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Sam Altman talks with Mark Zuckerberg about how to build the future [video]

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Re: Sam Altman talks with Mark Zuckerberg about how to build the future [video]

#221

Post by jeevestobs »

fbdinglebore wrote: post #135

> And just to make this point, how far into Facebook did it actually become a company? > I don't know. I think it became a formal Delaware company when Peter Thiel invested about six months in. Isn't this an outright lie? He sure stammered over his answer. He's joked himself about the fact that Edwardo incorporated Facebook as a Florida LLC originally. This is how history gets rewritten to be more streamlined... The…

There's details of this on page two of this Business Insider article.

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-mark-zuckerberg-booted-hi...

"His plan: Reduce Saverin's stake in TheFacebook.com by creating a new company, a Delaware corporation, to acquire the old company (the Florida LLC formed in April), and then distribute new shares in the new company to everybody but Saverin."

Re: Sam Altman talks with Mark Zuckerberg about how to build the future [video]

#222

Post by swsieber »

gavinpc wrote: post #157
Karunamon wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a difference between loving Facebook, and begrudgingly using it because that's where my friends/family are. Facebook sucks, not just because of confusing UI, or because of silent changes to privacy settings, or because it's one stop shopping for scary three-letter-agencies, but because the network effect is so damned strong, it will take a monumental misstep for it to become the next Myspace.

> There's a difference between loving Facebook, and begrudgingly using it because that's where my friends/family are. Not to Facebook.

I would think that it does - would not the usage habits be entirely different between the two groups?

Also, hating Facebook makes jumping ship so much easier - my wife uses Instagram primarily now instead of Facebook. Yes I know Facebook owns Instagram, but there are other social platforms people are jumping to.

Re: Sam Altman talks with Mark Zuckerberg about how to build the future [video]

#223

Post by L_Rahman »

jomamaxx wrote: post #131
eatkinson wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I find that the major objection is that people think great science is done by luck. It's all a matter of luck. Well, consider Einstein. Note how many different things he did that were good. Was it all luck? Wasn't it a little too repetitive? Consider Shannon. He didn't do just information theory. Several years before, he did some other good things and some which are still locked up in the security of cryptography. H…

There was a lot of luck in Facebook, even if Zuck is a particularly talented individual. Also - if Harvard is a great school - how the F does someone find time to do the work and make a product at the same time? When I did Engineering, I didn't have time to take a shower.

Harvard is a notoriously easy school - once you get in classes are relatively easy. Grade inflation is rampant.

I say this as someone who got in (eventually chose to attend a different school for a variety of reasons) and with many friends who went there.

At Harvard, the primary thing you do is the extracurricular in your field of interest - whether that's law, activism or startups - is up to the individual student. Your grades, your education and your brand in society - Harvard takes care of that.

Re: Sam Altman talks with Mark Zuckerberg about how to build the future [video]

#224

Post by quxbar »

an_ko wrote: post #208
erintumeran wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People overestimate the positive impact of technology. Of course in Silicon Valley you're considered crazy if you don't believe technology solves everything. But it's not as simple as that. My grandparents for example, had no internet, no Facebook, no iPhones. They're doing great and have led very fulfilling lives. Most of the positivity in their lives came from their relationship with each other and their kids. Of c…

It comes down to definitions. What is "positive impact" to you? To me, it means "increasing the total amount of human understanding", not "making everybod happy and Amish". Edit: By the way, this is the essential difference between Bentham's and Mill's versions of utilitarian philosophy, if you'd like to research further. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill#Utilitarianis...

I'd like to barge in and call false dichotomy on this. Despite the excellent citation, I don't think it's correct. I believe technology should let people enjoy more of their lives, not replace it. Understanding is essential to this, but it becomes cheaper as your technology improves, so you're not sacrificing happiness at a fixed rate. We've already gone from industrial steam engines to tiny glass wonder-phones in a couple hundred years, what if technology continues to become less intrusive? Maybe we'll all be look amish yet be omnipotent.

Re: Sam Altman talks with Mark Zuckerberg about how to build the future [video]

#225

Post by kkhire »

georgeglue1 wrote: post #24

I'm not sure what to think about Mark's non-answer to: "So can you tell us about some of the hardest parts in the history of the early history of Facebook?" (He basically says the hardest point was not selling for $1 billion, and that it was a non-issue months later.)

the whole thing was a very vanilla overview of what happened and what he plans to do. I hope this isn't what YC intends to with their podcast.

He should have spoken about one of the many times they were on the brink of disaster or the company shutting down, not some time where he got offered a $B.

I hope someone like Tim Ferriss can get a hold of Zuck for 2 hours, and chat to get an in-depth view of him. The dude is going to be remembered as the Edison of this century. He should share more about himself outside the context of fb and their products.

Re: Sam Altman talks with Mark Zuckerberg about how to build the future [video]

#226

Post by random314 »

zouhair wrote: post #77
tedmiston wrote: post #49

Refreshing advice: Work on a problem you care about and don't worry about the rest until it's working. > Sam: So you were 19 when you started Facebook. One question we hear a lot at Y Combinator is, "I'm 19 today. I really want to do whatever I can to make the world better. What should I do?" > Mark: I always think that the most important thing that entrepreneurs should do is pick something they care about, work on i…

And also be extremely lucky.

Zuckerberg actually understands that. So it is refreshing to see him receive advice from Sam[1], one of the five greatest founders in the past 40 years!

[1] http://www.paulgraham.com/5founders.html

Re: Sam Altman talks with Mark Zuckerberg about how to build the future [video]

#227

Post by smaddox »

azeirah wrote: post #182
zouhair wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And also be extremely lucky.

You do not need to be extremely lucky to "make the world a better place". If that is truly your goal, you can definitely do that without building a startup, without getting extremely lucky, without spending 80 hours a week working on ideas. I'm very much convinced that nearly everybody on this site who claims to want to make the world "a better place" just want to start their startup, earn their money and financial f…

I generally agree with your views. I think a large part of the problem is that we've all been (self) deluded into thinking technology can solve all our problems. The older I get, the clearer it becomes, though, that the root of all our problems is psychological. Outside of transhuman genetic engineering or human-replacing AI, I don't see how technology can fix our psychology.

Re: Sam Altman talks with Mark Zuckerberg about how to build the future [video]

#228

Post by mathattack »

JamesBarney wrote: post #167
tedmiston wrote: post #49

Refreshing advice: Work on a problem you care about and don't worry about the rest until it's working. > Sam: So you were 19 when you started Facebook. One question we hear a lot at Y Combinator is, "I'm 19 today. I really want to do whatever I can to make the world better. What should I do?" > Mark: I always think that the most important thing that entrepreneurs should do is pick something they care about, work on i…

Donating to a http://www.givewell.org/ recommended charity is probably a more scalable way to make the world a better place.

Creating a company that gives people jobs and provides customers with a positive NPV service or product also makes the world a better place. A successful company can tremendous value to the world, even if it only provides a fraction of that for the owner to give to charity.

Re: Sam Altman talks with Mark Zuckerberg about how to build the future [video]

#229

Post by briantmaurer »

JamesBarney wrote: post #167
tedmiston wrote: post #49

Refreshing advice: Work on a problem you care about and don't worry about the rest until it's working. > Sam: So you were 19 when you started Facebook. One question we hear a lot at Y Combinator is, "I'm 19 today. I really want to do whatever I can to make the world better. What should I do?" > Mark: I always think that the most important thing that entrepreneurs should do is pick something they care about, work on i…

Donating to a http://www.givewell.org/ recommended charity is probably a more scalable way to make the world a better place.

In order for givewell.org to exist, somebody had to start that company.

Re: Sam Altman talks with Mark Zuckerberg about how to build the future [video]

#230

Post by ItsMattyG »

irq11 wrote: post #216
ItsMattyG wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that they were able to replicate their success multiple times, just like Einstein, and that they're all smart, just like Einstein, says that there's probably some aspect of talent involved in their success. If it was purely based on luck, without any talent involved, you'd expect billion dollar companies to be more evenly distributed, and not cluster among certain individuals.

After you've had success in the valley, people are willing to fling money at you for just about anything. This factor alone accounts for a large percentage of repeat successes. Square probably never would have obtained the capital necessary to become competitive, had it not been for Twitter. But honestly, for all their funding, even most of these second tries turn out to be failures. What you're really doing here is…

>But honestly, for all their funding, even most of these second tries turn out to be failures. What you're really doing here is confusing selection bias with skill: take a pool of enough entrepreneurs, and eventually, just by chance, you'll find someone who has repeat successes.

There's only 170 companies on this list: https://www.cbinsights.com/research-unicorn-companies

The fact that there's even more than one company on it that has a repeat founder suggests that there's something more than selection bias going on her, given the sheer amount of startups started every year.

So the next thing we could do is take a look at if there's other correlations to these repeat founders besides their ability to get capital. I would argue that the fact that most of them are intelligent at least merits a look as a FACTOR that might help them.

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