Comment by taurath
6 hours ago
I dropped Google news and Reddit in the last few weeks. I have watched several people have nervous breakdowns, coworkers report having to step back from everything, one even said he’d developed a twitch. However informed we desire to be, that desire seems to be usurped by this constant spin-up mechanism of current media.
HN is probably gonna have to go soon too for me, I have enough ways to keep informed, and it’s hard to feel informed while pretending many events that are deeply effecting everyone I know’s lives don’t exist. I don’t particularly want HN to become about US politics, but I also don’t like that ycombinator is run by, for and with people who I don’t share values with.
It seems like the majority opinion is it’s okay to commit moral suicide to make money nowadays - I never previously felt like the word “depravity” could accurately describe the day to day culture of startups and technology. There are many exceptions (enough to not leave the industry entirely) and perhaps it’s the rule that most people are appalled at Thiel, Musk and Altman, but idk. To me the only correct move against a vampire is to not let them into your house.
"I also don’t like that ycombinator is run by, for and with people who I don’t share values with."
I think if you are careful to avoid clicking on YC startup ads or applying to YC, and you make sure to write a lot of comments calling for regulatory crackdown on AI†, then you can be fairly certain that you, as an individual user, are not contributing to YC's bottom line.
† I contributed to the campaign of Alex Bores, running for Congress in NY-12 https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/TbsdA7wG9TvMQYMZj/consider-d...
when vampires are knocking at everyones front door , a sizeable proportion of the populace will be vampirized , such that any barricades to your domicile will be inevitably breached
You have to welcome vampires in.
doesn't make much of a difference when you are the only non vampire left
1 reply →