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Vinod Khosla with Sam Altman on How to Build the Future [video]

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Re: Vinod Khosla with Sam Altman on How to Build the Future [video]

#81

Post by 1024core »

netvarun wrote: post #71
1024core wrote: post #64

My comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18866778 got downvoted and flagged because I called out Khosla's selfish and boorish behavior. Apparently calling a spade a spade doesn't sit well with some of the hive mind here.

I think it's a tired meme - just like the 'Stephen (Wolfram) The Braggadocio' meme. It starts getting quite annoying after a while. Especially in the latter case since Stephen blogs quite a bit and lot of his articles do trend on HN. Repeatedly pointing out, hmm, their 'flaws', just detracts from the actual subject matter. And btw, I did enjoy this talk and likewise most of Stephen's blog posts/writings. [Only except…

There's a difference between being a braggadicio, and being an actively bad citizen.

He has a demonstrated long history of selfishness and standing against common good. Should we be taking ideas from him? Well, if he was talking about some technical topic, I can understand your point. But "how to build a future" ....? Do we really want to learn "how to build a future" from such a selfish person?

Re: Vinod Khosla with Sam Altman on How to Build the Future [video]

#82

Post by sidlls »

uniformlyrandom wrote: post #41
naravara wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a lot of cases I would say that working your ass off basically buys you the lottery ticket, but whether it pays off is largely luck. Innate talent and ability might skew the odds in your favor slightly, but I think it's more likely that they just lower the work-cost of the lottery ticket.

Exactly. You cannot make it without luck (you need to be in the right place at the right time), but you greatly improve your chances if you are at the right place most of the time.

Being at the right place requires a fair bit of luck, too.

Re: Vinod Khosla with Sam Altman on How to Build the Future [video]

#83

Post by PostOnce »

m0llusk wrote: post #78
PostOnce wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's more to life--and business--than money. Do we want to take advice from a man who hates the public? Do we want to build that future? Even if what he says sounds legitimate, should we not question whether there are motives and ethics unmentioned that we might not have noticed, given his past behavior? Should we mention it to viewers who may not be aware of who the man is, so they can ask those same questions as…

Hates the public? Are you sure? He bought some property and dared to imagine he actually owned it. Foolish and untrue, but at some level reasonable enough. None of that changes the demonstrated value of his advice regarding business.

It may not change the value of his business advice... but then again, it may. It may be that he doesn't care about people. It may be that he would recommend you pollute a river to save money. I'm not saying his advice is without merit, I'm just saying there may be side effects of his advice that he's not mentioning, given who he seems to be as a person.

All that said, I haven't met him, I've just read the news, and maybe they have their own narrative and that isn't who he really is. I'm just saying we should consider both sides.

Re: Vinod Khosla with Sam Altman on How to Build the Future [video]

#84

Post by metildaa »

oth001 wrote: post #69

Interesting how all comments which voice reasonable criticism of Vinod get deleted...

YCombinator bans people left and right here on Hacker News for even the most tame calling out of VC Techbros for their criminal behavior.

Stay safe! The site operators of HN are off the chain, and hate discourse on this genre of topic. Probably has something to do with YCombinator also being a VC.

Re: Vinod Khosla with Sam Altman on How to Build the Future [video]

#85

Post by oth001 »

metildaa wrote: post #84
oth001 wrote: post #69

Interesting how all comments which voice reasonable criticism of Vinod get deleted...

YCombinator bans people left and right here on Hacker News for even the most tame calling out of VC Techbros for their criminal behavior. Stay safe! The site operators of HN are off the chain, and hate discourse on this genre of topic. Probably has something to do with YCombinator also being a VC.

I'm sure it does. I thought it was an interesting talk nonetheless.

Re: Vinod Khosla with Sam Altman on How to Build the Future [video]

#87

Post by heyjudy »

iaabtpbtpnn wrote: post #37
jhayward wrote: post #34

There are several comments here about Khosla and his efforts to convert public right of way to private property on the California Coast. It's fair to ask, "why is this relevant to a video of his views on the future (tech)?" It's relevant because the beach controversy shows that the future that Kohsla wants to create is inimicable to the future that I want to see. He sees a big-L libertarian future, where the strong e…

Strongly agreed. I don't even think I could work for a startup funded by Khosla Ventures.

When capitalists push humanity to the brink of collapse out of primarily short-term self-interest to expand their largess beyond material success in their domains that it cannibalizes public commonwealth and corrupts governments to add to ill-gotten gains, while people are so poor that they camp on highway on-ramps in San Jose, they're plotting their own course to the next Reign of Terror by unfairly gaming government and rigging the system to their own ends, instead of the advancement of humanity. After all: what rational and sane person wants to live in a poor or dystopian country? Why not build up a country with a carbon sequestration moonshot than seek to deregulate in regulatory capture and destroy the commonwealth?

To sum up: a person whose goals are solely money by any and all means is therefore a criminal: antisocial and unconcerned with others.

Re: Vinod Khosla with Sam Altman on How to Build the Future [video]

#88

Post by tomlock »

TACIXAT wrote: post #74
tomlock wrote: post #68

I find it hard to take Altman seriously as a well-reasoned thinker after his comments on political correctness which were intermeshed with him praising China's approach to the topic.

Context on his comments? Edit: http://blog.samaltman.com/e-pur-si-muove I don't see anything awful in here. There are absolutely people in the bay area who wish to silence other opinions. I'm a pretty liberal person and this place is ridiculous.

There are literally arms of the government in China that wish to silence other opinions.

If Altman feels comfortable in China it is only because he is divorced from the context there.

Re: Vinod Khosla with Sam Altman on How to Build the Future [video]

#89

Post by sjg007 »

ryanmercer wrote: post #14
StreamBright wrote: post #8

I am not sure how relevant the view of these billionaires when: - they did it exactly once - we know from studies that these people are nondeterministicly getting rich[1] https://www.technologyreview.com/s/610395/if-youre-so-smart-...

In regards to that article: >If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich? Turns out it’s just chance. Someone in the industry, someone with considerable influence, someone active on this very forum, once told me when asked what their secret was "I worry it's been more luck than skill". At the time my immediate thought was "bullshit, you had to have busted your ass but your background also had to have had great influence…

There is an element of luck with anything in life: Being in the right place at the right time, being the right person as well as recognizing the opportunity. SV is a lucky place, YC is a lucky place, Stanford (or even a University) is a lucky place. How do you get to those places? You typically have to work hard at something to get the opportunity.
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