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Sam Altman's response to Molotov cocktail incident

blog.samaltman.com

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Re: Sam Altman's response to Molotov cocktail incident

#671

Post by itsyonas »

klik99 wrote: post #49

Genuinely surprised at the extreme comments against sama here. I don’t think he’s a good steward of the technology, but I don’t think violence is funny or justified. I also don’t think it’s justified for him to use it to say that a negative article about him is correlated to this event. Seems to imply that an “incendiary article” led to this and that criticism is tantamount to calls to violence. He drives the convers…

> but I don’t think violence is funny or justified

Well, that's okay, because even Sam Altman disagrees with you. He absolutely believes that violence, including deadly violence, is justified - hence his contract with the US Department of War to use their systems in kill chains.

Perhaps the problem is that whoever threw the cocktail didn't use AI to select him as a target, or maybe he didn't receive payment for throwing it? Because what other difference is there?

Re: Sam Altman's response to Molotov cocktail incident

#672

Post by psd1 »

raffael_de wrote: post #657
foxes wrote: post #654

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tech and science are political .. they don't exist in some sort of vacuum. Further being "apolotical" means supporting the current status quo.

I consider your stance highly toxic.

Politics is indeed toxic to pure curiosity about pure things. I feel that too, viscerally.

However. Culture war tropes get posted in even the most abstract discussion, so banning top-level posts won't keep it out.

Furthermore, technology is inherently political to the degree that it is transformative. The Facebook algorithm was always political, it just took time for that to become apparent. I'm trying to illustrate another kind of toxicity, that of engineering archetypes refusing to consider the political impact of their engineering decisions. Technologists in transformative fields should not be putting their heads in the sand. I don't want HN to devolve to red/green political rage, but there are political discussions that belong here.

Lastly, social sciences may well be dismal, but they can still illuminate, and politics is a valid subject of study. This site is predicated on curiosity, and areas of politics are on topic for that. Humanity is a system that bears analysis and can even be engineered.

Re: Sam Altman's response to Molotov cocktail incident

#675

Post by brysonreece »

AllegedAlec wrote: post #670
yaro330 wrote: post #620

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously? Not even the DOD partnership?

[flagged]

If you work to inflict violence on others, you shouldn’t be surprised when it’s attempted to be inflicted back on you. I’m not saying it’s a just worldview, but it is pragmatic.

Re: Sam Altman's response to Molotov cocktail incident

#676

Post by speleding »

confiq wrote: post #590
etempleton wrote: post #422

It is fair to be critical of Sam and other tech leaders regarding AI, but he has done nothing to begin to justify violence or even the threat of violence against him or his family.

> he has done nothing to begin to justify violence No One does! I also found news hard to believe but it is true: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czx91rdxpyeo I'm not a big fan of Sam Altman, but violence like this is not a solution; it has the actually opposite effect as it probably did with Trump.

Reading that BBC article, how the attacker got caught while shouting at an OpenAI building, it would seem likely that this attacker is confused or deranged. Not specifically someone with deliberate evil intent.

So the headline seems to be more "high profile person attacked by lunatic" than "OpenAI CEO attacked for being evil".

Re: Sam Altman's response to Molotov cocktail incident

#677

Post by tkel »

hyeonwho5 wrote: post #13

Firebombing homes is completely uncivilized, but I'm not going to believe a single public word from Altman about anything. He's a lying sociopath and will say whatever gets himself ahead.

Is it also uncivilized to bomb homes from the sky? As would happen under OpenAI's military contract?

Re: Sam Altman's response to Molotov cocktail incident

#678

Post by [deleted] »

arrowsmith wrote: post #615
dwroberts wrote: post #612

Didn’t we just go through several weeks of hearing about OpenAI allowing its tech to be used for conducting warfare? Not saying that justifies harming Altman but I am confused that he seems surprised he is now in physical danger? [Or chalks it up to just some single specific incendiary article rather than the companies actual actions?] If you involve yourself in the act of killing people then, yeah, you’re going to g…

"I'm not saying violence is okay, but violence is okay"

[deleted]

Re: Sam Altman's response to Molotov cocktail incident

#679

Post by richardlblair »

Capricorn2481 wrote: post #667
richardlblair wrote: post #199

Jfc. People, a molitov cocktail was thrown as his home. The rest of what is written doesn't matter. This isn't the moment for that conversation. That's his family. He has a fucking child. Holy shit.

> The rest of what is written doesn't matter. This isn't the moment for that conversation That's terrible that someone did that. I think that's wrong, and people that do that should be in prison. But if the rest of what was written didn't matter, it wouldn't be written. He thought it was important enough to put it in. It's there to be read and discussed. And I have to point out, we're not talking about a couple off t…

Another comment lacking any compassion.

The man was reeling from what happened. He blames himself and his work. He sat and he wrote, naturally it came back to OpenAI. Should he of? Probably not. But it's understandable that he did.

We can meet the moment with some understanding and give the guy a little wiggle room.

Re: Sam Altman's response to Molotov cocktail incident

#680

Post by Gigachad »

joshcsimmons wrote: post #134

This is both horrible and not at all surprising. Every quarter there are more layoffs and we're told how AI will replace us and that we can do nothing to stop it. We cannot afford the simple things our parents were able to and are supposed to be grateful that we are living in a time with such "amazing" technological progress. Sam is one of the most media-visible people that represents AI replacement of average people…

Sam and related spend half their lives on TV poking the bear laughing about how he is going to use his tech to ruin peoples lives and there is nothing they can do about it. Some of those people have nothing to lose.
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