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

Google boss says AI investment boom has 'elements of irrationality'

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

581–590 of 752 posts

Re: Google boss says AI investment boom has 'elements of irrationality'

#581

Post by atq2119 »

apsurd wrote: post #190
jimbokun wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Every kind of a man, or woman? Why do so many people miss the point on this? Instead of making this dream true for all the people who were previously excluded, we have pursued equality by making this dream accessible to NO ONE. > Well, this probably why statistics exist. Like the statistics on plummeting mental health and happiness, an obesity epidemic, increases in "deaths of despair", and plateauing or decreasing…

You're both right. I take your point to mean similar to the disastrous outcome of "no child left behind" act. I do agree with you, but people didn't seriously _intend_ for the result to be everyone lowers to a shit position. Or maybe you're saying that's always how these initiatives turn out? It can't be helped?

It's important to remember that people are not some homogenous mass.

There were certainly some rich and powerful people who did intend to lower everyone (else) to a shit position.

That's what stuff like anti-union policies are about. Sure, they drape it up in nice rhetoric, but ultimately the intent is to reduce the power (and thereby the material outcomes) of the common the worker.

But of course there were also other developments that had the effect more unintentionally.

Re: Google boss says AI investment boom has 'elements of irrationality'

#582

Post by ralphhughes »

engeljohnb wrote: post #560
roenxi wrote: post #491

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they're happy to do it to 1970s standards, probably most of them. The standard of what an ordinary life looks like has gone up a lot. Plus when only the man worked looking after a home was a full time job - much less in the way of microwaves and washing machines and whatnot. It is worth remembering that in the early 1900s there were a lot of houses that didn't even have electricity. The trends [0] are clear. As so…

This ridiculous lie needs to end. I can get a microwave for ~$60. I can get a decent used cell phone for ~$100. Appliances are a little more expensive, but I can get a washing machine for ~$300, less if I go to facebook marketplace. But in my area, a victorian house that's litterally crumbling with no central cooling and not up-to-code wiring where you can't run a hair dryer and coffee machine at the same time? $180,…

It's fascinating and depressing how despite me being in a different country on the other side of the world to you, if I swap the $ for £, your comment is still accurate based on the current situation in the UK.

Re: Google boss says AI investment boom has 'elements of irrationality'

#583

Post by francisofascii »

officeplant wrote: post #172
helterskelter wrote: post #90

I'm curious what HN is doing with their portfolios right about now. I'd be dumping NVDA and reallocating to more bonds for the time being.

Currently? Wishing there was an S&P 500 that banned tech stocks.

VEU? It may have tech stocks, but not the American ones like NVDA, MSFT, GOOG, META, etc.

Re: Google boss says AI investment boom has 'elements of irrationality'

#584

Post by varnaud »

philipallstar wrote: post #523
tbrownaw wrote: post #404

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems to be saying that a large fraction of poor people are poor only because of bad habits, which they have only because nobody taught them any better?

There will be some people like that (e.g. middle class kid has terrible work ethic; communicates it to his kid and now that kid has bad habits), but in the large it's more about culture than individual habits. If one person doesn't show up on time, that's a bad habit. If no one shows up on time then that's a cultural issue[0], and much more devastating. As an example, Zim dug itself a huge hole by kicking out the pro…

The productive decline of the farms is because of the fast-track land reform. Before 2000-2001, there were no effective national programs to prepare the people to run the farms. The opposition party was gaining ground, and so to stay in power, the ruling party rushed the land reform with no preparation.

Not sure how this is a relevant example of a culture that don't value punctuality.

Re: Google boss says AI investment boom has 'elements of irrationality'

#585

Post by williamdclt »

ahoka wrote: post #547
cedws wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't even know what the selling point of AI is for regular people. In the 60s it was possible for a man to work an ordinary job, buy a house, settle down with a wife and support two or three children. That's completely out of the realm of reality for many young people now and the plummeting birth rates show it. The middle class have financially benefited very little from the past 20+ years of productivity gains. S…

"work an ordinary job, buy a house, settle down with a wife and support two or three children" Have you considered that there's more to human existence than to pay a mortgage and women are not something you keep in your house to watch after your offspring so they can do the very same when growing up?

That's not the point being made. Whether you're into the traditional marriage/family social schema or not (and personally I'm very much not), it's still something that most of the population wants, that society expects and relies on. The fact that it's not something achievable anymore is clearly a big problem.

Re: Google boss says AI investment boom has 'elements of irrationality'

#586

Post by johnisgood »

jamesblonde wrote: post #536
johnisgood wrote: post #510

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My former friend in Finland finished med school, "for free", while living in a really nice apartment "for free", receiving ADHD medications "for free", and then went to a business school "for free". He has not worked a single day in his life and he is in his very late 20s.

Apart from the free appartment, that's the same as most countries in Europe.

University is not free in most countries in Europe though, is it?

Re: Google boss says AI investment boom has 'elements of irrationality'

#587

Post by lazide »

Planktonne wrote: post #571
ako wrote: post #514

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to Hans Rosling correlation was more between education level of women and the number of children: the higher women are educated, the less children they decide to have.

Another potential framing is that the higher women are educated, the more they get to decide.

Also - the more education men have, and the higher income they have, the less they want to join the military.

It’s a similar type of issue - of course individuals don’t want to submit to a painful process with high risk and sometimes dubious value to them individually if they have other choices.

Most places in the developed world aren’t currently drafting large portions of their population for military service - and a large portion of the population says they’d fight it if they did. Maybe at some point, they wouldn’t have a choice - or the choice would be made very expensive for them to make the other way.

I suspect it will be similar for birth rates too.

Re: Google boss says AI investment boom has 'elements of irrationality'

#588

Post by 4er_transform »

uniq7 wrote: post #314
jaredklewis wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That's completely out of the realm of reality for many young people now and the plummeting birth rates show it. I'm skeptical of this explanation for falling birthrates just because birthrates are falling across the world and there seems to be no correlation between fertility and financial security. America has low birthrates. Scandinavia (usually considered to have generous welfare states) has low birthrates. Hung…

In which of those countries is it possible for a man to work an ordinary job, buy a house, settle down with a wife and support two or three children?

In which periods in human history has that been possible? In the parts of the world with the highest birth rates is that possible?

Re: Google boss says AI investment boom has 'elements of irrationality'

#589

Post by [deleted] »

clbrmbr wrote: post #580
bossyTeacher wrote: post #543

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Problem is that in case of divorce, the stay at home partner financially suffers the most

What do you mean, they typically get half the assets and a sizable chunk of the other partner’s salary in alimony that they don’t need to give up if they do become employed, and then if childcare is needed typically this would be an extra child support expense that both parties pay for even if the erstwhile stay-at-home parent has full custody. How would the stay-at-home parent get a bad deal here?

[deleted]

Re: Google boss says AI investment boom has 'elements of irrationality'

#590

Post by p_v_doom »

jimbokun wrote: post #179
Demiurge wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In the 60s it was possible for a man to work an ordinary job, buy a house, settle down with a wife and support two or three children. Every kind of a man, or woman? > Do people really think more technology is going to be the path to a better society? Because to me it looks like the opposite. Well, this probably why statistics exist.

> Every kind of a man, or woman? Why do so many people miss the point on this? Instead of making this dream true for all the people who were previously excluded, we have pursued equality by making this dream accessible to NO ONE. > Well, this probably why statistics exist. Like the statistics on plummeting mental health and happiness, an obesity epidemic, increases in "deaths of despair", and plateauing or decreasing…

> we have pursued equality by making this dream accessible to NO ONE.

Nah, that is not what has happened. Equality is more of an unrelated thing. Business owners and capital are by their very nature opposed to the dream. Even if in a given moment of time they may give concessions, the endless drive for returns and growths means that sooner or later it will always get to the point where we are.

The problem here is capitalism.

Post reply on HN