Sam Altman's response to Molotov cocktail incident • Hacker News Board

Re: Sam Altman's response to Molotov cocktail incident

#821

Post by zepolen » Sat, Apr 11, 2026, 5:44 PM UTC

hax0ron3 wrote: post #809

nl wrote: post #692

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US is still a democracy. It's absolutely ok to oppose war. It is absolutely not ok for "some people to want to hurt" someone who is running a company that is vying for contracts from a democratically elected government's defense department. It's also ok to protest that, to boycott it or to refuse to work for or with them for it. But escalating that to physical violence is not ok, and nor should people be "confuse…

>It is absolutely not ok for "some people to want to hurt" someone who is running a company that is vying for contracts from a democratically elected government's defense department. Why though?

Because government violence is not the same as individual violence!

Re: Sam Altman's response to Molotov cocktail incident

#822

Post by xp84 » Sat, Apr 11, 2026, 5:47 PM UTC

nl wrote: post #692

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…

The US is still a democracy. It's absolutely ok to oppose war. It is absolutely not ok for "some people to want to hurt" someone who is running a company that is vying for contracts from a democratically elected government's defense department. It's also ok to protest that, to boycott it or to refuse to work for or with them for it. But escalating that to physical violence is not ok, and nor should people be "confuse…

I completely agree with all your statements. But I think most people in America have moved on from even trying to operate in the political system we have - because it’s been completely subverted by bad actors on both sides of the supposed 2-party system they see it as pointless.

And as such they’ve either become completely irrational (most far left or far rightists), checked out (the rest of us), or fully mentally ill (people like this, or that Gracie Mansion wacko)

Re: Sam Altman's response to Molotov cocktail incident

#823

Post by senordevnyc » Sat, Apr 11, 2026, 5:48 PM UTC

hackable_sand wrote: post #520

copypaper wrote: post #73

In all seriousness, what is the game plan for society moving forward as AI takes more jobs? The government doesn't seem to care. The AI labs don't seem to care. What happens when more and more people can't afford housing, kids, food, health insurance, etc.? Nothing more dangerous than a man who has no reason to live... I don't advocate for violence, but I do foresee more headlines like this as things get worse.

[flagged]

I doubt you’ve ever actually seen any real societal collapse into violence, or you’d know how stupid you sound.

Re: Sam Altman's response to Molotov cocktail incident

#824

Post by xp84 » Sat, Apr 11, 2026, 5:49 PM UTC

trinsic2 wrote: post #736

nl wrote: post #692

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US is still a democracy. It's absolutely ok to oppose war. It is absolutely not ok for "some people to want to hurt" someone who is running a company that is vying for contracts from a democratically elected government's defense department. It's also ok to protest that, to boycott it or to refuse to work for or with them for it. But escalating that to physical violence is not ok, and nor should people be "confuse…

I don't think anyone is saying this is justified. But that doesn't mean it's not going to happen and I can understand why people would do this. ESP people that are pushed beyond the limits they can endure. Right now we have a huge imbalance in the world and more situations like this are going to manifest as we slide further and further into authoritarianism.

[flagged]

Re: Sam Altman's response to Molotov cocktail incident

#825

Post by hax0ron3 » Sat, Apr 11, 2026, 5:51 PM UTC

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.

Better stop paying taxes then, cause your government, whatever it is, is probably ok with using your tax money to in some cases fund the killing of people who have families and children. Now, we can argue about the morality of killing those exact people as opposed to killing Sam Altman, but that's a different discussion. My point is that the real argument isn't over whether it's ok to kill people who have families and children, you're probably ok with that too, after all bin Laden had a family and children. The real argument is over which people who have families and children it is ok to kill.

Re: Sam Altman's response to Molotov cocktail incident

#826

Post by davemp » Sat, Apr 11, 2026, 5:51 PM UTC

hax0ron3 wrote: post #809

nl wrote: post #692

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US is still a democracy. It's absolutely ok to oppose war. It is absolutely not ok for "some people to want to hurt" someone who is running a company that is vying for contracts from a democratically elected government's defense department. It's also ok to protest that, to boycott it or to refuse to work for or with them for it. But escalating that to physical violence is not ok, and nor should people be "confuse…

>It is absolutely not ok for "some people to want to hurt" someone who is running a company that is vying for contracts from a democratically elected government's defense department. Why though?

I’m falling into the Socratic hole [0], but in a modern civil society there is a justice system through which people seek recourse. This has all sorts of desirable effects for societies.

Please educate yourself on the basics or at least put more effort in before participating in conversations.

[0]: It’s easy to abuse the Socratic method and devolve a discussion into one of first principles. It’s extremely tiresome and a huge waste of everyone’s time.

Re: Sam Altman's response to Molotov cocktail incident

#827

Post by Chance-Device » Sat, Apr 11, 2026, 5:53 PM UTC

pixel_popping wrote: post #782

Chance-Device wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody has one. If labor stops having value the economy will stop working and society will break down far in advance of building the infrastructure necessary for the promised AI abundance. I like the idea of being ”post-scarcity” as much as the next guy, but I don’t understand how we get there. It’s a project in itself, it doesn’t just happen by magic, and nobody is actively trying to make it happen or has any logist…

It is not impossible to think that many people will just be served an UBI and don't expect much more in life, after all, if we have AI+Family+Housing+Food (assuming gov robots would take care of providing us free food in some form) , I bet millions of people would be contented with it. PS: I include AI as an important one in the future because it will be a direct way to get educated and replace college for example wi…

You’ve addressed a different question, which is how satisfied with life will people be post scarcity. That’s a fine conversation to have, but it’s not the one I was having. My point is: how do we get there?

Re: Sam Altman's response to Molotov cocktail incident

#828

Post by infamouscow » Sat, Apr 11, 2026, 5:53 PM UTC

9rx wrote: post #599

negura wrote: post #561

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd also call it isolated, but I mean it in a different way. I can't recall similar attacks against a tech bilionnaire. Which I guess makes it notable? > organized anti-AI terrorism too There were already memes about that > When you have people out there saying “AI will kill us all” It's the "clickbait" mechanism becoming more cancerous

> I can't recall similar attacks against a tech bilionnaire. How about Ted Kaczynski (Unabomber)? Attacking the tech elite was his deal.

As we've discovering with the Epstein releases, Ted Kaczynski was ahead of his time (w.r.t. David Gelernter).

Re: Sam Altman's response to Molotov cocktail incident

#829

Post by chrisfosterelli » Sat, Apr 11, 2026, 5:55 PM UTC

dang wrote: post #575

I don't think I've ever seen a thread this bad on Hacker News*. The number of commenters justifying violence, or saying they "don't condone violence" and then doing exactly that, is sickening and makes me want to find something else to do with my life—something as far away from this as I can get. I feel ashamed of this community. * Edit: It would have been clearer to say "I've never seen a mob dynamic this bad on Hac…

I have to believe that what we're seeing is a minority opinion that feels like their uniquely backwards logic justifying this is somehow worth sharing as if its new and insightful, while the vast majority of us think "holy crap, that's horrible" but aren't adding it because of course that's already been said and there just isn't any more nuance needed.

Re: Sam Altman's response to Molotov cocktail incident

#830

Post by doom2 » Sat, Apr 11, 2026, 5:57 PM UTC

dash2 wrote: post #524

I've skimmed the thread here and I am now seriously considering leaving HN for the first time in about 15 years. Here are some quotes from what used to be a pretty interesting and thoughtful community: > Ah, the Elon manoeuvre: trying to make would-be assassins hesitate by using your own child as a shield. > the words and narratives that Sam Altman promoted caused so much fear and uncertainty and anger that someone t…

> I've skimmed the thread here and I am now seriously considering leaving HN for the first time in about 15 years.

I'm finding a lot of the comments here pretty reprehensible, but no more reprehensible than the collective shrug the community gave towards murdered Palestinians, or threads about dead Iranians as a result of American bombs that get flagged off the front page. That doesn't make them acceptable or okay.

Those people's lives are/were valuable, too. It's disgusting that we try to keep HN "clean" of those horrors and the people that flag those threads should be ashamed. Ditto those who think the killing of innocent civilians is okay.