The real question is: can anyone be trusted if the fever dreams of super-intelligence come true? Go ahead and replace Sam Altman with someone else - will it make a difference? Any other CEO is going to be under the same overwhelming pressure to make a profit somehow. I think the OpenAI story is messier because it was founded for supposedly altruistic reasons, and then changed.

Methinks many of Altman's detractors protesteth too much. He's doing his job as it is defined (make OpenAI profitable.) Nothing of substance in this article seemed to make him exceptionally "sociopathic" compared to any other tech CEO. It goes with the territory.

What depressed me most is that trillions of dollars are being raised for building what will undoubtedly be used as a weapon. My guess is the ROI on that money is going to be extremely bad for the most part (AI will make some people insanely rich, but it is hard to see how the big investors will get a return.) Could you imagine if the world shared the same vision for energy infrastructure (so we could also stop fighting wars over control of fossil fuels and spewing CO2?) A man can dream...

"Leonie Mueck, formerly the chief product officer of Riverlane, a Cambridge-based quantum startup, said Google’s statement did not necessarily suggest there would definitely be a working quantum computer capable of breaking encryption by 2029."

Basically more worried about decrypting currently stored, encrypted information with a future quantum computer. My guess is most critical encrypted files use symmetric encryption (e.g. AES256) and won't be cracked with a quantum computer any time soon (or really, ever.)

The exception is Tesla - even with a non-Tesla vehicle I've never had an issue, even though you do need an app. Tesla vehicles just "drive up, start charging" too - there is no Step 3.

FTA:

"Writing with aspirations of publication must conform to revealed truths of rules of aesthetics and political dictum, to the exclusion of writers and readers who are not part of the industry’s monostyle, monopolitics, and monoconceptions of novels."

and:

"The modern male reader who picks up a modern sociological text masquerading as a piece of art can only expect to be patronized by going through an arbitrary and tedious process of discovering through a novel that he kind of sucks and was born that way."

This is true of mainstream publishing now, of course, but I can't quite see why the author uses "Infinite Jest" as the prime example. Apparently Cormac McCarthy hated Infinite Jest. But it's not clear at all that IJ caused McCarthy to stop reading "modern" novels (which apparently included most mid-20th century authors) as the title suggests.

But I generally agree modern publishing has lost its way, for the reasons quoted above. Even, so, there are some authors (e.g. George Saunders) who seem to still manage to slip through the gatekeepers, which gives me hope that all is not completely lost.

Of course we love our kids, and we had (and still have) a lot of good times with them. But kids can really break your life and marriage, too - amongst my peers I can't tell you how many have a struggling young adult kid or two (with relatively serious mental or physical health problems), with no resolution in sight.

So stay lucky - having a child is a wild act of optimism. And if you want kids, don't wait too long. There is never really a good time to have a kid (just different trade-offs), so for the best chances for health, be as young a parent as possible. And men have a biological clock, too: e.g.: https://neurosciencenews.com/genetics-sperm-mutation-neurode...

My comment was more on the next levels - there seemed to be about as many high-level technical roles as managers (paid similarly) where I worked in biotech (that might be a different situation for software-only companies.) And there were more Directors/VP's than Principals/Fellows for sure. So at some point the "ladder width" crosses over.

And if you get laid off as a senior IC, good luck getting hired into another IC position. Age discrimination is real. The robust network is a must for anyone, manager or IC, in this case.

* It's a bad time to move away from tech

As a manager your role isn't to be the "best technical person" anyway. You still need to understand fast-changing capabilities of course. But you are managing people now, and the required skills are different. See below.

* The ladder is very competitive

It's always competitive, and in my experience it was the exact opposite - there were far fewer VP-level technical roles than VP people managers.

* The pay is lower (for senior managers vs. senior technical track)

Again, this is the opposite of my experience (besides at the first-line manager level, where pay was comparable.) Where I worked managers could quickly get paid more with more responsibility. I always thought it was because managing people is actually a lot less fun (at least for me it was.)

The biggest reason not to become a manager is because _it is a completely different job_. Although managers need to be technically competent, management skills are much more about people (and politics.) If that isn't your jam, then don't become a manager.

So the "you" in "your own" has to have pretty deep pockets...for a relatively low fidelity 30 qubit device.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47080352

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Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47063166

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Tobacco CEO's Statement to Congress 1994 News Clip "Nicotine is not addictive."

https://senate.ucsf.edu/tobacco-ceo-statement-to-congress

Looking through https://www.openstar.tech/technical-resources, I don't see any indication that their thermal shielding will ever work for a levitated dipole magnet within a plasma that can actually generate fusion (other than a claim with no reference on the poster https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6473d1660b2c1f2c3780dfdc/...)

You'd think this would be the #1 problem that needs to be thoroughly addressed...

https://www.massgeneralbrigham.org/en/about/newsroom/press-r...

“We also compared people with different genetic predispositions to developing dementia and saw the same results—meaning coffee or caffeine is likely equally beneficial for people with high and low genetic risk of developing dementia,” said lead author Yu Zhang

That seems like it indicates there is some real, independent signal here. Off to make some coffee!

He is an adult, and is not sick enough to warrant involuntary intervention, so he is free to choose to reject care. Also, he mentions using psychedelics (to self medicate? Or just cause he wanted the experience?) So this could be 100% self-inflicted for all we know, although I'd put my money on self-medication.

Mentally ill people (depending on the type of illness) can be really hard to be around for long periods (source: father and brother who are bipolar.) It is no surprise he would have trouble finding a friend to let him crash. His narcissism and superiority-complex are just part of the package.

I will also note that it was infuriating that he got access to a women-only shelter when he said "I identify as a woman".

Thanks for the laugh!