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Staff disquiet as Alan Turing Institute faces identity crisis

theguardian.com

31–40 of 95 posts

Re: Staff disquiet as Alan Turing Institute faces identity crisis

#31

Reading between the lines - actually, just reading the lines - it sounds like another organisation that got infested with the kind of people who are apt to ruin organisations, and perhaps an attempt it being made to fumigate it, and they don't like that.

Without knowing any details, I'm guessing what's happened is the inevitable result that befalls organizations as predicted by Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy:

Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy states that in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people: First, there will be those who are devoted to the goals of the organization. Examples are dedicated classroom teachers in an educational bureaucracy, many of the engineers and launch technicians and scientists at NASA, even some agricultural scientists and advisors in the former Soviet Union collective farming administration. Secondly, there will be those dedicated to the organization itself. Examples are many of the administrators in the education system, many professors of education, many teachers union officials, much of the NASA headquarters staff, etc. The Iron Law states that in every case the second group will gain and keep control of the organization. It will write the rules, and control promotions within the organization.

Re: Staff disquiet as Alan Turing Institute faces identity crisis

#32

Reading between the lines - actually, just reading the lines - it sounds like another organisation that got infested with the kind of people who are apt to ruin organisations, and perhaps an attempt it being made to fumigate it, and they don't like that.

Without knowing any details, I'm guessing what's happened is the inevitable result that befalls organizations as predicted by Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy: Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy states that in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people: First, there will be those who are devoted to the goals of the organization. Examples are dedicated classroom teachers in an educational bure…

And as Douglas Adams stated in the problem with ruling axiom, is that under no circumstance should you allow someone who gets themselves in a position to rule, rule.

Re: Staff disquiet as Alan Turing Institute faces identity crisis

#33
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DeepMind was founded and is still headquartered in London.

"DeepMind Technologies Limited, trading as Google DeepMind or simply DeepMind, is a British–American artificial intelligence research laboratory which serves as a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. Founded in the UK in 2010, it was acquired by Google in 2014 and merged with Google AI's Google Brain division to become Google DeepMind in April 2023" Q: Is the HQ nominally being in London at all relevant given it was acquired…

It's not just the HQ, the only AI researcher I know personally is an American who moved to London to work on AI with DeepMind well after the acquisition.

Re: Staff disquiet as Alan Turing Institute faces identity crisis

#34
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without knowing any details, I'm guessing what's happened is the inevitable result that befalls organizations as predicted by Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy: Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy states that in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people: First, there will be those who are devoted to the goals of the organization. Examples are dedicated classroom teachers in an educational bure…

And as Douglas Adams stated in the problem with ruling axiom, is that under no circumstance should you allow someone who gets themselves in a position to rule, rule.

> under no circumstance should you allow someone who gets themselves in a position to rule, rule.

Unfortunately the opposite is also true, as anyone who's served on a non-profit board with noncommital members knows.

Re: Staff disquiet as Alan Turing Institute faces identity crisis

#35
post #22
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

a lot of the researchers are still in london

Also in general Google satellite offices often house the engineers of acquired startups who don't want to move to the mothership. It's not their primary purpose but it's one of the things they use them for.

> in general Google satellite offices often house the engineers of acquired startups who don't want to move to the mothership

Would it be unfair to ask if (in this instance the UK's) satellite country taxpayers are subsidising corporate offices when the overall structures are arranged such that any overall corporation tax payable will be paid in the lowest-possible jurisdiction?

See - for instance - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporation_tax_in_the_Republi...

Re: Staff disquiet as Alan Turing Institute faces identity crisis

#36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are plenty of anthropological, sociological, and philosophical arguments that this is inevitable for any organization. Once visionaries in any organization of any size are gone, the priorities of its members are proportionally dominated over time by simple self-preservation.

> Once visionaries in any organization of any size are gone, the priorities of its members are proportionally dominated over time by simple self-preservation. This. It’s also nigh impossible for new visionaries to succeed in an organization because of that self-preservation of the existing ruling political class. Visionaries show loyalty to the org, not the people, and that makes them a prime target for harassment an…

And when they can't suppress visionaries within the organization, the ruling class finds other ways to preserve their power. Today the entrenched companies, organizations, and government bureaucracies collaborate to write the laws and regulations and pursue predatory competitive strategies that suppress new competitors and preserve their power.

There are always good reasons for why X law or Y regulation exists or why Z company is given preferences and even subsidies. But the visionaries are undermined all the same.

Re: Staff disquiet as Alan Turing Institute faces identity crisis

#37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand that iPhones are assembled in China, India and Vietnam. Would those countries issue press releases on "their leadership in iPhones"?

I'm sure representatives of those countries love to say so, especially when talking to third parties about their expertise in manufacturing: "Yes, here in Zhengzhou, CN we're leaders in electronics manufacturing - the iPhone is assembled here at Foxconn!" However, Apple (headquartered in the US) loves to issue press releases describing how their products are "Designed by Apple in California[, USA]" even though a lot…

> "we're leaders in electronics manufacturing"

The UK wasn't claiming to be "leaders _in manufacturing_", they were claiming "international leadership in AI".

As I said elsewhere in the thread, citation needed...

Re: Staff disquiet as Alan Turing Institute faces identity crisis

#38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand that iPhones are assembled in China, India and Vietnam. Would those countries issue press releases on "their leadership in iPhones"?

China, India and Vietnam absolutely lead in manufacturing iphones , yes.

in manufacturing I was responding to the quote from Dame Wendy Hall claiming that that UK [has] "international leadership in AI"

Re: Staff disquiet as Alan Turing Institute faces identity crisis

#39
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without knowing any details, I'm guessing what's happened is the inevitable result that befalls organizations as predicted by Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy: Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy states that in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people: First, there will be those who are devoted to the goals of the organization. Examples are dedicated classroom teachers in an educational bure…

And as Douglas Adams stated in the problem with ruling axiom, is that under no circumstance should you allow someone who gets themselves in a position to rule, rule.

At least some greek states used to assign leadership in a lottery system designed in such a way partially to avoid the issues with this...

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

Re: Staff disquiet as Alan Turing Institute faces identity crisis

#40
post #15
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Monty Python seems especially appropriate here. > It is symbolic of our struggle against oppression! [0] [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dgp9MPLEAqA

Alright, you can have the right to have babies.
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