Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Hacker compromises A16Z-backed phone farm, calling them the 'antichrist'

404media.co

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 54 posts

Re: Hacker compromises A16Z-backed phone farm, calling them the 'antichrist'

#41

Post by surgical_fire »

ra wrote: post #12
ryandrake wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The most surprising part of this article is that a16z invested in this. Why would this surprise you?

Surprises me to. I thought A16Z were a top-tier VC wanting to create long-term value. I didn't see black-hat social media bot farms in their focus areas. It might be a bit facetious, but if I had 10m invested with them I'd be asking questions about their investment thesis.

> VC wanting to create long-term value

I nearly spit my coffee laughing at this.

Brother, the only value VC aims to create is the value in their pockets in an exit event.

Either by having the company acquired by the usual suspects or the jackpot of an IPO where the general public will be bagholders. The damage their investments caused to society is immaterial, negative externalities they don't need to account for.

> It might be a bit facetious, but if I had 10m invested with them I'd be asking questions about their investment thesis.

The obvious answer is that the sort of people that have 10m invested with them just care about ROI.

Re: Hacker compromises A16Z-backed phone farm, calling them the 'antichrist'

#42

Post by sofixa »

pseudalopex wrote: post #36
ra wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surprises me to. I thought A16Z were a top-tier VC wanting to create long-term value. I didn't see black-hat social media bot farms in their focus areas. It might be a bit facetious, but if I had 10m invested with them I'd be asking questions about their investment thesis.

> I thought A16Z were a top-tier VC wanting to create long-term value. They invested in Cheddr. We're building the TikTok of sports wagering. Accessible by 18 to 21 year olds. Live in game micro betting. Swipe to predict every moment. It's sports wagering at the pace of a slot machine.[1] They invested in Coverd. Bet on your bills — OnlyFans, child support, and last night’s Uber. Wipe them from your credit card by pl…

Coverd is impressively next level sociopathic. I love how their first common spending example is OnlyFans, it figures the type of person who imagined this needs a paid parasocial "romantic" relationship.

Re: Hacker compromises A16Z-backed phone farm, calling them the 'antichrist'

#43

Post by xtiansimon »

I dropped this into a previous chat about the introspection bit.

New Media Playbook https://a16z.simplecast.com/episodes/a16zs-new-media-playboo...

I still think it’s quite shocking.

I did some volunteer work with a non-profit conducting a survey in NYC about “food deserts”. I had to complete an hours long certification course—ethical boundaries and such—just so I can speak with people about fruits and vegetables. This audio makes it clear a16z’s rigorous approach to communication is coming from a dark and dangerous place.

This “playbook” speaks about _intentionally creating_ mental breakdown. Seems like an antichrist move to me.

Re: Hacker compromises A16Z-backed phone farm, calling them the 'antichrist'

#44

Post by 627467 »

jim33442 wrote: post #27
liquidise wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have an opposite reaction for what I assume are reasons we agree on. Social media has been a transparent race to the bottom for many years. The sooner it is shittified beyond repair the better. AI flooding content to them should help speedrun its descent, or maybe I’ve giving the average user (above child age) too much credit.

I think so. These sites can be hardened by relying on people following who they know, but the slop ruins discoverability. That's also partially the reason people moved to TikTok from older, more dumped-on platforms.

...so TikTok is less dumped on?

Re: Hacker compromises A16Z-backed phone farm, calling them the 'antichrist'

#45

Post by BobaFloutist »

dmos62 wrote: post #39
01HNNWZ0MV43FF wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has accelerationism worked before?

WW2 produced some diplomatically-brilliant world leaders. I think you could say that any situation that's headed in an unsustainable direction is being affected by accelerationism. In fact, the old observation "a fool will become a master if he perseveres in his folly" is much about the same thing.

I think accelerationism specifically refers to doing it on purpose. I doubt many of the decision-makers in WW2 were driven by a desire to elevate and support corrupt institutions as much as possible in the hopes that the corruption inherent in the system would lead to a collapse and people would have no choice but to cooperate towards a brighter and more progressive tomorrow.

And anyone that wants to use WW2 as a model for their theory of change is also (I hope) glossing over the abominable death toll. "Once sufficient 10s of millions of people die, everyone will be so horrified and traumatized by the widespread death and destruction that they'll be have no choice but to collaborate to enact the better world I'm picturing," beyond relying on an n of 1 and ignoring the decades of cold war that ensued, is also...hard to argue is worth it.

Re: Hacker compromises A16Z-backed phone farm, calling them the 'antichrist'

#46

Post by BobaFloutist »

627467 wrote: post #44
jim33442 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think so. These sites can be hardened by relying on people following who they know, but the slop ruins discoverability. That's also partially the reason people moved to TikTok from older, more dumped-on platforms.

...so TikTok is less dumped on?

I assume it was when it was newer, as they all were.

Re: Hacker compromises A16Z-backed phone farm, calling them the 'antichrist'

#48

Post by pstuart »

mayneack wrote: post #26
ra wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surprises me to. I thought A16Z were a top-tier VC wanting to create long-term value. I didn't see black-hat social media bot farms in their focus areas. It might be a bit facetious, but if I had 10m invested with them I'd be asking questions about their investment thesis.

A16Z was (is?) up to their eyeballs in crypto as well.

Marc was all about the value of NFTs -- there's clearly no legitimate value behind them and anybody pushing them is either extremely naive or slimey.

Re: Hacker compromises A16Z-backed phone farm, calling them the 'antichrist'

#49

Post by utopiah »

marak830 wrote: post #40
kurthr wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See, there's your problem, introspection. https://youtube.com/shorts/b6Zw50f5jJk

I don't mean to derail (and thank you for the - horrifying - link), but why the hell is that a "short". It would have been much better being a normal video (with time controls).

Because YouTube wants to be TikTok nowadays.
Post reply on HN