Everybody believes their interests weigh more. Fortunately we have capitalism, so at the end of the day you have to put your money where your mouth is and pay for what you think your interest is worth.

Not sure if your arguments here is for capitalism. Having 1 vote = $1 is not a system most people would agree with today.

Sure. Better the capitalism that has Altman complaining about the peasants getting the RAM that he deserves better, than having the corrupt incompetent government and bureaucrats bought and paid for by him decide to allocate it "for the greater good" (i.e., his data centers).

Because these are literally the only two options?

  > Everybody believes their interests weigh more

I don't. I believe I have to weigh my benefits to collective ones. Sometimes I do things that offer me no benefit whatsoever but does for others. Just the other day I offered to take a picture for a couple who was trying to get a selfie together. Last week I bought an intern lunch. Why? Because they were an intern (grad student) and I'm sympathetic to that.

Fun fact: I'm not a "rare outlier". People like me are pretty common and can be found all over. We usually just don't openly talk about it because we're not looking for a reward. I'm not speaking up now because I'm looking for self-gratification or anything. I'm speaking up to push back against your claims. I'm speaking up because we live in an increasingly selfish period of time. I'm speaking up because we're also at cultural turning point and many people are saying "enough is enough." I sure as hell don't care how rich you are, but I do give a damn about where the economic floor is. If you take from that floor to lift yourself up, I'm upset. If you do this to lift yourself when you already have more money than you could possibly spend in several generations? I'm furious.

I believe you. I'd challenge you though to consider Sam Altman would make the same claim about himself. The difference between you is not that you are good and he is bad, it's that you likely have very different beliefs of what the "good" course of action is. He likely believes successful adoption of AI means advances in science, medicine, freeing people up for more meaningful things, etc.

Sure, most people don't view themselves as the villain of their own story, but that's not what my comment was addressing. My comment was narrower

Fair, maybe I should say I think he wouldn't see his actions as taking from the economic floor, he would argue he is raising it. E.g. more effectively utilising resources (like RAM) means RAM is cheaper, which means more people can use it for their businesses and ideas.

Maybe a billion people would view you as having and owning and spending more than several generations of their families, maybe more. Yet you see wealth accumulation as a problem because there are those with much more than you. Are you the villain of your own story?

Well I congratulate you for finally having the courage to speak up about offering to take a picture for some people that's very commendable, but that doesn't really address what I wrote. I didn't say everybody weighs their own interests at 100% and everybody elses' at 0%.

> Everybody believes their interests weigh more.

I don't. When I make decisions that might benefit me but affect others, I consider the impact on others before deciding what to do. Sometimes (often?) I choose the option that benefits me less (or is neutral, or hurts me), if I believe the negatives to others are too high.

> I don't. When I make decisions that might benefit me but affect others, I consider the impact on others before deciding what to do. Sometimes (often?) I choose the option that benefits me less (or is neutral, or hurts me), if I believe the negatives to others are too high.

I didn't say that means they don't consider others, and I haven't taken a survey of everybody on the planet.

Obviously people believe their interests weigh more.

Yes criticizing people for buying computers because they value owning a computer, and blaming them for the "global inefficiency", is ridiculous. Ultimately what he said is that the market doesn't work like he wants it to work.