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Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

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721–730 of 798 posts

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#721

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's pretty incredible that the upper echelons have so thoroughly psyopped everyone below them that the public runs confused around in an endless maze of ideology, false pretexts and stirred up drama. This way only insiders recognise the most fundamental realpolitical power struggles of all ages; that the "very confusing" wars, coups or power grabs is not very complex at all but always - almost as a physical principl…

One thing I've universally noticed in unintelligent/conspiratorial political analysis is they think you can explain everything by "following the money", like here. These people are sometimes known as "low-information voters". It's amazing how much this is actually never true. Politics is largely about sincerely-held ideologies.

Take a look at the highly conspiratorial website https://www.opensecrets.org for an example of how i enquire by looking at sources and money flow helping me realise most politicians are bought by lobby groups working for the owning classes and vote thereafter, not "sincere belief in ideology".

This "you're just a conspiracy nut" perspective for looking at actual networks of power and sources, became common after journalism pretty much died with local media as they shifted to ownership from a few parent conglomerates all working for elite interest.

Now news is about "ideas" and "events" not key players, money and networks of power ultimately benefiting the richest that kan in turn easily sway public opinion without resistance through PR, think tanks and media ownership.

I don't know when you think this rather beautiful "sincere belief in ideology" became the primary driver of history and politics, to me that's a highly naive after a bachelors in History and a love for the pretty standard historiographical realpolitical and resource oriented lenses adjacent to works like Guns, Germs and Steel.

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#722

I predict his character arch will be similar to Adam Neumann and Travis Kalanick - first the media gushes over him and praises him as a genius. Then the media starts to question him. Then they start to fully dig in and dig up a ton of dirt. With no mainstream outlet pushing forth the allegations his sister is claiming on social, I imagine right now they are looking under every rock on that end. I respect his hustle b…

It's pretty entertaining how the pro-Altman firehose turned off like a light switch after a couple days of all discussion being choked in an endless stream of Altman praise.

At least Adam Neumann is a weirdo with a personality.

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#723
post #666

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mature adults can certainly think that someone else is not fit for one job (running YC) and is fit for another (handling OAI). Good business people are even better at it, knowing that makes them more money. PG certainly seems to fit that.

Ycombinator still has a monetary interest in the for-profit corp of OpenAI right? When Sam says he doesn't have equity I believe he sometimes clarifies that he does a small interest through a ycombinator partnership or fund ownership of some shares.

Some parallel insider investment vehicle

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#724
post #623
post #553

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why, the WSJ says: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/openai-s-path-ahea... "One surprise signee was Ilya Sutskever, the company’s chief scientist and one of the members of the four-person board that voted to oust Altman. On Monday morning, Sutskever said he deeply regretted his participation in the board’s action. “I will do everything I can to reunite the company,” he posted on X. Sutskever flipped h…

This is such a clown show. If instead Helen Toner had cried harder in Sutskever face than the outcome would have been different?

Right? Kindergarten level. I don't want these people be involved with potentially dangerous tech at all.

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#725
post #251
post #42

If Paul Graham fired Sam Altman from YCombinator it's interesting that he appears to have such a favourable opinion of him [0]. However, personally, what I've taken away from this is that he is a much better strategic/tactical operator than many other high-flying executives and very capable of winning the respect and trust of a lot of smart people. I wouldn't expect OpenAI to be run by anybody that wasn't revered in…

I dunno, man. As an English person, to me these tweets sound a lot like he is publicly calling Altman a cunt.

Agree. Reads like a warning more than praise - do not cross Altman because he will rip your face off.

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#726

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mature adults can certainly think that someone else is not fit for one job (running YC) and is fit for another (handling OAI). Good business people are even better at it, knowing that makes them more money. PG certainly seems to fit that.

I've met ruthless dark triad people who I correctly predicted would be extremely successful, but I would make sure never to be work with or for.

Can you talk about how these traits play out for you and also the whole of the triad? I feel like we all have our own spectrum of behavior/tendencies on these respective axes. I hope I'm making sense here

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#727

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mature adults can certainly think that someone else is not fit for one job (running YC) and is fit for another (handling OAI). Good business people are even better at it, knowing that makes them more money. PG certainly seems to fit that.

I've met ruthless dark triad people who I correctly predicted would be extremely successful, but I would make sure never to be work with or for.

I’m not saying Sam Altman ain’t quite moral enough to join the Army… but he’d definitely be on the group W bench, if ya know what I mean…

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#729

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weird: The most relevant hn post on Altman’s departure from YC is https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19342184 But despite comments to the effect that the YC post indicated Sam’s departure, it doesn’t seem to say anything about it right now?

The statement about Sam on the announcement post at https://www.ycombinator.com/blog/updates-from-yc/ evolved over time: 1. March 2019: "Sam is transitioning to Chairman of YC and has shifted his operational responsibilities at YC to other partners. This change will allow Sam to spend more time focusing on OpenAI while still being responsible, along with the rest of the partnership, for the long-term social and econo…

Yeah I was reading about this last week on Twitter ( https://twitter.com/EricNewcomer/status/1725633569056506282 ) - the departure was "under explored".

I have to imagine that the industry does not appreciate this kind of attention from the mainstream press. Everybody is making loads of money -- does it really matter if a particular business deal went south in a particular way? Maybe it's better if we all just focus on the exciting new things that are being built and all the value we're creating for the world and ourselves.

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#730

I predict his character arch will be similar to Adam Neumann and Travis Kalanick - first the media gushes over him and praises him as a genius. Then the media starts to question him. Then they start to fully dig in and dig up a ton of dirt. With no mainstream outlet pushing forth the allegations his sister is claiming on social, I imagine right now they are looking under every rock on that end. I respect his hustle b…

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