Why I Left Google DeepMind • Hacker News Board

Re: Why I Left Google DeepMind

#61

Post by gosub100 » Tue, Jul 28, 2026, 11:51 AM UTC

woopwoop wrote: post #34

layer8 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Virtue signaling” is when you don’t take meaningful action. The article author went out of their way to take meaningful action.

I'm like the Japanese soldier who kept fighting into the 1970s on this, but actually signalling is about taking costly action. When people call something virtue signalling what they usually mean is that it's cheap talk, but this is wrong. The whole point of signalling is that it's costly. A more correct application of virtue signalling would be something like those people who contort their lives to genuinely try to p…

> The whole point of signalling is that it's costly

No, it costs nothing to change your twitter icon to the Ukraine flag or make a video about some moral cause, or change your language due to the next political language policing. None of those things are costly.

Re: Why I Left Google DeepMind

#62

Post by gosub100 » Tue, Jul 28, 2026, 11:52 AM UTC

superxpro12 wrote: post #55

1-6 wrote: post #26

The virtue signaling is too much on this article. It could have been a well-written piece, but they had to make it about moral grandstanding.

Youre right. virtue signalling against double-taps with AGM's on fishing boats, or using ICE to kill americans is a bad stance to take. We should have considered the pro-warcrime pro-killing-american stances first...

If you're only signalling meanwhile paying taxes, you are actively supporting it. Same with the genocide in Gaza.

Re: Why I Left Google DeepMind

#63

Post by esseph » Tue, Jul 28, 2026, 4:56 PM UTC

superxpro12 wrote: post #54

The author misses one GLARING explaination as to everyone's motivations... money. Literally... just money. There's so much money right now. Enough to eliminate all principles. What is particularly heartbreaking is that the nerds were supposed to be the gatekeepers of good. And we're just watching this fall apart in realtime. Principles matter little when starting at a $1,000,000,000 check deposited directly into your…

> There's so much money right now. Enough to eliminate all principles.

> Principles matter little when starting at a $1,000,000,000 check deposited directly into your personal bank account.

Maybe for some of us, sure.

Re: Why I Left Google DeepMind

#64

Post by skew-aberration » Wed, Jul 29, 2026, 4:22 AM UTC

Turn_Trout wrote: post #59

skew-aberration wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only that but his outrage is narrowly focused on contemporary US politics. Billions of people access food, shelter, medicine, education, etc, only by the rapidly diminishing leverage their labor provides (or doesn't provide) them. These people presumably never so much as picked up a book, or evenly briefly entertained a thought about a person outside their own immediate social circle.

Those topics aren't on-topic for the essay. I've taken a pledge to donate at least 10% of my money to charity / impactful giving. A good sum of my donations have targeted high-impact opportunities to improve life for people in third-world countries.

That's commendable, but I do think it emphasizes my point. If you have such ethical concerns, why develop powerful technology on behalf of shareholders whose identities and intentions are unknown to you? Activation engineering has obvious malicious uses and I can distinctly remember the sense of dread I felt when 'relaxed and expansive' went viral. I believe the 'good AI' future faces political obstacles, but perhaps you take an accelerationist view that technical solutions will pave the way. Given your politics, I wonder if an interview on a show like a Ralph Nader Radio Hour could help you connect with likeminded people from different backgrounds. Best of luck