zlacker

>>mfigui+A3
Unpopular opinion… but IMO almost all of Karpathy’s fame an influence come from being an incredible educator and communicator.

Relative to his level of fame, his actual level of contribution as far as pushing forward AI, I’m not so sure about.

I deeply appreciate his educational content and I’m glad that it has led to a way for him to gain influence and sustain a career. Hopefully he’s rich enough from that that he can focus 100% on educational stuff!

>>dontre+(OP)
A hackernews comment section is one of the least legitimate forums imaginable for the public reading of somebody's resume. Congress, maybe.

>>whatsh+kc
Honestly I have more faith in hacker news users than congress.

>>Judgme+Ff
I wish more of us would run for Congress. I'd much rather have a government of technocrats of various stripes than ex lawyers and rich business types.

IMO governments, like websites, should be boring but effective, focused on small day to day improvements, not all flash and empty marketing chasing cultural trends...

>>solard+hi
I don't know about the US, but the simple answer in the UK IMO is that politics doesn't pay enough. So you get egos, old money, and people with concurrent business interests.

But try convincing a democracy that politicians should be paid more.

>>OJFord+YB
Doesn't pay enough?

I believe the basic pay is £86k. They're not brain surgeons or rocket scientists, so even that is not that bad.

But I believe the average gravy train bumps this up 3X with extras.

It's a literal gravy train of subsidies and expenses and allowances! Sure the basic pay is, well, it's arguably not that bad ... but the gravy on top is tremendous. Not to mention the network contacts which plug their gravy train into the more lucrative gravy superhighway later.

>>LightB+iI
> They're not brain surgeons or rocket scientists

Yeah, voters don't want to pay MPs more. Yet when voters are asked, they want highly intelligent, motivated people. They want them to have technical expertise, which means time spent in higher education. Then they want them to work a full time job in Parliament during the week, but also be open to constituency concerns on the weekend. And once all of this is pointed out, voters concede that maybe MPs deserve to be paid on par with professionals like doctors. (It's a different matter that UK doctors are underpaid).

> But I believe the average gravy train bumps this up 3X with extras.

Citation needed. They're on a shorter leash now with expenses. Don't go citing one or two bad apples either, show us what the median MP claims as expenses. According to you, it should be around £170k a year.

In general, politicians and their aides in the UK are underpaid. Most capable people find they're better off working in Canary Wharf or elsewhere in London. An example is the head of economic policy for the Labour Party earning £50k while writing policy for a £2 trn economy. (https://www.economist.com/britain/2023/01/19/british-politic...)

>>nindal+nK
Your first point has always interested me, as it's unclear how much technical expertise these people have. They just employ Special Advisors to do the 'difficult' work for them (again, something not included in their expenses but, of course, is a benefit). And the manner in which reshuffles happen when the Education Secretary suddenly becomes the Enviroment Secretary whilst having no experience of either.

Anyway, I'm very sure there are good MP's, but I'll not go so far as to say these people are underpaid.

I plugged the question into AI ... see below. Not to mention the subsidised "everything". Holidays in mates villas (and what mates, eh). The "director" positions on various companies, and, and ... it's not just the monetary value of these things. It's an absolute gravy train.

Generated Hypothetical Answers: we can provide some hypothetical scenarios based on varying levels of responsibility:

Scenario 1: Backbench MP without additional roles:

    Salary: £86,584
    Maximum Expense Claims:
        Office: £85,000
        Accommodation (Constituency only): £9,300
        Travel: Assuming moderate travel expenses, let's estimate £10,000
        Other Expenses: £5,000

Total: £86,584 + £85,000 + £9,300 + £10,000 + £5,000 = £195,884

Scenario 2: MP with Ministerial role and chairing a committee:

    Salary: £86,584 + Ministerial salary (e.g., £50,000)
    Expense Claims: Similar to Scenario 1, let's use the same estimates

Committee Chair allowance: £11,600

Total: £86,584 + £50,000 + £85,000 + £9,300 + £10,000 + £5,000 + £11,600 = £257,484

Remember: These are just hypothetical examples, and the actual value for any individual MP can be significantly higher or lower depending on their specific circumstances.