Sam Altman's home targeted in second attack • Hacker News Board

Re: Sam Altman's home targeted in second attack

#361

Post by mbgerring » Mon, Apr 13, 2026, 3:39 PM UTC

Imustaskforhelp wrote: post #343

refurb wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don’t have large support for your ideas then it shouldn’t be a surprise it’s hard. But that’s the intent of the system? Represent what most people want.

Yeah, America as a whole voted for Trump, and later atleast reading online I am seeing people be like: "I didn't know he was this bad" when reading his policies, he was exactly this bad :-/ People don't vote for their own gains but rather the gains of the few and to be honest, one can argue that within America this is a both-party problem and sometimes you are just picking for the less wrong politician and then you h…

77 million Americans voted for Trump. That’s:

- 32% of the citizen voting age population

- 44% of eligible voters

- 49% and some change of the people who actually voted

“America as a whole” did not vote for Trump

Re: Sam Altman's home targeted in second attack

#362

Post by cucumber3732842 » Mon, Apr 13, 2026, 3:54 PM UTC

collingreen wrote: post #184

cucumber3732842 wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>There's a reason the founding fathers all had slaves; they weren't the common folk. Ah, yes. All Slaveholders. I once toured John Adam's former plantation. It's expansive. Really puts Monticello to shame. (the joke here being that John Adams was a practicing lawyer in state that didn't even have slavery).

Super good joke. Since your point seems to be that not all the founding fathers parent was referring to were actually slave owners do you have a claim for a rough ratio? I think that would be interesting and would be a more informative thing regardless of where on the scale it lands from "everybody but Adams" all the way up to "only a big names like Washington, Jefferson".

To a first order approximation half the founders were from New England (no slavery) and the other half were from Virginia (no realistic chance of being important/rich enough to be a signatory without owning slaves). So call it 50-50

Re: Sam Altman's home targeted in second attack

#363

Post by UncleMeat » Mon, Apr 13, 2026, 4:01 PM UTC

maplethorpe wrote: post #197

kelipso wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When they’re saying that most people will be unemployable in a few years and there is no plan to fix that…in a country where you go hungry and homeless without a job, people will get a bit restless.

Altman has made suggestions on how to fix this. I believe his main one is for AI to be subsidised so that it remains free for public use. The public could then use those free tokens to enrich themselves and offset any negative societal impacts.

Okay.

So are we seeing a massive lobbying effort by Altman and OpenAI to make this happen? Or is this another "maybe we can build a dyson sphere?"

OpenAI was a nonprofit and then it was restructured to be a for-profit corporation. That seems like the opposite of what he claims to advocate for if we look at his actual actions.

Re: Sam Altman's home targeted in second attack

#364

Post by montjoy » Mon, Apr 13, 2026, 4:26 PM UTC

Somewhere I read that vigilanteism arises when there is a perceived last of justice. This guy gets rich while people everywhere are losing jobs. Seems about right.

Re: Sam Altman's home targeted in second attack

#365

Post by Imustaskforhelp » Mon, Apr 13, 2026, 4:36 PM UTC

mbgerring wrote: post #361

Imustaskforhelp wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, America as a whole voted for Trump, and later atleast reading online I am seeing people be like: "I didn't know he was this bad" when reading his policies, he was exactly this bad :-/ People don't vote for their own gains but rather the gains of the few and to be honest, one can argue that within America this is a both-party problem and sometimes you are just picking for the less wrong politician and then you h…

77 million Americans voted for Trump. That’s: - 32% of the citizen voting age population - 44% of eligible voters - 49% and some change of the people who actually voted “America as a whole” did not vote for Trump

Yes many people couldn't vote (say youngsters) and many people didn't vote on the election day and from that sample who could and did vote did Trump win and within the election itself Democrats had gotten 75 million people.

In a similar fashion, my point is, I actually agree with you sir @mbgerring and your original comment. you tried your best to raise awareness and there are people who do the same and there are many who reach the support of millions but still no change is enacted because of the way system is enacted.

Yet the system can make someone like trump with maybe even sometimes far fewer people supporting it and billionaire's capital flowing into propaganda etc. too thus the people saying "we didn't vote for this"

My point was that the system is ultimately rigged by some people at the top against the average person and @refurb saying to you that oh this is then what the people must want, is a factually wrong statement.

I think you yourself have put it right: "We need to seriously face this problem and fix it, or things are just going to keep getting worse."

And I also agree with your overall statement that if the system continues on being as hopeless as it is, then for some people violence would become the only option for their voices as their voices get shutted from every peaceful way.

I think we are in agreement sir. Have a nice day.

Re: Sam Altman's home targeted in second attack

#366

Post by hax0ron3 » Mon, Apr 13, 2026, 4:50 PM UTC

dTal wrote: post #350

hax0ron3 wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Sam Altman's case that is true. He is just one frontman for and beneficiary of a giant technological revolution that is almost inevitably happening whether anyone wants it to or not, since it is pushed forward by pure Darwinian logic: all key world actors feel compelled to develop AI, since they know that if they don't they will be outcompeted by others who do develop AI. Altman's death would change nothing about…

>Altman's death would change nothing about that fundamental calculus. You'd have to kill probably tens of thousands of people to really put a dent in AI development Your analysis seems to assume that people will remain more afraid of being "outcompeted" than of being murdered, even after a campaign of terrorism that would make 9/11 look minor. >it often also creates new [problems], often surprising ones Let's reframe…

>Your analysis seems to assume that people will remain more afraid of being "outcompeted" than of being murdered, even after a campaign of terrorism that would make 9/11 look minor.

AI is such an important technology that in the face of such a campaign of terrorism, governments would bring the development of the technology directly under the protection of the state security forces, largely outside the reach of terrorists. If not in the US, then in China or other places. At that point the terrorists would have to attain a level of power where they could feasibly overthrow the government in order to stop the development of the technology. Now, some scientists would be uncomfortable in such conditions and would stop working on the technology, but enough would remain that the technology would continue to progress, albeit more slowly.

>and if you have nothing to lose then the calculus of causing a major disruption begins to look favorable; any disruption, because regression to the mean is good if you're at the shitty end of the bell curve.

Very true, if the status quo feels shitty enough one becomes extremely willing to just roll the dice.

Re: Sam Altman's home targeted in second attack

#367

Post by tavavex » Mon, Apr 13, 2026, 4:51 PM UTC

leaves83829 wrote: post #180

happytoexplain wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>[if] most of the population finds itself without money. there are other ways to live with very little money. This is even more hideous than expressions of approval for individual violence. This is a dystopian acquiescence.

examples include: Great depression, third world countries like ghana, south africa, etc (and countries that have collapsed like syria), also the hazda tribe and other native tribes untouched by technology, as well as other similar to human mammalian species that share our planet like monkeys, apes, chenobos, all are able to survive without money albeit with more favorable climate/physiology.

Because the parent accused you of acquiescence and you just replied with a list of examples to follow, I don't think you understood what they meant.

In the worst-case world, there is still more than enough wealth and work done to provide the bare minimum quality of life to everyone. The automation of most occupations would lower the bar of creating the simplest food supplies and homes even more. But, in that horrific world, the elite class would say "lol no" and use that wealth to live in paradise, away from everyone else, while the rest are left with almost nothing. The parent is saying that your immediate reaction is depressing, because instead of anger or even disapproval, your instinct is to put your head down and reason that you and all the future generations should just live like a monkey, forever.

Re: Sam Altman's home targeted in second attack

#368

Post by poisonborz » Mon, Apr 13, 2026, 5:19 PM UTC

glerk wrote: post #291

poisonborz wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Lobbying against regulations (I support) one US mindset I can't wrap my mind around

There's a reason why OpenAI and Anthropic (and before them Google, Apple, Meta, etc.) were started in the US and not Europe. And let's not compare salaries we each get for similar work because that tends to make my European friends very sad.

Yes, and that reason is a big single market (and a huge military and 100 years of power play to back it up) - and yes, there's a lot the EU could to unify its market - but it's not "less regulations".

> compare salaries

Let's not even begin this trope prevalet on HN, those taxes are funding a working healthcare and public infrastructure in EU.

Re: Sam Altman's home targeted in second attack

#369

Post by IAmGraydon » Mon, Apr 13, 2026, 5:38 PM UTC

Voultapher wrote: post #296

avaer wrote: post #7

In case someone reading this is thinking similar thoughts: there's no version of reality where doing this will solve any problem. Don't.

This "violence never solved anything" mindset is in stark contrast with recorded history.

I very much agree with you, but also consider that there has not been a single instance (I can think of) that violence was able to stop the spread of a new technology. The human race is just a moth to the flame, and it simply cannot resist.

Re: Sam Altman's home targeted in second attack

#370

Post by 7bit » Mon, Apr 13, 2026, 5:41 PM UTC

Voultapher wrote: post #296

avaer wrote: post #7

In case someone reading this is thinking similar thoughts: there's no version of reality where doing this will solve any problem. Don't.

This "violence never solved anything" mindset is in stark contrast with recorded history.

It goes both ways. Afrika Had eight military coups since 2020. Many of its countries are plagued by civil wars and terrorism.

I'm not arguing any points how these conflicts will ever be solved, but it shows that violence hasn't solved anything until now, for decades over decades.