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Molotov cocktail is hurled at home of Sam Altman

nytimes.com

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Re: Molotov cocktail is hurled at home of Sam Altman

#461

Post by tremon »

hungryhobbit wrote: post #260
strongpigeon wrote: post #36

It is a bit scary how people seem to genuinely be OK with violence (see this reddit thread [0]). Is just me or does it feel like the overall "temperature" has gone up. [0] https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatGPT/comments/1shugf8/firebomb_t...

Crazy people have existed since the dawn of time: I see nothing at all new here about a crazy person doing something crazy.

Crazy people used to gun down schoolchildren who could be conveniently ignored. You can be sure that the ownership class won't just be sending thoughts and prayers here.

Re: Molotov cocktail is hurled at home of Sam Altman

#462

Post by zouhair »

strongpigeon wrote: post #36

It is a bit scary how people seem to genuinely be OK with violence (see this reddit thread [0]). Is just me or does it feel like the overall "temperature" has gone up. [0] https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatGPT/comments/1shugf8/firebomb_t...

What do you mean by violence? Do you consider someone building a monster of a server farm near your home and messing up with your drinking water, electricity and life in general violence? Why violence is only immediate physical one that counts?

Re: Molotov cocktail is hurled at home of Sam Altman

#463

Post by scoofy »

Mezzie wrote: post #431
scoofy wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is exactly the point of part one of Fist Stick Knife Gun: A Personal History of Violence , by Geoffrey Canada. Unequal or lack of access to the executive branch of government will create a culture of vigilantism and lends itself to organized crime as a replacement for the policing arm of the state. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fist%2C_Stick%2C_Knife%2C_Gun People become okay with vigilante justice when they see…

Re: Organized crime. Organized crime is also going to escalate as the economic squeeze continues to hit white collar workers. Pumping out a bunch of computer science graduates and rendering them unemployable isn't going to lead to all of them giving up and working at Walmart. A certain amount are going to figure out that they can make a better living by going black hat. Likewise for all the office managers, etc. who…

When I say organized crime, I don’t just mean intelligent criminals. I mean a culture of loyalty. For organized crime to function, all of the members need to have a system of justice underpinning their actions in order to keep the organization whole.

Re: Molotov cocktail is hurled at home of Sam Altman

#464

Post by jcgrillo »

mmooss wrote: post #228
hnthrowaway0315 wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not saying that violence is legal -- which is definitely not. But it is part of the "packages" and totally depends on whether the one wants to use. Historically violence has been a very...effective tool. When people feel that law and order do not protect them, some eventually will go "the extra mile" (somehow managers always like this phrase). It's not something we can prevent. It is human nature. I guess super r…

> it is part of the "packages" and totally depends on whether the one wants to use. Could you explain what packages are and what depends on (what?)? > Historically violence has been a very...effective tool. This is dramatic sci-fi for anarchists of all political stripes. The critical reality to understand is that violence is the most ineffective tool, causing catastrophic harm for others and outcomes that the perpetr…

> The most successful societies have freedom, the rule of law, and allow violence only as a last necessity to restore freedom and the rule of law.

The ugly, uncomfortable part is that when a certain fraction of people decide violence is the answer, a tipping point is reached and that's what happens. Historically, people have reached that point en masse without a great deal of provocation. So for a society to remain successful--or to remain at all--it needs to prevent this tipping point from happening. Force alone can't do that.

Re: Molotov cocktail is hurled at home of Sam Altman

#465

Post by randyrand »

2dfs wrote: post #202
bombcar wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It varies and they don't talk about it (obviously) but you can glean things from various sources. The more "public" the ultra rich are, the more they'll have security, especially noticeable security. The silent or unknown ones will often still have something (usually a requirement of their or their company's insurance). Once you graduate from "2, 3, 5 houses" to "mansions" you will have staff at each one, even if rel…

Yeah but theyre useless if a large organised group shows up.

No they’re not.

Re: Molotov cocktail is hurled at home of Sam Altman

#466

Post by dmitrygr »

No surprise given that a full quarter of these on one side of the political spectrum consider political violence acceptable (~25%. Same figure is 9% for self-identified moderates, 3% for the other side).

Source: https://rb.gy/wdzmsc (YouGov poll, n=2,646, date = sep 10, 2025, question = "Do you think it is ever justified for citizens to resort to violence in order to achieve political goals? (%)", raw data linked under poll graph, downloadable )

Re: Molotov cocktail is hurled at home of Sam Altman

#467

Post by polishdude20 »

wavemode wrote: post #453
culi wrote: post #414

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think more and more Americans have what C. Wright Mills called the "sociological imagination". We pour tons of effort into punishing visceral, direct violence like a stabbing or shooting. But if white collar crime is being committed that leads to the death of hundreds of thousands of people, it's rare that anyone sees jail time. Maybe you could argue the decisions of Brian Thompson made only account for maybe 10% o…

What "white collar crime" was Brian Thompson guilty of? As I understand it, he was merely the CEO of an insurance company. Nobody likes how insurance companies do business, but that doesn't make it "crime".

Its less about "crimes" and more about a moral or ethical boundary that people feel is being crossed.

Re: Molotov cocktail is hurled at home of Sam Altman

#468

Post by wanderingjew »

wavemode wrote: post #453
culi wrote: post #414

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think more and more Americans have what C. Wright Mills called the "sociological imagination". We pour tons of effort into punishing visceral, direct violence like a stabbing or shooting. But if white collar crime is being committed that leads to the death of hundreds of thousands of people, it's rare that anyone sees jail time. Maybe you could argue the decisions of Brian Thompson made only account for maybe 10% o…

What "white collar crime" was Brian Thompson guilty of? As I understand it, he was merely the CEO of an insurance company. Nobody likes how insurance companies do business, but that doesn't make it "crime".

What a crime is is determined by the population. For a very long time, the population has given the idea of a "justice system" to... Well, the justice system.

Things have deteriorated lately, and the population does not see the justice system as effective.

It is completely expected that we see vigilantism, but it is in no way extrajudicial.

Re: Molotov cocktail is hurled at home of Sam Altman

#469

Post by snypher »

randyrand wrote: post #465
2dfs wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but theyre useless if a large organised group shows up.

No they’re not.

The Bling Ring were successful in their crimes for a little while and obviously Mr Security Team didn't stop them. They got caught via the oldest tale in time; a rat on the ship.

Re: Molotov cocktail is hurled at home of Sam Altman

#470

Post by quantified »

strongpigeon wrote: post #36

It is a bit scary how people seem to genuinely be OK with violence (see this reddit thread [0]). Is just me or does it feel like the overall "temperature" has gone up. [0] https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatGPT/comments/1shugf8/firebomb_t...

I simply make the observation that the 40-hour workweek took a bunch of violence to enable. As have other forms of progress that we take for granted. Luigi Mangione is a hero to many. It's not bad that the most powerful need to consider negative outcomes in their lives. Decry violence as one, sure, but if there are none other, psychopaths have no check on them. It'd be good if maybe there were others available, eh?

Ineffectual molotov cocktails are just a cry for help.

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