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Create value for others and don’t worry about the returns

geohot.github.io

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Re: Create value for others and don’t worry about the returns

#31

Post by simianwords »

chunkyguy wrote: post #28
ramblerman wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty. I have a hard time interpreting that as what geohotz is saying. If anything it seems to promote rent seekers by telling you - stick to your lane and don't complain. I.e. the caste system

You need to understand the context. The quote in Gita was to motivate the best warrior of the time at the battlefront facing opponents who were mainly his cousins and uncles. In that context the quote is about performing the duties you were born to do without overthinking the consequences.

the context makes it even worse. its a strange kind of tribalism that is being promoted here. "do what you are asked to without understanding the real consequences". btw war is actual zero sum usually.

Re: Create value for others and don’t worry about the returns

#33

Post by rvz »

minmax2020 wrote: post #12

Can anyone explain the rent seeker paragraph? Which companies are playing 0 sum game and which are not? Are all big players not rent seekers?

> Which companies are playing 0 sum game and which are not?

Most of the US ones are. Anthropic is the worst offender.

The Chinese AI model providers like DeepSeek are not.

Re: Create value for others and don’t worry about the returns

#34

Post by chirau »

franciscop wrote: post #17
minmax2020 wrote: post #12

Can anyone explain the rent seeker paragraph? Which companies are playing 0 sum game and which are not? Are all big players not rent seekers?

Do you think e.g. the AI/LLM boom is all rent seeking? Do you think there's no positive value for the world on the recently announced e.g. MacBook Neo and that it's purely a monopolistic activity? Those are 2 clear recent examples of big players making massive benefits for the world, and I'm okay if they get X% of that value as company valuation.

Macbook Neo is just another laptop. There is nothing "massive benefits for the world" in the context you are trying to put it. And doesn't Apple take close to a third in 'rent' for anything on their platform?

Re: Create value for others and don’t worry about the returns

#35

Post by simianwords »

ryanjshaw wrote: post #32
simianwords wrote: post #30

> They just say it’s AI cause that makes the stock price go up. slightly naive take when the author recognises that AI will cause productivity increase.

You discarded the context within which he made that statement.

i read this

> If you have a job like that, or work at a company like that, the sooner you quit the better your outcome will be.

AI will render your job to be rent seeking. Like self driving cars will automate away truck drivers - do you not think they need to be laid off because of AI?

Re: Create value for others and don’t worry about the returns

#36

Post by mettamage »

ramon156 wrote: post #15
bob1029 wrote: post #7

> The trick is not to play zero sum games. This is what I have been saying the whole time. Go create value for others and don’t worry about the returns. This strategy is highly effective but it's also difficult to tolerate as an ordinary advanced ape. Watching others play less noble games and obtain easier wins can be discouraging over time. I have found that the less you care about money the easier it is to acquire.…

I care less about receiving the money and more about the implications people have regarding money. For example, when I'd joined a company I did not get any travel expenses. They expected me to pay the 200 euros a month myself. I'd suggested it and they shrugged it off. The company is now firing people and others are leaving. The current company just has a default rate of money you get per km. They don't need to, but…

I call this an example of a company putting their money where their mouth is. You can pay lipservice all you want but where will you allocate your (scarce) resource(s)? Resource allocation is a pretty reliable communication channel to discern intent of a company, or a manager.

Re: Create value for others and don’t worry about the returns

#38

Post by vasco »

bob1029 wrote: post #7

> The trick is not to play zero sum games. This is what I have been saying the whole time. Go create value for others and don’t worry about the returns. This strategy is highly effective but it's also difficult to tolerate as an ordinary advanced ape. Watching others play less noble games and obtain easier wins can be discouraging over time. I have found that the less you care about money the easier it is to acquire.…

> This strategy is highly effective but it's also difficult to tolerate as an ordinary advanced ape. Watching others play less noble games and obtain easier wins can be discouraging over time.

A noble man that spends all his time jealous of the things the men without scruples have is not so much far from doing what they did. It's also what the men that did it before him told themselves "why play the right game if everyone else doesn't".

Re: Create value for others and don’t worry about the returns

#39

Post by georgehotz »

chirau wrote: post #34
franciscop wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think e.g. the AI/LLM boom is all rent seeking? Do you think there's no positive value for the world on the recently announced e.g. MacBook Neo and that it's purely a monopolistic activity? Those are 2 clear recent examples of big players making massive benefits for the world, and I'm okay if they get X% of that value as company valuation.

Macbook Neo is just another laptop. There is nothing "massive benefits for the world" in the context you are trying to put it. And doesn't Apple take close to a third in 'rent' for anything on their platform?

The bar isn't massive benefits for the world, the MacBook Neo is great! If there was a new company that builds MacBook Neos, that's a great company. They build something real and sell it for more than it costs to make, no strings attached.

The problem with Apple comes down to the App Store, the forced 30%, and all the apps that just don't get built cause of Apple. This is rent seeking, and this is evil.

Here's a good system for evaluating technologies: https://www.ranprieur.com/tech.html

If you don't want a MacBook Neo, don't buy one and it doesn't affect your life. But the App Store affects your life whether you own an iPhone or not. It affects the direction of the world. And that's where the rent seeking problem is.

Re: Create value for others and don’t worry about the returns

#40

Post by avaer »

It's easy to create value for others and not worry about returns when you have enough money to not worry.

Unfortunately for most people, there's plenty of companies willing to take the returns and leave you paycheck to paycheck. That's literally what they are optimized to do.

I don't even disagree with the ideal, but I think a prerequisite step to this philosophy is UBI.

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