OpenAI whistleblower found dead in San Francisco apartment • Hacker News Board

Re: OpenAI whistleblower found dead in San Francisco apartment

#301

Post by devjab » Sat, Dec 14, 2024, 1:15 PM UTC

bubaumba wrote: post #116

exceptione wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> multiple news agencies In the case of the US, you cannot make your selection wide enough. For optimal security, get it to both local news organizations and serious European press agencies. The US news media do not have independent editorial boards. Several titles are actually from the same house. Corporate ownership, and professionals going to the dark side via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_capture are just s…

> European press agencies It's very naive to believe in 'European press'. To get the idea check Ukrainian war coverage. What you'll see first is how single sided it is. This cannot be a coincidence. It can be only a result of total control. I respected 'The Guardians' before, but after eyes opening it appears to be the most brainwashing and manipulative there. Very professionally done, must admit. The problem isn't j…

> What you'll see first is how single sided it is. This cannot be a coincidence.

It’s not a coincidence. Russia invaded a European country and for the first time since WW2 we are in what is essentially war time. You may not know this, but Russia has long been a bully. Every year we have a democratic meeting called Folkemødet here in Denmark. It’s where the political top and our media meets the public for several days. When I went there Russian bombers violated our Airspace during a practice run of nuclear bombing the event. Now they are in an active war with a European country and they are threatening the rest of us with total war basically every other day.

Of course it’s one sided. Russia has chosen to become an enemy of Europe and we will be lucky if we can avoid a direct conflict with them. We are already seeing attacks on our infrastructure both digital and physical around in the EU. We’ve seen assassinations carried out inside our countries, and things aren’t looking to improve any time soon.

What “sides” is it you think there are? If Russia didn’t want to be an enemy of Europe they could withdraw their forces and stop being at war with our neighbours.

Re: OpenAI whistleblower found dead in San Francisco apartment

#302

Post by Bluestein » Sat, Dec 14, 2024, 1:18 PM UTC

rkagerer wrote: post #251

MichaelMoser123 wrote: post #224

RIP. Suchir was a man of principles, he probably had to give up his OpenAI options as a result of his stance - OpenAI is reported to have a very restrictive offboarding agreements [1] " It forbids them, for the rest of their lives, from criticizing their former employer. Even acknowledging that the NDA exists is a violation of it. If a departing employee declines to sign the document, or if they violate it, they can…

> It forbids them, for the rest of their lives, from criticizing their former employer. Even acknowledging that the NDA exists is a violation of it. Can someone with legal expertise weigh in on how likely this would be to hold up in court?

I was wondering myself. Also, the whole thing about losing vested equity - would that hold up in court?

Re: OpenAI whistleblower found dead in San Francisco apartment

#303

Post by ethbr1 » Sat, Dec 14, 2024, 1:23 PM UTC

BrandoElFollito wrote: post #278

exceptione wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> multiple news agencies In the case of the US, you cannot make your selection wide enough. For optimal security, get it to both local news organizations and serious European press agencies. The US news media do not have independent editorial boards. Several titles are actually from the same house. Corporate ownership, and professionals going to the dark side via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_capture are just s…

This is what was done with WikiLeaks - a few major European journals worked on the information together

Depending on which release, Wikileaks normally chose an international group of media partners, including US, British, European, and Russian ones.

Re: OpenAI whistleblower found dead in San Francisco apartment

#304

Post by zcw100 » Sat, Dec 14, 2024, 1:24 PM UTC

typeofhuman wrote: post #104

DevX101 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I'm a whistleblower in an active case and I end up dead before testifying, I absolutely DO want the general public to speculate about my cause of death.

I would also most certainly have a dead man's switch releasing everything I know. I would have given it to an attorney along with a sworn deposition.

Something like https://killcord.io

Re: OpenAI whistleblower found dead in San Francisco apartment

#305

Post by jongjong » Sat, Dec 14, 2024, 1:29 PM UTC

DevX101 wrote: post #68

BillFranklin wrote: post #60

There are some pretty callous comments on this thread. This is really sad. Suchir was just 26, and graduated from Berkeley 3 years ago. Here’s his personal site: https://suchir.net/ . I think he was pretty brave for standing up against what is generally perceived as an injustice being done by one of the biggest companies in the world, just a few years out of college. I’m not sure how many people in his position would…

If I'm a whistleblower in an active case and I end up dead before testifying, I absolutely DO want the general public to speculate about my cause of death.

TBH, I'm kind of paranoid about CIA and FBI. Last time I travelled to the US on holiday, I was worried somebody would attempt to neutralize me because of my involvement in crypto.

I don't think I have delusions of grandeur, I worry that the cost of exterminating people algorithmically could become so low that they could decide to start taking out small fries in batches.

A lot of narratives which would have sounded insane 5 years ago actually seem plausible nowadays... Yet the stigma still exists. It's still taboo to speculate on the evils that modern tech could facilitate and the plausible deniability it could provide.

Re: OpenAI whistleblower found dead in San Francisco apartment

#306

Post by exceptione » Sat, Dec 14, 2024, 1:29 PM UTC

Amezarak wrote: post #295

ribadeo wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for summarizing so eloquently what is WRONG with the precept that might equals right. If she floats she's a witch, if she drowns she must have been innocent is the flip side fallacy, but what you just outlined amounts to: "i am bad on purpose, what are YOU gonna do about it?" I am disgusted that this is still proferred as a valid moral philosophical principle. No. A thousand times no. The answer is A SYSTEM. T…

> I am disgusted that this is still proferred as a valid moral philosophical principle. Can you explain what makes it invalid besides the fact that you and me don't like it? There are no "valid" or "invalid" moral principles, there is no objectively correct morality, nor does the idea even make sense. Morals are historically contingent social phenomena. Over different times and even over different cultures today, the…

It is better to be precise here. Validity could be a different measure than correct. It might very well be like you reserve the latter for some ethereal mathematical property, free of axioms, to which type you want to cast "validity in the domain of morality", which then has to pass the type checker for mathematical expressions.

In Philosophy and Ethics you strive to improve your understanding, in this case in the domain of human social groups. Some ideas just have better reasoning than others.

To say no idea is good, because your type checker rejects any program you bring up is an exercise in futility.

"might makes right" is a justification for abuse of other people. Abusing other people might be understood as using other people while taking away their freedom. If you think people should rather be owned than free, go pitch that.

I emphasize: it would be your pitch. There is no hiding behind a compiler here.

On topic: "might makes right" prevails in societies where people have limited rights and therefore need to cope with abuse. There is a reinforcing mechanism in such sado-societies, where sufferers are to normalize that, thereby keeping the system in place.

For example the Russian society did never escape to freedom, which is a tragedy. But I think every person has an obligation to do his best in matters of ethics, not just sitting like a slave and complain about how you are the real victim while doing nothing. A society is a collective expression of the individuals.

Re: OpenAI whistleblower found dead in San Francisco apartment

#307

Post by stavros » Sat, Dec 14, 2024, 1:30 PM UTC

Fnoord wrote: post #291

_blk wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the whole point, otherwise it's not safe against "make it look like an accident."

Creates a feedback loop to make any death of a whistleblower statistically look like a conspiracy.

That's the second best incentive you have, after "making sure they don't die".

Re: OpenAI whistleblower found dead in San Francisco apartment

#308

Post by stavros » Sat, Dec 14, 2024, 1:32 PM UTC

im3w1l wrote: post #161

ajdude wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use deadmansswitch.net - it sends you an email to verify that you are still alive, but you can also use a Telegram bot. In this case I have it set to send a passphrase to an encrypted file with all of my information to trusted individuals.

If your enemy knows how your switch works it is more feasible to disable it. In this case taking control of either that service or your email should do the trick.

I run that service, and, so far, no issues. It's definitely not secure against server takeover, but it's much easier than making your own switch reliable.

Re: OpenAI whistleblower found dead in San Francisco apartment

#309

Post by immibis » Sat, Dec 14, 2024, 1:32 PM UTC

ulfw wrote: post #245

red_trumpet wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Russians living in Empire of Evil can see all internet including US and EU news. That's just not true, e.g. Russia also blocked the German propaganda channel dw.com (Deutsche Welle).

Ah yes calling DW a propaganda channel. We found the Russian state actor account here.

Here's a litmus test for German propaganda channels:

What does it say about Palestine?

Re: OpenAI whistleblower found dead in San Francisco apartment

#310

Post by n144q » Sat, Dec 14, 2024, 1:34 PM UTC

rkagerer wrote: post #251

MichaelMoser123 wrote: post #224

RIP. Suchir was a man of principles, he probably had to give up his OpenAI options as a result of his stance - OpenAI is reported to have a very restrictive offboarding agreements [1] " It forbids them, for the rest of their lives, from criticizing their former employer. Even acknowledging that the NDA exists is a violation of it. If a departing employee declines to sign the document, or if they violate it, they can…

> It forbids them, for the rest of their lives, from criticizing their former employer. Even acknowledging that the NDA exists is a violation of it. Can someone with legal expertise weigh in on how likely this would be to hold up in court?

My guess is that a lawsuit from OpenAI itself is enough to ruin your life. They don't even need to win the case.