Time to Take a Stand – Sam Altman (2017)(blog.samaltman.com)
blog.samaltman.com
Time to Take a Stand – Sam Altman (2017)
https://blog.samaltman.com/time-to-take-a-stand
20 comments
Does it ever worry you or make you feel powerless? What can I do, I'm a middle age man with health problems that make things very difficult. I have kids and a family and friends with their own problems. I'm strapped for time and resources. What can I do? I worry for my kids future and the future of the world.
It definitely worries me.
We're firmly at post-truth, and very much also at post-shame, particularly for the billionaires, which is a concerning place to be.
All I can do is try to be thoughtful with my words and actions and live according to my values.
At some point there may be a decision to be made, the kind of which was too common in the 1930s, and I hope I'll be one of those whose actions are looked upon fondly by good men in the future.
We're firmly at post-truth, and very much also at post-shame, particularly for the billionaires, which is a concerning place to be.
All I can do is try to be thoughtful with my words and actions and live according to my values.
At some point there may be a decision to be made, the kind of which was too common in the 1930s, and I hope I'll be one of those whose actions are looked upon fondly by good men in the future.
that line (generalized) has been the most useful piece of advice i've ever read
got me out of a gaslighting relationship, and allowed me to stay at a company during a rough patch (knowing i had a line i'd bail at)
got me out of a gaslighting relationship, and allowed me to stay at a company during a rough patch (knowing i had a line i'd bail at)
A lot of tech people seems to have changed their mind on this. Some ways to reason about that are:
1) They are doing it for opportunistic reasons. They can't afford to be enemies with Trump.
2) They legitimately changed their opinion about a wide array of things they used to believe enough to outspoken about.
3) They believe that while Trump's core beliefs are not aligned to theirs, the alternative is worse. And potentially they believe there is a need for some sorm of over-correction to fix what has happened over the last 4 years.
1) They are doing it for opportunistic reasons. They can't afford to be enemies with Trump.
2) They legitimately changed their opinion about a wide array of things they used to believe enough to outspoken about.
3) They believe that while Trump's core beliefs are not aligned to theirs, the alternative is worse. And potentially they believe there is a need for some sorm of over-correction to fix what has happened over the last 4 years.
I think the fourth is quite a few people spotted what appeared to be happening in big tech, where if you have the right activists in only a few companies you could cover and (to some extent) control a lot of digit communication. The moment whatever issue du jour came up that they did not align with the big tech decision on, they noticed and started to distrust what they were seeing. It's possible that being a benevolent gatekeeper only works if you are extremely nonpartisan.
Time to take the stand maybe, Sam.
His sister agrees with that notion:
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69520118/1/altman-v-alt...
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69520118/1/altman-v-alt...
He says "In doing so, we should not demonize Trump voters" because we will need them to fight Trump's ideologies.
I've tried that, not demonizing trump voters. They won't be on your side because you were kind to them. They will demonize you and join the side that they consider the strongest position.
I've tried that, not demonizing trump voters. They won't be on your side because you were kind to them. They will demonize you and join the side that they consider the strongest position.
In my experience you have it backwards. Democrats demonize Trump supporters (“basket of deplorables”, “garbage”).
Yeah, they sure forget their faults fast.
The amount of hatred Dems showed openly during 2016 election run was truely something special.
The amount of hatred Dems showed openly during 2016 election run was truely something special.
If there's a problem that the left and center have it is that they are reactive, not proactive.
Benjamin Netanyahu is planning for 500 years from now when it won't even be a memory that there was a population of Arabs in Israel.
"Project 2025" began in 1971 [1]
On the other hand, Democrats decided to dump Biden for Harris at the last minute possible. Sam Altman is saying we have to draw a line in the sand now. Peter Thiel has been drilling his well all this time. The center right paper The Economist, founded to advocate for free trade in 1843, is politically homeless in today's UK.
There is no effective counter-movement against the far right; one can hypothesize reasons for that, one of them is that people like Altman should have been trying to make common cause with people who are further to the left than hecould stomach ten years ago, yet there is no promise that those people could get behind any movement at all. (I have to write up my experiences with "vanguardism", I too used to believe that I could fly a flag and stake out a consistently radical position on every issue and people would group behind it, the leader of a black nationalist group gave me some tough love -- yet something similar seems to work for the right)
[1] https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/democracy/the-lewis-powell-me...
[2] https://english.elpais.com/technology/2025-01-08/renee-dires...
Benjamin Netanyahu is planning for 500 years from now when it won't even be a memory that there was a population of Arabs in Israel.
"Project 2025" began in 1971 [1]
On the other hand, Democrats decided to dump Biden for Harris at the last minute possible. Sam Altman is saying we have to draw a line in the sand now. Peter Thiel has been drilling his well all this time. The center right paper The Economist, founded to advocate for free trade in 1843, is politically homeless in today's UK.
There is no effective counter-movement against the far right; one can hypothesize reasons for that, one of them is that people like Altman should have been trying to make common cause with people who are further to the left than hecould stomach ten years ago, yet there is no promise that those people could get behind any movement at all. (I have to write up my experiences with "vanguardism", I too used to believe that I could fly a flag and stake out a consistently radical position on every issue and people would group behind it, the leader of a black nationalist group gave me some tough love -- yet something similar seems to work for the right)
[1] https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/democracy/the-lewis-powell-me...
[2] https://english.elpais.com/technology/2025-01-08/renee-dires...
When you're merely against them you find you're not for anything, and you collapse. The failure of the American progressive movement is that it abandoned the values it claimed it was for, in order to adopt new values that seemed to garner it more power. The American progressive movement became for perpetual power (oligarchy and plutocracy), and against them, where its moral authority derived solely from being opposed to those it had to demonize.
The trouble with all of this was that it required a sustained lie. Anyone who said "Wait a minute, that might be a tad too far," or "Wait, that policy will actually harm more people than it helps" became an enemy to crush and step atop. It is this hollow power-seeking that people revolted against. The stated ideals of personal freedom, of protecting the interests of the underdog, turned into curbing freedoms and attempting to create new underdogs.
One further critique; the constant identification of traditional conservative values, and center-right values, as far right extremism made any policy that began with this assumption suspect from the beginning. Start with such a lie, and the whole foundation is unsound, and this becomes obvious to the public over time.
An example: Declaring that opposition to open borders is racism (open borders was a thing first proposed by neocons, IIRC), when the argument is on the grounds of security and rule of law, is foolish at best and often, when deliberate, a malicious take. Finding a way to help the people looking for a better life is a noble goal. Staking the ground that the way to do this is to throw open the nation for the taking is a radical position. Declaring that people opposed to this policy are evil and racist as a way to jam the policy home, is evil.
So this is as much about the method as it is the policies themselves, not the least of which, you end up eliminating other possibilities along the way. Solving corruption and poverty in Central and South America is extremely difficult. The solution is not to bring the people and their problems here. Satisfying the wildest redistributionist fantasies still won't solve this problem. But the environment of discourse created by the radical left made it so that we can't even discuss these problems.
If the Left could stop trying to force belief (which is how the worst faces of religion have acted) and persuade with reason and articulation, which requires debate, they'd have something. The Left doesn't debate anymore. Calls to violence, calls to silence "enemies," calls to harass and demonize, are all hallmarks of extremism. Where does the Left draw the line? "This is too much. This we will not do." Because the conservative right and the center-right have those lines. The mainstream right knows and does not except actual far right extremism.
The trouble with all of this was that it required a sustained lie. Anyone who said "Wait a minute, that might be a tad too far," or "Wait, that policy will actually harm more people than it helps" became an enemy to crush and step atop. It is this hollow power-seeking that people revolted against. The stated ideals of personal freedom, of protecting the interests of the underdog, turned into curbing freedoms and attempting to create new underdogs.
One further critique; the constant identification of traditional conservative values, and center-right values, as far right extremism made any policy that began with this assumption suspect from the beginning. Start with such a lie, and the whole foundation is unsound, and this becomes obvious to the public over time.
An example: Declaring that opposition to open borders is racism (open borders was a thing first proposed by neocons, IIRC), when the argument is on the grounds of security and rule of law, is foolish at best and often, when deliberate, a malicious take. Finding a way to help the people looking for a better life is a noble goal. Staking the ground that the way to do this is to throw open the nation for the taking is a radical position. Declaring that people opposed to this policy are evil and racist as a way to jam the policy home, is evil.
So this is as much about the method as it is the policies themselves, not the least of which, you end up eliminating other possibilities along the way. Solving corruption and poverty in Central and South America is extremely difficult. The solution is not to bring the people and their problems here. Satisfying the wildest redistributionist fantasies still won't solve this problem. But the environment of discourse created by the radical left made it so that we can't even discuss these problems.
If the Left could stop trying to force belief (which is how the worst faces of religion have acted) and persuade with reason and articulation, which requires debate, they'd have something. The Left doesn't debate anymore. Calls to violence, calls to silence "enemies," calls to harass and demonize, are all hallmarks of extremism. Where does the Left draw the line? "This is too much. This we will not do." Because the conservative right and the center-right have those lines. The mainstream right knows and does not except actual far right extremism.
I would point to Jan 6 as a counterexample to your last sentence.
I had friends in Britain who I'd talk with about politics and throughout the Trump term said, well, we didn't get an own goal like Brexit. Although I didn't vote for him, I don't think anything terrible happened in the 1st Trump administration, except Jan 6.
The first time I saw the capitol dome I arrived on the concourse at Reagan Airport and felt something stir in my heart when I saw the capitol dome. In 2022 I took my wife to Washington DC to see the sites around the Mall and it really hurt me to see the front of the Capitol building (such a beautiful thing in itself, as well as a symbol of our institutions) wrapped up in plastic.
I saw Jan 6 live on TV and felt it it was a worse event than Sep 11 as it came from an enemy within. That Trump could be behind that and not be stopped from gaining power again by the courts, the party mechanism, and the voters, boggles my minds. I listened to The Rush Limbaugh Show the next day (about a week before he passed away from cancer) because I wanted to know what he had to say about it and he was just about as shocked as I was.
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Other than I largely agree.
I had friends in Britain who I'd talk with about politics and throughout the Trump term said, well, we didn't get an own goal like Brexit. Although I didn't vote for him, I don't think anything terrible happened in the 1st Trump administration, except Jan 6.
The first time I saw the capitol dome I arrived on the concourse at Reagan Airport and felt something stir in my heart when I saw the capitol dome. In 2022 I took my wife to Washington DC to see the sites around the Mall and it really hurt me to see the front of the Capitol building (such a beautiful thing in itself, as well as a symbol of our institutions) wrapped up in plastic.
I saw Jan 6 live on TV and felt it it was a worse event than Sep 11 as it came from an enemy within. That Trump could be behind that and not be stopped from gaining power again by the courts, the party mechanism, and the voters, boggles my minds. I listened to The Rush Limbaugh Show the next day (about a week before he passed away from cancer) because I wanted to know what he had to say about it and he was just about as shocked as I was.
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Other than I largely agree.
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Lets ignore these fickle minded people. There is room in the ai/ML space to transform dozens of fields that are completely out of the scope of these larger companies simply because they can't make large enough profit margins to gain thier attention.
We need a 90s google like company that is in the ai ml business, not the ads business. It may not make billions, but it will surely make millions and push our society together in a meaningful way.
We need a 90s google like company that is in the ai ml business, not the ads business. It may not make billions, but it will surely make millions and push our society together in a meaningful way.
> and push our society together in a meaningful way.
This seems like magical thinking.
This seems like magical thinking.
More than that, it's religious thinking.
David F. Noble's "The Religion of Technology" is a good read to understand how this whole tenet of "salvation by technology" has been a thing for a very long time...
David F. Noble's "The Religion of Technology" is a good read to understand how this whole tenet of "salvation by technology" has been a thing for a very long time...
It's hard to understate what a miracle it is. Kings could afford to eat meat more than once a day but couldn't get (say) blood pressure medication or antibiotics.
Most of us are a few generations from subsistence agriculture, but ecology tells us that if we don't solve all the problems in front of us [1] we are a few generations from a much smaller population that does subsistence agriculture at best.
[1] Ashby's law is the only law: https://medium.com/workmatters/complexity-ashbys-law-simplif...
Most of us are a few generations from subsistence agriculture, but ecology tells us that if we don't solve all the problems in front of us [1] we are a few generations from a much smaller population that does subsistence agriculture at best.
[1] Ashby's law is the only law: https://medium.com/workmatters/complexity-ashbys-law-simplif...
This is insightful. Thank you for sharing it.
In any case, the point about writing down the red lines was a good one.
I wonder if anyone did and what they were.