qubit000 (u/qubit000)

qubit000 commented on OpenAI's board has fired Sam Altman openai.com/blog/openai-an... · Posted by u/davidbarker

gkoberger · 2 years ago

I know I won't get a lot of love for this, but Sam is a really good person. I don't know him well, but I've known him since long before OpenAI.

He's not perfect, but behind the scenes he's a genuine and upstanding person. I've met lots of wealthy smart people, and he's the only exception. He was the only person I trusted in this situation, and I'm genuinely nervous that he's no longer running OpenAI.

qubit000 · 2 years ago

The world is not binary - least of all human behavior which for overwhelming majority is more accurately described as shades of gray

qubit000 commented on Vaccinated Americans now may go without masks in most places, the CDC said nytimes.com/2021/05/13/he... · Posted by u/dsr12

qubit000 · 5 years ago

Someone behind the scenes must be pulling the strings at the CDC as this is terrible advice considering all vaccines are far from being 100% effective.

Additionally it takes at least 2wks after inoculation for the vaccine to work and there is no definitive answer on how long the efficacy lasts.

All of this combined with the fact that millions of Americans refuse to be vaccinated will serve as prime reservoir for the virus to spread.

It was rather troubling when CDC first stated masks were unnecessary but this recent announcement is criminally negligent, on par with Boeing/FAA publicly stating 737 Max was safe even knowing full well there was high probability of another crash.

qubit000 commented on The Ponzi Career drorpoleg.com/the-ponzi-c... · Posted by u/elsewhen

qubit000 · 5 years ago

US culture is already too self-absorbed focusing more on style than substance. Selling personal tokens to fund one's career trajectory will only create more extreme narcissism akin to unqualified/incompetent people running for office.

qubit000 commented on Jeff Bezos comes out in support of increased corporate taxes cnn.com/2021/04/06/econom... · Posted by u/CharlesW

piokoch · 5 years ago

Yes, yes and yes. People are sometimes surprise why people who has a lot of money seem to be left-leaning and support things like higher taxation. First, it is never a concern for them. If they need, they offshore their money or pay lawyers who know tricks or start some foundation to pass money through it.

Something that people from middle class are not able to afford.

The other reason is that making difficult for members of middle class to accumulate wealth secures their own business, they are effectively killing the growth of potential competitors.

In the longer perspective this is very dangerous, it creates oligarchy, which, in turn, has all the incentives to restrict free market, free speech and democracy.

Middle class is important for the society since those are people who have time to engage themselves into public affairs, they don't have to spend all their time trying to earn money. In addition middle class is much more numerous than 1% of the wealthiest. As a result they give work to a lot of people who are down the social ladder. Both Mark Zuckerberg and some Mr. Jones, who owns a grocery shop employ a single babysitter, need a single plumber to fix their pipes, are able to eat the same amount of food, etc. So thousands of Jones are given job to much more people than single Mark Zuckerberg (obviously I am talking about Zuckerberg as a person, not his company).

That's why from the social perspective it is important to have as many Mr. Jones as possible. They give work to a lot of people, they drag them up. That's why taxing heavily middle class is a terrible idea and all the "tax the rich" regulations in the end mean "tax those who cannot escape taxation".

qubit000 · 5 years ago

"... this is very dangerous, it creates oligarchy, which, in turn, has all the incentives to restrict free market, free speech and democracy."

One could argue that the US is already an Oligarchy or more accurately an 'Oligarchic Plutocracy' which has accomplished all of the above.

qubit000 commented on Incident: American B38M near Nassau on Mar 29th 2021, pitch trim issue/failure avherald.com/h?article=4e... · Posted by u/xmichael0

qubit000 · 5 years ago

Boeing has lost the public trust not only in the US, but internationally.

Inherent instability aside, fact remains the general perception is that Boeing retrofitted engines too large for 50yr plane design necessitating structural modifications which compromised its flight worthiness. As a result, software had to be written to compensate for this, which unbelievably, relied on input from a single sensor--iow, single point of failure.

The lost of trust is further exacerbated by the fact that Boeing/FAA knew there was high probability of another crash after the first catastrophic incident but refused to ground the planes continuing to let them fly while issuing deceptive public statements regarding the planes safety.

Boeing's largest market is China, which justifiably, will not allow the 737 to fly within their territory.

qubit000 commented on How U.S. media lost the trust of the public cbc.ca/news/world/media-d... · Posted by u/empressplay

jcadam · 5 years ago

I don't normally read the Washington Post, but this old article [1] has one memorable quote from Ben Rhodes (whom I also don't like overly much, but that doesn't matter in this case), and I can fully believe what he is saying:

“All these newspapers used to have foreign bureaus,” he said. “Now they don’t. They call us to explain to them what’s happening in Moscow and Cairo. Most of the outlets are reporting on world events from Washington. The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old, and their only reporting experience consists of being around political campaigns. That’s a sea change. They literally know nothing.”

[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/obama-officia...

qubit000 · 5 years ago

Also overwhelmingly white, oblivious to their bias and entitlement resulting in very narrow, US/Eurocentric perspective.

qubit000 commented on As U.S. schools shuttered, student mental health cratered, survey finds reuters.com/investigates/... · Posted by u/accountinhn

cassalian · 5 years ago

Anyone else find it strange that a country that has often fallen in line with "think of the children" arguments for hypothetical dangers appears to be completely uncaring about very real dangers of social isolation that are impacting our youth?

qubit000 · 5 years ago

Problem is US leaders are elected based on populism rather than merit and whether theyre actually competent, let alone qualified.

The result is a political system that rewards morally bankrupt, sociopathic behavior that prioritizes self interest and profits over people.

Many will say it has worked considering how wealthy the US is and how it facilitates innovation. However, this is only made possible by the fact US, as global reserve currency of the world, is able to print $$$ w/impunity while exporting much of the resulting inflation which rest of the world has to bare -- essentially subsidizing US wealth.

qubit000 commented on Fuckin' user interface design, I swear blog.plover.com/tech/ui.h... · Posted by u/luu

qubit000 · 5 years ago

The problem is that everyone has an opinion on design and thinks it's only about making things pretty. The designer, often on low end of organizational pecking order, is asked to bend over from all sounds and is just trying to keep food on the table.

qubit000 commented on US raises ‘deep concerns’ over WHO report on Covid’s Wuhan origins reuters.com/article/us-he... · Posted by u/lazycrazyowl

Hnrobert42 · 5 years ago

Ultimately, they are sufficiently confident in their indoctrination that they are unafraid that exposure to other ideologies will lead to a rejection of their own. Where they are not confident, they do limit travel. See their cancellation of passports for Hong Kongers.

I will not respond to your whataboutism argument as it is beside my point.

qubit000 · 5 years ago

The govt is confident that most citizens will see the downsides of democracy and how it leads to much social divisiveness and govt dysfunction as evidenced by the US.

HKrs fomenting riots/violence and breaking the law have rightfully had their passports confiscated to face consequences of their actions.

qubit000 commented on Electricity over $900/MWh in most of Western US now caiso.com/pricemap/Pages/... · Posted by u/everybodyknows

qubit000 · 5 years ago

How does this happen in the richest country in the world which basically has monopoly on global monetary policy and prints $$ with impunity?