> I texted with Sam Altman—who confirmed power was indeed a major constraint.

Such a cheap flex right up-front, and with an em-dash to boot. I get it, it's powerful to boast about such a connection. It's just not very classy.

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salt4034 17 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Here's how academics do it:

> Sam Altman confirmed power was indeed a major constraint [1].

> [1]: Personal communication.

Or even better:

> Power is a major constraint (Sam Altman, personal communication, December 9, 2025).

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lowkey_ 11 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I didn't read it that way because Boom went through YC while Sam was president of YC. The connection makes a lot of sense, and dates back to pre-OpenAI days.

I would assume he's just telling the story as it happened.

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plorg 17 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It's also a kind of ideological signpost.

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wombatpm 11 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

We’re looking at classy as a small dot in the rear view mirror with this current generation of elites.

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groby_b 17 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

[flagged]

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codyb 17 hours ago | parent [-]

So many cults of personality these days between Musk, Trump, Altman, Neuman (WeWork guy)...

Maybe it started with Jobs, maybe it's always been a thing in other spaces (politics, religion...) and is now coming to business and these uber wealthy individuals who put their pants on two legs at a time

	▲	oersted 17 hours ago \| parent [-]
		It also seemed to be like that 100-150 years ago, with all the big-name robber barons, oil/steel/rail tycoons and inventor-industrialists like Edison or Ford. There are times when concentration of capital leads to a disproportionate influence of personal relationships and one-on-one deal-making. The same can be said of political or attention capital, not just wealth. To be fair, that's also what Aristocracy always was, they were just less active in forcing their mad visions onto the world.

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georgefrowny 17 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

It's also such a stupid question to ask. No one doubts AI needs fuckton of power. Not the fanboys or the haters or even the don't-cares.

What next? "I emailed Donald Knuth—who confirmed software does mostly run on computers"? "I at-ed the Pope who confirmed that he is currently a Catholic"?

	▲	wombatpm 11 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		But if it wasn’t AI it would be something else. Remember when Bitcoin was consuming all the energy and destroying the environment?
	▲	giancarlostoro 17 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I asked Florida man if there's a gator in the nearby lake, he said prolly