Molotov cocktail is hurled at home of Sam Altman • Hacker News Board

Re: Molotov cocktail is hurled at home of Sam Altman

#511

Post by lcnPylGDnU4H9OF » Sat, Apr 11, 2026, 1:22 AM UTC

dmitrygr wrote: post #466

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 und…

One just needs to observe current events to understand that a large portion of ahem "the other side" either fail to understand what "political violence" is, or are simply lying about whether it can ever be justified.

It's currently in vogue for "the other side" to decry political violence; of course they will say it is not justified in a 2025 poll. The only problem is that it is blatantly contradicted by the political violence which is perpetrated and excused by "the other side".

Re: Molotov cocktail is hurled at home of Sam Altman

#512

Post by cucumber3732842 » Sat, Apr 11, 2026, 1:23 AM UTC

swat535 wrote: post #398

tptacek wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These are message boards. The obvious sentiment, that firebombing attacks are awful (perhaps cut a little bit with "the perpetrator appears to be someone deeply in need of help) is boring. This is an availability bias issue: the only sentiments that actually spool out into threads are edgy. Once you learn to spot these effects, message boards make a lot more sense and are less jarring.

Another good thread to follow is the murdering of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42317604 It's an interesting exercise to compare these threads. My own position on the matter is the not an edgy one: political violence of any kind, is never justified, but it does signal that something deep in society requires a change.

I completely disagree. Political violence is the universal check on every political system that keeps it from sucking too much.

The optimal amount of crazies getting off the porch at any one time is not zero much like the optimal amount of fraud is not zero.

Re: Molotov cocktail is hurled at home of Sam Altman

#513

Post by lcnPylGDnU4H9OF » Sat, Apr 11, 2026, 1:27 AM UTC

nickvec wrote: post #34

https://archive.ph/aoXIY @dang didn't see this post before posting the archive.ph link at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47722344 - feel free to delete/merge that thread with this one

You should link to the actual source and include the archive link as the post text or as a top-level comment. The domain displayed next to the link will otherwise be the archive domain, which does not inform readers about the source.

Also, @mentions are not implemented on HN; email hn@ycombinator.com to get mod attention. (And you can confirm with them what I wrote about archive links.)

Re: Molotov cocktail is hurled at home of Sam Altman

#514

Post by overfeed » Sat, Apr 11, 2026, 1:31 AM UTC

MiguelX413 wrote: post #446

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> whilst having a distasteful view of the leaders of the industry I have a tremendously distasteful view of a lot of Silicon Valley leadership. Doesn’t mean I want them to suffer at the hands of vigilante justice.

Why not?

> Why not?

"An old woman is always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb"

- Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart

Re: Molotov cocktail is hurled at home of Sam Altman

#515

Post by ericd » Sat, Apr 11, 2026, 1:32 AM UTC

booleandilemma wrote: post #32

operatingthetan wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think the LLM will produce AGI. Just based on how context windows work, the prompt cycle, etc. LLMs aren't out there thinking about stuff in their spare time. The way they appear to have thoughts and a psyche is purely an illusion.

It doesn't have to produce AGI and it could still ruin the lives of millions of people. Our society isn't ready for that kind of shock. We can't all be instagram influencers.

It’s still pretty hard to get a contractor to show up and do a good job for less than a king’s ransom. Not that everyone can be a contractor, but there are lots of industries where there aren’t enough workers.

We also need to rebuild our manufacturing supply chains, and there’s a huge amount to be done there.

Re: Molotov cocktail is hurled at home of Sam Altman

#516

Post by bloody-crow » Sat, Apr 11, 2026, 1:36 AM UTC

tokioyoyo wrote: post #486

bloody-crow wrote: post #450

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They are giddy about taking jobs away This is just your interpretation. My interpretation is that they talk about computers being able to perform some intellectual tasks that are now handled by humans in a more efficient and fast manner. They're excited about technological progress and new opportunities it provides, not being "giddy" about unemployment and economic uncertainty. > suck up to Donald Trump When you're…

Where is everyone getting their information from in this thread? It’s like everyone is talking past each other. I think AI is net-good. But every frontier lab founder has said, paraphrasing, “Things might go horribly wrong, a lot of people might lose jobs, or maybe we’ll have even better economy, and people will prosper. We can’t operate based on the former, because if our adversaries out-invent us, we’re screwed.”.…

Ok, but it still seems to me that the messaging you're describing is pretty far from the original commenter's claim of them being "giddy about taking jobs away".

Re: Molotov cocktail is hurled at home of Sam Altman

#517

Post by gnabgib » Sat, Apr 11, 2026, 1:37 AM UTC

lcnPylGDnU4H9OF wrote: post #513

nickvec wrote: post #34

https://archive.ph/aoXIY @dang didn't see this post before posting the archive.ph link at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47722344 - feel free to delete/merge that thread with this one

You should link to the actual source and include the archive link as the post text or as a top-level comment. The domain displayed next to the link will otherwise be the archive domain, which does not inform readers about the source. Also, @mentions are not implemented on HN; email hn@ycombinator.com to get mod attention. (And you can confirm with them what I wrote about archive links.)

The link goes to a dead post (because archive - but there's nothing to merge), you're posting to an account that has posted/failed with archive links before and used @ before.. not sure what you're hoping for here.

Re: Molotov cocktail is hurled at home of Sam Altman

#518

Post by scoofy » Sat, Apr 11, 2026, 1:44 AM UTC

Mezzie wrote: post #510

scoofy wrote: post #463

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I agree with you. I think such a culture is more likely to arise when you have people who believe in the idea of loyalty but haven't seen it bear fruit in their lives, and who are used to acting within such an organizational framework, which describes a fair number of the workers who either are being displaced or feel themselves to be.

Yea, I think that's fair.

Re: Molotov cocktail is hurled at home of Sam Altman

#519

Post by testing22321 » Sat, Apr 11, 2026, 1:54 AM UTC

strongpigeon wrote: post #440

testing22321 wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The top comment there mentions the French Revolution. You think people will put up with wildly accelerating inequality forever? It’s going to explode, the only question is when.

> You think people will put up with wildly accelerating inequality forever? No. Nor do I think they should. But UBI, higher income tax at the top and a wealth tax for the ultra rich sound like a much better plan to me than to blow a bunch of things up.

Without question they’re better than blowing stuff up.

Do you think the ruling elite will allow it?

Re: Molotov cocktail is hurled at home of Sam Altman

#520

Post by lcnPylGDnU4H9OF » Sat, Apr 11, 2026, 1:57 AM UTC

gnabgib wrote: post #517

lcnPylGDnU4H9OF wrote: post #513

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should link to the actual source and include the archive link as the post text or as a top-level comment. The domain displayed next to the link will otherwise be the archive domain, which does not inform readers about the source. Also, @mentions are not implemented on HN; email hn@ycombinator.com to get mod attention. (And you can confirm with them what I wrote about archive links.)

The link goes to a dead post (because archive - but there's nothing to merge), you're posting to an account that has posted/failed with archive links before and used @ before.. not sure what you're hoping for here.

I am hoping to inform them? It does not appear their comments with attempted @mentions have informative replies, and posting a link to an archive domain will mean it's dead-on-arrival. Unless someone vouches and then comments on one of those posts, there isn't really an opportunity for a commenter to tell them.

I suppose part of your point is that they should be able to see that the post is dead; that regardless does not tell them why the post is dead. I'm also not totally convinced they can see that the post is dead. When an account is shadow-banned on this forum they can still log in and post but their posts will all be dead to everyone except them; naively, it is plausible to me that they actually cannot see that the posts are dead because they were DOA. In other words, even though the account is not shadow-banned, the domain might be.

Anyway, hope that helps.