Monday, January 01, 2018

Thinking about reclaiming a chunk of brain

Three famous, influential, VC/tech guys:
Sam Altman: this
Anil Dash: this
Benedict Evans: this
... and it devolves from there.

A weird thing about this is that I now feel like I have to have a fully formed opinion on this debate*, just from having read it. But like, they're all talking past each other. It's like someone saying "we need GPS so we can tell where our car is, and how fast it's going!" and someone else saying "but quantum uncertainty; you can never know the location and velocity of anything!"

This kind of thing is... a lot of discussions of real, important issues online. So maybe I'd like to disengage from it a bit.

One objection from one part of my mind: "disengaging is reckless! you're just abandoning the world to its sordid fate!" I don't think so. Choosing not to argue online doesn't mean choosing not to do anything. In fact, I can probably do *more* if I spend less time thinking about online arguments.

(*using the term "debate" loosely. for the record: my opinion is: Anil's right, Sam's also right (his later post also helps), Benedict's question was asinine, Anil's response to it is also asinine, and I can't really blame Anil but if you're gonna argue online you kinda gotta be Superjesus, which nobody involved is.)

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