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Larry Ellison – 'citizens will be on their best behavior' amid nonstop recording

fortune.com

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Re: Larry Ellison – 'citizens will be on their best behavior' amid nonstop recording

#121

Post by potato3732842 »

burkaman wrote: post #41
potato3732842 wrote: post #7

The fact that an out of touch billionaire might say such a thing doesn't bother me much, he's out of touch after all. The fact that we reliably and repeatedly see peasants (i.e. any less equal animal, so everyone here) who have no such excuse cheerleading for specific implementations in furtherance of their pet issues bothers me greatly. I'd say you ought to know better, but you do. When these subjects are discussed…

He's not out of touch. He's the first or second richest person on Earth, he has substantial influence over the president of the United States, and he's about to control one of the largest media empires in the country. You should be bothered by what he says because whatever dumb idea he has is going to become reality. He's one of the most powerful people on the planet.

Sure, he might know what he's saying in a sort of evil mustache twirling realpolitik way. But as someone who experiences everything in a different way than the other 99.99% of society because of his wealth and power he is tautologically "out of touch".

"we'll just surveil everything and use AI and it'll work" " = "let them eat cake". What he's peddling just won't work (in all likelihood) and everybody else (most of the other 99.99%) knows it.

Re: Larry Ellison – 'citizens will be on their best behavior' amid nonstop recording

#122

Post by TheOtherHobbes »

jampekka wrote: post #24
catigula wrote: post #9

[flagged]

> The thing that billionaires don't realize is that they fall into the "citizens" category. Or they realize they don't?

A surprising number of Russian oligarchs were very surprised to find their wealth didn't protect them from a crunchy encounter with the ground after mysteriously falling out of a window.

Evil always eats its own. Why would the US be any different? It only takes one ruthlessly ambitious murderous psychopath with a deviant personal life to spoil things for everyone.

Re: Larry Ellison – 'citizens will be on their best behavior' amid nonstop recording

#124

Post by bhouston »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #40
bhouston wrote: post #28

Larry Ellison is ultra-pro Israel if you didn't know. He and others are pushing for Bari Weiss take a key role at CBS to better "defend Israel": https://nypost.com/2025/09/19/media/shari-redstone-says-bari... And many people are worried about a similar type of agenda setting at TikTok now: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/will-tiktoks-new-own... Netanyahu, for his part, believes it is super consequential for E…

That’s a study shoehorn… Would his statements be better if he were pro-Gaza or something else?

> Would his statements be better if he were pro-Gaza or something else?

How about he and CBS News and TikTok be neutral and truth seeking rather than being pro-Israel or pro-Palestinian? I would like news organizations to be truth seeking and I would like social media to not be tinting my view of the world towards what their billionaire owners want.

Maybe that is too much?

Re: Larry Ellison – 'citizens will be on their best behavior' amid nonstop recording

#125

Post by Hikikomori »

andsoitis wrote: post #116
lupusreal wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How could Ellison's motivation for creating a surveillance state possibly not be relevant?

> How could Ellison's motivation for creating a surveillance state possibly not be relevant? What is his motivation? Why is Israel relevant?

You're asking how Israel is relevant in American politics?

Re: Larry Ellison – 'citizens will be on their best behavior' amid nonstop recording

#126

Post by JumpCrisscross »

amval wrote: post #120
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point is this comes down to a foreign policy disagreement that isn’t germane to Ellison’s comments on surveillance. (I can come with a litany of policy disagreements with anyone of Ellison’s stature, some of which I probably feel about strongly.) Read in good faith, it’s overzealous advocacy. In bad faith, which I don’t assume here, it serves to get this discussion flagged off the front page.

You don't think that the fact that Ellison is a staunch defender of regimes that disregard the international order in favour of military might is relevant to the fact that is also advocating for building a surveillance state? In case you don't, to me it's painfully clear that these are just different aspects of the move towards more authoritarian forms of government. You CANNOT support a genocide and expect that this…

> it's painfully clear that these are just different aspects of the move towards more authoritarian forms of government

Sure. But, like, the evidence for that is the advocacy for a surveillance state. Not his support for a foreign policy project that yes, involves supporting an autocratic government in Israel (fighting, let’s be fair, an autocratic force in Gaza backed by an autocratic state in Iran), but also a whole bunch of other irrelevant things.

Re: Larry Ellison – 'citizens will be on their best behavior' amid nonstop recording

#127

Post by andsoitis »

linhns wrote: post #112
robin_reala wrote: post #2

1984 was meant to be a satire, not a manual.

Yet somehow it’s turning into reality with big nations threatening to eat small ones and become super states.

> big nations threatening to eat small ones and become super states

what are a couple of examples you have in mind that support your claim of this trend? I must be living under a rock because I have not detected this.

Re: Larry Ellison – 'citizens will be on their best behavior' amid nonstop recording

#128

Post by btbuildem »

It's interesting this thread is flagged, given that the scenario is a direct consequence of advances of technology, AI, and worship of wealth -- seems very core HN.

Entities with this level of resources and influence have very little in common with people, other than biology. We would do well to instead perceive them as dangerous alien parasites -- not precisely hostile, but lacking social connection to the rest of us, and indifferent to the suffering of humanity.

Re: Larry Ellison – 'citizens will be on their best behavior' amid nonstop recording

#129

Post by constantcrying »

thepryz wrote: post #111
constantcrying wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is he out of touch? He clearly is extremely in touch with the current direction of AI and the abilities to use it for mass surveillance. Portraying these people as naive villains is not helpful at all. They have very clear goals and the means to accomplish them.

Billionaires are out of touch because their money, their power, and their social circle insulates them from the challenges everyday people experience. Their goals are to find ways to protect and expand their wealth and their power. You don’t become a billionaire by looking out for other people. Their goals and their perspectives should mean that they have absolutely no business making policy decisions for society but…

It is pretty clear that Ellison seeks to shape the society he lives in and since he has the means to do so, that clearly makes him more in touch than every single ordinary person.

>Their goals and their perspectives should mean that they have absolutely no business making policy decisions

He doesn't make policy decisions and claiming he does completely undermines how corporations and their leaders wield their influence.

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