zlacker

[parent] [thread] 16 comments
1. jacque+(OP)[view] [source] 2023-11-20 09:13:17
Incidentally, Altman is a 'prepper'.
replies(2): >>imgabe+O1 >>noprom+I3
2. imgabe+O1[view] [source] 2023-11-20 09:23:53
>>jacque+(OP)
So is Thiel, famously, but I don’t think that proves they want the world to be destroyed. It’s an interesting kind of problem to think about and you have to spend money on something. It’s the same kind of instinct that makes kids want to build forts.

But surely, being a rich and powerful billionaire in a functioning civilization is more desirable than having the nicest bunker in the wasteland. Even if we assume their motives are 100% selfish destroying the world is not the best outcome for them.

replies(3): >>jacque+H6 >>cycoma+O6 >>cyanyd+Gn
3. noprom+I3[view] [source] 2023-11-20 09:34:39
>>jacque+(OP)
It's just insurance.

The rest of us just can't afford most of the insurance that we probably should have.

Insurance is for scenarios that are very unlikely to happen. Means nothing. If I was worth 300 mil I'd have insurance in case I accidently let an extra heavy toilet seat smash the boys downstairs.

Throw the money at radical weener rejuvination startups. Never know... Not like you have much to lose after that unlikely event.

I'd get insurance for all kinds of things.

replies(2): >>jacque+x6 >>cyanyd+zn
◧◩
4. jacque+x6[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-11-20 09:50:43
>>noprom+I3
Insurance amortizes the risks that large numbers of people are exposed to by pooling a little bit of their resources. This is something else though I'm not quite able to put my finger on why I think it is duplicitous.
replies(1): >>noprom+q8
◧◩
5. jacque+H6[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-11-20 09:51:42
>>imgabe+O1
They do happen to have some effect on the outcome for the rest of us. It's a bit like the captain of a boat that has already taken the first seat in the lifeboat while directing the ship towards the iceberg and saying 'don't worry, we can't possibly sink'.
replies(1): >>thworp+0d
◧◩
6. cycoma+O6[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-11-20 09:52:43
>>imgabe+O1
Nobody is arguing that they have the intent to cause the apocalypse, but it's more that their actions are certainly making society less stable and they don't see any issue with it. In fact some qre quite openly advocating for such societies.
◧◩◪
7. noprom+q8[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-11-20 10:03:20
>>jacque+x6
Fair point in semantic terms.

Maybe it's risk mitigation without cost sharing to achieve the same economies of scale that insurance creates.

Its a rich man's way of removing risks that we are all exposed to via spending money on things that most couldn't seriously consider due to the likelihood of said risks.

I don't think it's duplicitous. I do resent that I can't afford it. I can't hate on them though. I hate the game, not the players. Some of these guy would prob let folks stay in their bunker. They just can't build a big enough bunker. Also most folks are gross to live with. I'd insist on some basic rules.

I think we innately are suspicious when advantaged folks are planing how they would handle the deaths of the majority of the rest of us. Sorta just... Makes one feel... Less.

replies(1): >>jacque+I9
◧◩◪◨
8. jacque+I9[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-11-20 10:11:21
>>noprom+q8
It's duplicitous because it is the likes of Thiel that are messing with the stability of our society in the first place.
replies(1): >>noprom+vb
◧◩◪◨⬒
9. noprom+vb[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-11-20 10:23:47
>>jacque+I9
Hmm... True story.

Finger placed on duplicity.

Arguably only some of his time is spent on that kind of instability promoting activity. Most law enforcement agencies agree... Palantir good.

Most reasonable people agree... Funding your own senators and donating tons to Trump and friends... Bad.

Bad Thiel! Stick to wierd seasteading in your spare time if you want to get wierd. No 0 regulation AI floating compute unit seasteading. Only stable seasteading.

All kidding aside, you make a good point. Some of these guys should be a bit more responsible. They don't care what we think though. We're wierd non ceo hamsters who failed to make enough for the New Zealand bunker.

◧◩◪
10. thworp+0d[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-11-20 10:37:01
>>jacque+H6
If you are suggesting that billionaires like Thiel don't have any skin in the game (of human civilization continuing in a somewhat stable way) you're nuts.

If we hit the iceberg they will lose everything. Even if they're able to fly to their NZ hideout, it will already be robbed and occupied. The people that built and stocked their bunker will have formed a gang and confiscated all of his supplies. This is what happens in anarchy.

replies(2): >>cyanyd+Qo >>dang+0O3
◧◩
11. cyanyd+zn[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-11-20 11:47:00
>>noprom+I3
unfortunately, you could also just be a Buddhist and reject material notions.

see, what exactly is insurance at the billionaires level.

replies(1): >>noprom+Is
◧◩
12. cyanyd+Gn[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-11-20 11:47:37
>>imgabe+O1
self fulfilling prophecies are real.
◧◩◪◨
13. cyanyd+Qo[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-11-20 11:55:36
>>thworp+0d
you're assuming they're not determinists.

people like Steve jobs are the best example of flawed logic. in the face of a completely different set of heuristic and logical information, he assumed he was just as capable, and chose fruit smoothies over more efficacious and proven medication.

they absolutely, like jobs, are playing a game they think they fully understand and absolutely are likely to chose medicine akin to jobs

just watch Elon and everything he's choosing to do.

these people are all normal but society has given the a deadly amount of leverage without any specific training.

replies(1): >>Solven+o71
◧◩◪
14. noprom+Is[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-11-20 12:25:38
>>cyanyd+zn
Uhhh...

Buddhists die in the Armageddon same as others.

The bunkers are in new Zealand which is an island and less likely to fall into chaos with the rest of the world in event of ww3 and/or moderate nuclear events.

I'm sure the bunkers are nice. Material notions got little to do with it. The bunker isn't filled with Ferraris. They are filled with food, a few copies of the internet and probably wierd sperms banks or who knows what for repopulating the earth with Altman's and Theils.

replies(1): >>cyanyd+Ow1
◧◩◪◨⬒
15. Solven+o71[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-11-20 15:33:02
>>cyanyd+Qo
Really what we're observing with these people is the survivorship bias of humans with astounding levels of cognitive dissonance — which nearly all humans have. Except they have the rare combination of wealth and luck on their side...until it runs out.
◧◩◪◨
16. cyanyd+Ow1[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-11-20 17:29:03
>>noprom+Is
the existential fear of billionaires appears to be that they won't have things rather than life.
◧◩◪◨
17. dang+0O3[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-11-21 05:45:53
>>thworp+0d
Could you please stop posting unsubstantive comments and flamebait? You've unfortunately been doing it repeatedly (e.g. >>37336350 ). It's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for.

If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.

[go to top]