he fol…

He's not unique, instead very textbook sociopath. Lines up with the alleged abuse of his younger sister too. There's not much more to him than a wheeler and dealer, self serving abuser.

Re: Sam Altman's knack for dodging bullets with a little help from bigshot friends

#13

Post by gkoberger »

skullone wrote: post #12
gkoberger wrote: post #7

You don't have to like Sam. But people who do big things, by definition, have to get there by pushing things along at a cadence that differs from most other people. I'm not necessarily saying it's a good thing, but I don't get why every article about Sam seems to be surprised that the guy who helped build something nobody thought was possible (AI this decade) got there by doing things in a fast, unique way. If he fol…

He's not unique, instead very textbook sociopath. Lines up with the alleged abuse of his younger sister too. There's not much more to him than a wheeler and dealer, self serving abuser.

If he was brilliant and high agency, rather than a sociopath, what would be doing differently right now? The phrase "wheeler and dealer" rarely applies to people who have genuinely changed the world forever; why do you put him in that category when he clearly has had tangible results?

Hey, if you don't like Sam, that's fine. But that doesn't make him a sociopath.

Re: Sam Altman's knack for dodging bullets with a little help from bigshot friends

#14

Post by richbell »

gkoberger wrote: post #11
richbell wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment reminds me of when Bird's CEO described their intentional subversion of municipal legislation as "innovating on the regulatory front." A lot can be accomplished by skirting pesky rules and regulations. It isn't something commendable.

This is a fallacy. You can't say "this other CEO did something" if you're trying to make a point about Sam. If you have a problem with Sam doing something illegal, say it. I'm not saying Sam has never done anything illegal, but most of the outrage seems to be that he doesn't follow social/business norms (not that he doesn't follow rules/regulations/laws).

> This is a fallacy. You can't say "this other CEO did something" if you're trying to make a point about Sam. If you have a problem with Sam doing something illegal, say it.

There is nothing fallacious about my comment. Saying I'm not allowed to compare him to other CEOs is ridiculous.

As another commenter said: he isn't unique.

Re: Sam Altman's knack for dodging bullets with a little help from bigshot friends

#15

Post by jstummbillig »

gumballindie wrote: post #6

The more we learn about this person the more we understand how dubious he is. I am not entirely sure what the end game is for those protecting and promoting him. He’s clearly not steve jobs. Behaves and talks more like a cheap imitation.

Is the idea that Steve Jobs never strong armed anyone?

Re: Sam Altman's knack for dodging bullets with a little help from bigshot friends

#16

Post by layer8 »

milkglass wrote: post #10

Really interesting how Sam gets compared to Steve Jobs quite often. Sam in some ways embodies the reality distortion field that Steve operated under, and has huge influence on those all that are part of that path.

The difference is that Sam Altman doesn’t seem to be an ideas man like Steve Jobs was.

Both have been characterized as being manipulative liars though.

Re: Sam Altman's knack for dodging bullets with a little help from bigshot friends

#17

Post by CPLX »

gumballindie wrote: post #6

The more we learn about this person the more we understand how dubious he is. I am not entirely sure what the end game is for those protecting and promoting him. He’s clearly not steve jobs. Behaves and talks more like a cheap imitation.

His values are completely aligned with the ruling class.

Billionaires need on the ground types like him to actually do stuff.

It’s hard to find people who are young and ambitious and effective, and yet fundamentally and ruthlessly aligned with corporate hegemony.

And I suspect he must be spectacularly good at flattery.

Re: Sam Altman's knack for dodging bullets with a little help from bigshot friends

#18

Post by wslh »

After reading more articles about Sam it seems he is a genius in the game of power. Am I right? He is at the center of the stage and many powerful people and organizations trust on him beyond the "anecdotes". He will gain more power while he is an amplifier of capital and business opportunities. For an investor point of view he is a business ace and you just need to be careful about partnering with him because he will always be pursuing new opportunities, even ones that eat part of the company you invested in.

Re: Sam Altman's knack for dodging bullets with a little help from bigshot friends

#19

Post by CPLX »

gkoberger wrote: post #11
richbell wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment reminds me of when Bird's CEO described their intentional subversion of municipal legislation as "innovating on the regulatory front." A lot can be accomplished by skirting pesky rules and regulations. It isn't something commendable.

This is a fallacy. You can't say "this other CEO did something" if you're trying to make a point about Sam. If you have a problem with Sam doing something illegal, say it. I'm not saying Sam has never done anything illegal, but most of the outrage seems to be that he doesn't follow social/business norms (not that he doesn't follow rules/regulations/laws).

The outrage is mostly focused on the fact that he doesn’t seem to tell the truth.

Re: Sam Altman's knack for dodging bullets with a little help from bigshot friends

#20

Post by pclmulqdq »

gkoberger wrote: post #13
skullone wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's not unique, instead very textbook sociopath. Lines up with the alleged abuse of his younger sister too. There's not much more to him than a wheeler and dealer, self serving abuser.

If he was brilliant and high agency, rather than a sociopath, what would be doing differently right now? The phrase "wheeler and dealer" rarely applies to people who have genuinely changed the world forever; why do you put him in that category when he clearly has had tangible results? Hey, if you don't like Sam, that's fine. But that doesn't make him a sociopath.

I don't know a lot about Sam Altman's history, but I do know that there is a lot of misattribution in tech circles away from the doers and toward the managers. Has he had significant tangible results, or has he managed people who have had those tangible results?

This sort of misattribution seems to show up when you have individuals with sociopathic tendencies running firms that do cool things: Elon Musk is the king of this. The man has not, on his own, had any sort of good results on the world - Tesla and SpaceX seem to do a lot better when he steps away from them - but he has found ways to get himself into a position to take credit from the engineers who do. Hyperloops and Twitter are the results of Elon Musk's original work. That's not to say that the management is necessarily negative: someone needs to fund the work of the good engineers.

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