I remember something very similar when there was a sudden rush of articles and movies like "The Social Dilemma" criticizing Facebook and social networks, heavily featuring ex-employees, all of them happy to leave with big brands on their resumes and a hefty increase in net worth, all of a sudden having a "worried" expression about what their past employers were doing, as if they didn't know. Same with that book "Careless People".

I sense that these are people who have already eaten the cake and want to somehow absolve themselves of it.

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nunez 16 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Careless People would not have been possible had SWW exited FB within a year. She gained access to levels of the company most other employees never get close to reaching. That took a lot of time and expertise to do, and, yes, she got paid for her efforts _as she should have._

Like I said in an earlier comment, she could've just chosen compliance like many others _definitely would have_ to keep the infinite money tap flowing. Instead, she chose to risk her and her family's lives by publishing that book _under her own name_ *and then suing them* after FB tried to gag her.

	▲	butwhentho 16 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> Careless People would not have been possible had SWW exited FB within a year Sure, that book might not have been possible. But also the unique things she did for the company might not have been possible as well. To her credit, she does a good job of pointing out that she was complicit, but if she had listened to her own voice early, there is a small possibility that Facebook might not have been as powerful. Multiply that possibility across several other employees and imagine where the road could've led. There's a difference between post-facto bravery (sometimes much less than that) and using your own legs to walk away much early and not enabling things you are uncomfortable with. This is what other people have been trying to point out.

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jameshart 17 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I mean, yes..?

People who were part of the sausage factory, on gaining financial independence, feeling suddenly liberated to talk about how the sausage was made, seem like exactly the people who would be most able to speak to institutional problems.

This doesn't seem like an argument to discount their views?

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butwhentho 16 hours ago | parent [-]

I disagree. I have seen people with an actual spine and a conscience run away from all this nonsense before their first stock vested. My respect and my ear goes to them, not the people playing both sides.

You cannot take people, who first build the doombot and _then_ talk about it being dangerous for mankind, at face value. Especially when this playbook has been used multiple times within the past decade.

Besides, these "views" were already known to people who had their eyes and ears open. It's not something brand new. OpenAI has had multiple points in the past where its values have been tested and they've come out lacking. People who knew then, and only now talk about it, aren't people I can fully trust.

	▲	jameshart 16 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> this playbook has been used multiple times within the past decade What playbook?