I was recently listening to the rest is history episode on Christopher Columbus. They were comparing him to Musk which I think is really very apt. Altman has a sly human-intelligence that is unlike Columbus who wasn’t good with people in general.
Yeah you’re defo right that Altman is much better with people than Columbus ever was. As for the Musk comparison, I saw someone compare him to Ford once and can’t unsee it. Both men were/are hugely successful industrialists and pioneering innovators — Ford with his moving assembly line, Musk with electric cars, battery technology, and reusable rockets. Both attained the title of richest man in the world and both had/have rather questionable social views; Ford expounded his antisemitic beliefs in his newspaper, Dearborn Independent, while Musk has obviously joined those deriding and dehumanising ‘invader’ immigrants on X. I actually wrote about Ford’s attempt to build a new city from scratch in Brazil once, if you’re interested:
A beautiful and informative essay...thanks for sharing. The only thing I'd add is that Sam, paradoxically, has a kind of humility. Despite being a trickster and a flawed human, he remains intellectually curious about the meaning and significance of AI. A lot of people miss that aspect. The ability to hold uncertainty is part of his gift...and helps him to bear the burden of being a pioneer. I didn't know he was into Advaita Vedanta, but it makes sense.
Very interesting essay and useful to give some perspective. There is a level of hate against Altman (even here in the comments) that I believe obscures who he is and what he is trying to do. One thing I find relevant and very scarcely discussed is that it seems like he still has zero equity in OpenAI while making his employees millionaires or even billionaires. That's quite unique in SV. So there is some type of "missionary / visionary" here - very far from what (I perceive) is Musk or Zuckerberg. And yes, all missionary / visionaries are delusional people but they are the ones who shape the world of "normal" people. It's been like this since we invented society.
Altman is a malignant narcissist that can only comprehend his own interests and has a reckless disregard for everyone else. Sure, so was Columbus.
If you ask the limited remaining representatives of the non-western 1/2 of the earth in 1492 whether Columbus was anything other than the embodiment of evil, you might get an understanding of who Altman is.
Every time one of these folks comes around (Jack Welch, Clinton, Epstein), we talk about their “ability to make you feel like they are the only person in the room.”
And they always leave a trail of destruction.
What you are describing is peak narcissism, stop with the hagiography.
Hi there. I’m not sure quite what you’re disagreeing with me on here, this comparison is not exactly complementary to either Altman or Columbus? Also that specific line you’ve quoted was not written by me, but Altman’s biographer, Keach Hagey, so I’m not sure why you’re focusing on that to criticise the rest of the piece. The comparison is not meant to be considered as a compliment to Altman. As you say, Columbus was not a good man.
This is a pathology, Alberto, and after many decades on earth, I see it and have the experience with the disaster in its wake.
Don’t confuse signs (wealth, charisma, passion) with reality.
I work sometimes with addicts, and I hear the idolization of outsides all the time. It is the first delusion that has to be overcome to get people to a healthy state.
Nothing about my comment was emotional, it was all reality.
LOL I totally do know what it means but alas autocorrect defeated me. That's what I get for dictating on the fly! I just meant to use "slop". Probably too harsh, honestly, as the essay was not overly complimentary to either man but there is enough enshrinement out there that useful criticism should not pull punches.
Lol, calling this "slop" is way worse. Have words lost all meaning? Btw, if you think "useful criticism" is defined by the intensity of the punches rather than the accuracy -- can we not parse nuance anymore? This essay is great precisely because it entirely avoids hollow-but-loud criticism, which is the useless kind! -- then you have understood nothing about the purpose of my newsletter! (This post is Rothwell's but it fits really well with the overall theme here.)
Another comparison you could have extrapolated was how "The locals did not make him king, but they came to believe him a servant of divine wrath after he used a lunar eclipse to terrify them into submission" and how Altman has used the race to AGI with China as a way of 'terrify them into submission"
Brilliant analogy. As someone who spends much of his encore stage studying how bold transitions reshape both individuals and civilizations, I appreciate your framing: explorers don’t just discover new worlds—they force the rest of us to rethink the old ones.
I was recently listening to the rest is history episode on Christopher Columbus. They were comparing him to Musk which I think is really very apt. Altman has a sly human-intelligence that is unlike Columbus who wasn’t good with people in general.
Yeah you’re defo right that Altman is much better with people than Columbus ever was. As for the Musk comparison, I saw someone compare him to Ford once and can’t unsee it. Both men were/are hugely successful industrialists and pioneering innovators — Ford with his moving assembly line, Musk with electric cars, battery technology, and reusable rockets. Both attained the title of richest man in the world and both had/have rather questionable social views; Ford expounded his antisemitic beliefs in his newspaper, Dearborn Independent, while Musk has obviously joined those deriding and dehumanising ‘invader’ immigrants on X. I actually wrote about Ford’s attempt to build a new city from scratch in Brazil once, if you’re interested:
https://cosmographia.substack.com/p/fordlandia
A beautiful and informative essay...thanks for sharing. The only thing I'd add is that Sam, paradoxically, has a kind of humility. Despite being a trickster and a flawed human, he remains intellectually curious about the meaning and significance of AI. A lot of people miss that aspect. The ability to hold uncertainty is part of his gift...and helps him to bear the burden of being a pioneer. I didn't know he was into Advaita Vedanta, but it makes sense.
Very interesting essay and useful to give some perspective. There is a level of hate against Altman (even here in the comments) that I believe obscures who he is and what he is trying to do. One thing I find relevant and very scarcely discussed is that it seems like he still has zero equity in OpenAI while making his employees millionaires or even billionaires. That's quite unique in SV. So there is some type of "missionary / visionary" here - very far from what (I perceive) is Musk or Zuckerberg. And yes, all missionary / visionaries are delusional people but they are the ones who shape the world of "normal" people. It's been like this since we invented society.
I am not sure what you are trying to convey here.
Altman is a malignant narcissist that can only comprehend his own interests and has a reckless disregard for everyone else. Sure, so was Columbus.
If you ask the limited remaining representatives of the non-western 1/2 of the earth in 1492 whether Columbus was anything other than the embodiment of evil, you might get an understanding of who Altman is.
Every time one of these folks comes around (Jack Welch, Clinton, Epstein), we talk about their “ability to make you feel like they are the only person in the room.”
And they always leave a trail of destruction.
What you are describing is peak narcissism, stop with the hagiography.
Hi there. I’m not sure quite what you’re disagreeing with me on here, this comparison is not exactly complementary to either Altman or Columbus? Also that specific line you’ve quoted was not written by me, but Altman’s biographer, Keach Hagey, so I’m not sure why you’re focusing on that to criticise the rest of the piece. The comparison is not meant to be considered as a compliment to Altman. As you say, Columbus was not a good man.
I guess some people are becoming way too emotional about these topics to read dispassionately. Good luck
This is a pathology, Alberto, and after many decades on earth, I see it and have the experience with the disaster in its wake.
Don’t confuse signs (wealth, charisma, passion) with reality.
I work sometimes with addicts, and I hear the idolization of outsides all the time. It is the first delusion that has to be overcome to get people to a healthy state.
Nothing about my comment was emotional, it was all reality.
Thanks for bringing this up. It is a far more apt comparison than the solipsism this essay wanks off to.
I’m not sure solipsism means what you think it means
LOL I totally do know what it means but alas autocorrect defeated me. That's what I get for dictating on the fly! I just meant to use "slop". Probably too harsh, honestly, as the essay was not overly complimentary to either man but there is enough enshrinement out there that useful criticism should not pull punches.
Lol, calling this "slop" is way worse. Have words lost all meaning? Btw, if you think "useful criticism" is defined by the intensity of the punches rather than the accuracy -- can we not parse nuance anymore? This essay is great precisely because it entirely avoids hollow-but-loud criticism, which is the useless kind! -- then you have understood nothing about the purpose of my newsletter! (This post is Rothwell's but it fits really well with the overall theme here.)
Fascinating in the way it’s the other side of the coin I described recently saying how the AI companies have the same Windigo sickness that Columbus had https://open.substack.com/pub/cosmicwit/p/ai-empires-and-the-soul-sickness?r=a1he9&utm_medium=ios
This was incredibly powerful and poignant. History is our greatest crystal ball 🔮
Would be interesting to have you discuss this with Karen Hao, given how she ties genAI to colonialism in her book, Empire of AI.
Another comparison you could have extrapolated was how "The locals did not make him king, but they came to believe him a servant of divine wrath after he used a lunar eclipse to terrify them into submission" and how Altman has used the race to AGI with China as a way of 'terrify them into submission"
> "Altman, of course, is not remotely guilty of anything so evil"
Yeah, well... we'll see what happens when the data centres get packed with brain organoids.
Neither of them are human beings who exemplify inclusion.
Brilliant analogy. As someone who spends much of his encore stage studying how bold transitions reshape both individuals and civilizations, I appreciate your framing: explorers don’t just discover new worlds—they force the rest of us to rethink the old ones.
Ask an ndn.