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Sergey Brin's Unretirement

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Re: Sergey Brin's Unretirement

#21

Post by Brian_K_White »

dang wrote: post #11
onion2k wrote: post #2

[flagged]

Can you please not post snarky comments or shallow dismissals to Hacker News? It's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for. No one is saying you owe billionaires better, but you owe this community better if you're participating in it. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.

Of all the things people say here (myself absolutely included), this is what got your personal attention? That's kind of interesting.

Re: Sergey Brin's Unretirement

#23

Post by makeitdouble »

dang wrote: post #6
makeitdouble wrote: post #3

> Having given so much of themselves to their careers, they often felt unmoored and purposeless when they left their jobs. That's in contrast with all of us who see the companies led by these guys as the cancer of society and we'd quit and never look back if we had FU money. My feelings aside, if all their purpose is to grow their company, I kinda get why they wouldn't give a damn about bettering the mankind, improvi…

Can you please not post cynical and/or curmudgeonly comments to HN? I can understand the feelings behind it—we all can—but this is really not what we're going here, and it has a way more degrading effect on the threads than I'm sure you intended. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Sorry, point taken.

Re: Sergey Brin's Unretirement

#25

Post by deathanatos »

dang wrote: post #11
onion2k wrote: post #2

[flagged]

Can you please not post snarky comments or shallow dismissals to Hacker News? It's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for. No one is saying you owe billionaires better, but you owe this community better if you're participating in it. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.

I'm also going to dissent with a "but is it a shallow rebuttal?" here? TFA is a of the "problems we wish we had" sort — we're all just temporarily embarrassed billionaires here, right guys? Right?! (Because a mere million doesn't cut it, these days…) But the rank and file of us are still on Duck Tales, Larry. Especially these days.

As I said in a separate comment, TFA is distinctly lacks empathy.

Re: Sergey Brin's Unretirement

#26

Post by LarsDu88 »

Sergey unretires, Gemini suddenly becomes the top LLM (for a week or two at least)

Google has made some subtle moves that a lot of folks missed, possibly with Sergey's influence. Like hiring back Noam Shazeer, who practically invented the backbone of the technology.

It's good to have folks with presumptions of being scientists actually run companies for once.

That being said, I wish his ex-wife hadn't spent her millions in the divorce proceedings to get RFK Jr into a cabinet level position to gut billions in research spending. :(

Re: Sergey Brin's Unretirement

#27

Post by arjie »

It's been great to see. Google's AI efforts have truly seen a resurgence in quality with his return. What I enjoy about this article is the fact that it presents a view that now seems relatively rare: the idea that you may have a purpose beyond pleasure and that pursuing that purpose is a more fulfilling pleasure than any comfort you could give yourself.

I think that kind of thing strikes many people. Sometimes like with Socrates and his daimonion which restrained him from risk and other times like with one of my favourite lines in all literature where Ahab of Moby Dick remarks:

> What is it, what nameless, inscrutable, unearthly thing is it; what cozening, hidden lord and master, and cruel, remorseless emperor commands me?

I find so much of this relatable in my own way, billions absent. It's good to see there are others who feel this way. Community from afar.

Re: Sergey Brin's Unretirement

#28

Post by deathanatos »

randallsquared wrote: post #18
stonogo wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the correct style to use to point out that there is nothing in this article beyond the news that a specific person got bored?

Maybe say exactly that? You can convey the sentiment without the snark, which can seem corrosive to community.

I think the snark comes from (and becomes merited through) an article that shows such an utter lack of empathy towards the problems that the vast majority face on a day-to-day basis.

Re: Sergey Brin's Unretirement

#29

Post by pm90 »

Living as we do in a society where basic needs are not guaranteed without a giant pile of money, most humans don’t get to experience what it feels like to be in a place where you don’t base your life decisions on financial well being. Thats very limiting; it isn’t that surprising that someone who has achieved that is now looking for meaning in other things. Besides: if you’re Sergey Brin, I imagine you can get to talk/work with whatever at Google interests you most and hand off the gruntwork to minions all the while being treated with deep reverence. It’s not exactly hard to see why he might like it.

One thing I wish more people would understand though is that this is also the best case for some kind of guarantee of basic necessities for every human (UBI, State Subsidies, whatever). Once we know we won’t just die, people might then spend their time on trying out different things and figuring out what works best for them. I believe we could achieve an overall better society this way.

Re: Sergey Brin's Unretirement

#30

Post by laughingcow »

It has been my observation that those that retire without solid plans to keep busy 15-20 hours a week really do struggle. You have to be missed by people when you are sick or out of town. You have to have a reason to get out of bed. I think your choice of activity tells a lot about you since the 'pay the bills and save for retirement" argument no longer applies. Some volunteer to better the world. Some continue their life work to take wealth from those with less power.
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