Comment by antonvs
11 days ago
Meh. What do you think the grift is here exactly? No one’s trying to sell the newly minted source code to a web browser.
If this is the first time you’ve encountered a hype bubble, it’s a good opportunity to learn so that you can navigate the next one more easily.
> What do you think the grift is here exactly?
The obvious? Selling subscriptions to individuals, reaching higher-ups with bombastic headlines, reaching potential investors, perpetuating the bubble.
Do those "higher-ups" or potential investors have any agency?
If you think there is no grift here, then maybe it's your first hype bubble.
This reminds me of a US District Court judge's ruling about Tucker Carlson on Fox News: "Any reasonable viewer 'arrives with an appropriate amount of skepticism' about the statements".
Sure, if you're talking about rubes who just got off the bus in the big city, then perhaps there's a point buried somewhere deep in the pile you're pushing. But is that who you think the HN audience is? Admittedly, talking to you, I can't rule it out.
Amusingly, by (dictionary) definition you're wrong, because "grift" means "engage in petty or small-scale swindling" (Merriam-Webster), but you're alluding to a much larger-scale phenomenon.
But it's tinfoil-hattish to claim that projects like this and the PR about it is part of a "grift". You're squinting hard to be able to see what you want to see.