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Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

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Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#361

Post by gretch »

charlie0 wrote: post #324
tracerbulletx wrote: post #266

CEOs are professional communicators who have reached the highest level of the craft, they use their communications to achieve an end, expressing their inner selves is not the point. You might know a great kind person who is a car salesman, when they are at work a good one comes off as genuine and friendly, the things they're saying include many truths, but their words and actions are primarily designed to sell cars.…

This the main reason I don't trust people who are in the business of "selling". On one hand, it's nice being around those kinds of people. On the other hand, it's hard to take any of the nice things they say seriously. Most of them say nice things to be likeable, not because they actually mean or will do what they say. I've learned to pay close attention to what salesmen do, rather than what is said. The actual truth…

>I've learned to pay close attention to what salesmen do, rather than what is said.

Yes this is always a wise thing to do.

>Most of them say nice things to be likeable, not because they actually mean or will do what they say.

I disagree with this take. I mean I’m sure there’s snakes out there. What I see in life though, is that most people don’t say enough nice things, even things they genuinely feel. They hold back from calling their dad or wife and saying “I love you”. Or giving a compliment to someone on the street if you like their outfit that you can tell they put time into.

I think a lot of salespeople are just good at “opening the gates” a little.

Personally I’ve been on a quest to be less stoic when it comes to expressing joy, and I highly recommend, especially for typical computer science personalities.

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#362

Post by hutzlibu »

charlie0 wrote: post #324
tracerbulletx wrote: post #266

CEOs are professional communicators who have reached the highest level of the craft, they use their communications to achieve an end, expressing their inner selves is not the point. You might know a great kind person who is a car salesman, when they are at work a good one comes off as genuine and friendly, the things they're saying include many truths, but their words and actions are primarily designed to sell cars.…

This the main reason I don't trust people who are in the business of "selling". On one hand, it's nice being around those kinds of people. On the other hand, it's hard to take any of the nice things they say seriously. Most of them say nice things to be likeable, not because they actually mean or will do what they say. I've learned to pay close attention to what salesmen do, rather than what is said. The actual truth…

"I've learned to pay close attention to what salesmen do, rather than what is said"

I've learned to apply this to every human being. Talk is cheap.

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#363

Post by liuliu »

justrealist wrote: post #318
lhnz wrote: post #42

If Paul Graham fired Sam Altman from YCombinator it's interesting that he appears to have such a favourable opinion of him [0]. However, personally, what I've taken away from this is that he is a much better strategic/tactical operator than many other high-flying executives and very capable of winning the respect and trust of a lot of smart people. I wouldn't expect OpenAI to be run by anybody that wasn't revered in…

Paul's wife has a huge financial stake in OpenAI, so I suspect massive success there has softened his opinion.

These are donations. How that becomes investment / financial stakes? (It is a question, since how the transition to capped-profit left a lot of questions unanswered).

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#364

Post by huytersd »

Arson9416 wrote: post #340

Step 1: Dazzle an influential person Step 2: Persuade them to hitch their reputation to you Step 3: Do whatever you want with minimal repercussions Follow these 3 steps and influential people will actively fight on your behalf, against their own best interests, to avoid embarrassing themselves and diminishing their reputations. Use each influential person as a stepping stone to an even more influential person and rep…

Steps 1 and 2 are very hard to accomplish.

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#365

Post by notresidenter »

baq wrote: post #125
cma wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This endorsement of Sam from 2011 is actually pretty damning, though it is so long ago if it were the only thing it wouldn't be a huge red flag: >I just saw Sam Altman speak at YCNYC and I was impressed. I have never actually met him or heard him speak before Monday, but one of his stories really stuck out and went something like this: > "We were trying to get a big client for weeks, and they said no and went with a…

VC capital optimises for revolutionaries thus they get revolutionaries. Please note any positive connotations for the word 'revolution' should be abandoned at this point. Revolutions are short-term 100% bad and long term coin-toss bad, or worse. VCs love those odds.

What about the industrial revolutions?

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#366

Post by huytersd »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #339
greatNespresso wrote: post #270

It came as a surprise for me to learn that PG fired Sam. It's the first time that I read this actually, and if that's true, I find it kind of mysterious that it remained a secret for so long. Or maybe I missed the news somehow but I could not find any other mention of that event on Google.

I've definitely never heard of it, and I was pretty shocked when I read it given how much positive stuff pg has written about sama, and the article itself says the firing "has not been previously reported". Reading some recent pg tweets through this lens, though, I think it makes sense. E.g. there is this tweet: https://twitter.com/paulg/status/1726198939517378988 . Both of the following can be true (and more to the…

[flagged]

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#367

Post by bmitc »

tracerbulletx wrote: post #266

CEOs are professional communicators who have reached the highest level of the craft, they use their communications to achieve an end, expressing their inner selves is not the point. You might know a great kind person who is a car salesman, when they are at work a good one comes off as genuine and friendly, the things they're saying include many truths, but their words and actions are primarily designed to sell cars.…

> CEOs are professional communicators who have reached the highest level of the craft

That's kind of silly, isn't it? Altman is a college dropout who has barely ever worked and somehow fell upward into CEO positions very quickly.

His level of communication in talks and interviews is terrible, so I am genuinely confused where all this mystique comes from. He sounds like a college student being asked and talking about management.

It seems that if you have any title or personal relationship attached to you, people will listen to anything you say, and even say things or just conjure up an ora for you.

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#368

Post by subpixel »

smegsicle wrote: post #241
fevangelou wrote: post #96

It's oh so weird the article does not mention any of these though... - https://twitter.com/phuckfilosophy/status/163570439893983232... (SA's sister - also have a look at her recent posts) - Also: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/QDczBduZorG4dxZiW/sam-altman... (utterly distressing) - https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1727096607752282485 (check the comment with snapshots of the letter - "strangely" that Gist was dele…

that can't be true- why would sam altman and the rest of their family deny annie altman's inheritance? it's not like they need the money themselves either this annie character is making stuff up, or the whole rest of her family are some kind of comic book villains

While it’s true that all unhappy families are unhappy in their own way, this sort of seemingly illogical vindictiveness is exceedingly common.

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#369

Post by petre »

huytersd wrote: post #366
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've definitely never heard of it, and I was pretty shocked when I read it given how much positive stuff pg has written about sama, and the article itself says the firing "has not been previously reported". Reading some recent pg tweets through this lens, though, I think it makes sense. E.g. there is this tweet: https://twitter.com/paulg/status/1726198939517378988 . Both of the following can be true (and more to the…

[flagged]

It was suggested by the OP.

"The book The Devil Wears Prada was loosely inspired by Lauren Weisberger's stint as an assistant to legendary Vogue editor Anna Wintour."

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#370

Post by bmitc »

someperson wrote: post #239
patall wrote: post #34

> Another person familiar with Altman’s thinking said he was willing to meet with the board’s shortlist of proposed candidates, except for one person whom he declined on ethical grounds. Now you have me interested, who could that one person be? Charles Koch? Henry Kissinger? Because many of those I would normally have guessed are either in the article as possible collaborator (middle-easter connection) or is already…

Henry Kissinger is 100 years old

It's a joke. The explanation is that who would have to have worse morals and ethics than Altman for Altman to dismiss considering them on those grounds.
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