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Comment by jackblemming | Hacker News Reader

So what did Sam actually do besides a social media startup that was more or less a flop into being gifted a high position at ycombinator where he then had a few good investments during literally the easiest time to invest in tech history? I’m sure there’s something I’m missing, but there’s not much public info.

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This is a common retort, but after his run at YC (hand-picked by Paul Graham) and OpenAI (taking on Google at AI is no mean feat, despite the backing), and his ongoing work with Helion Energy and WorldCoin, it is safe to say Sam has more than earned his place, perhaps may be twice over, among SV royalty. And he's not even 40.

http://paulgraham.com/5founders.html

> WorldCoin

Is that supposed to make him look good? Because it doesn't, in fact it makes him look very out of touch at best and a complete fool at worst.

It's very easy to criticize visions, especially after the fact.

Not trying to subvert this thread. Do we think that cash will still exist in 50 years time? Assuming we don't, how will it work.

He had a thought (maybe crazy) and went with it. I respect that, irrespective if we think it was correct or not.

I just realized it's THAT Helion. Their fusion experiments are not without controversy.

Here's a video on explaining how it works:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bDXXWQxK38

And here's a video explaining what's wrong with the scheme:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vUPhsFoniw

But the TLDW version is that environment required for fusing He3 with deuterium also leads to deuterium fusing with itself, a reaction that creates neutron radiation that irradiates its environment.

> that irradiates its environment.

What is the issue, as long as the containment containers are properly designed?

Radiation damage to the reactor structure and radioactive waste, among other things.

The second video is just a nonsense troll, if you want good level conversations and skepticism about Helion you'd better check what the fusion subreddit says about it https://old.reddit.com/r/fusion/search/?q=helion&restrict_sr...

Long story short: Helion plans a net-electricity demo in 2024 and to start selling to the grid in 2028. The timeline seems too good to be true but no one says it's impossible. Many says they have not enough publications and that there are many scientific unknowns. Failure is a possibility, success also. Given the timeline we'll know soon.

I hate to appeal to authority, but the guy who made it is a retired fusion scientist and he raises valid points.

Btw, the first result in the search you posted links back to the video...

https://old.reddit.com/r/fusion/comments/133ttne/can_we_talk...

Exactly, the video is several time commented and rebuked in the subreddit. Trolls tend to be annoyingly persistent.

"Hand-picked by so-and-so" used to have another name: "one of the good ole boys." Before that, in England, one was "sound." It's not a qualification, it's an anointing.

So we have "handing out money," OpenAI, a typical fusion outfit (breakeven next year, every year), and a cryptocurrency that has already been chased out of the one country that tried to adopt it.

I like Sam Altman and he seems to be a genuine person with laudable goals, but OpenAI is the only place where he really seemed to deliver, and even then there are a lot of people unhappy with the non-profit/private subsidiary surprise structure.

I just want to clarify that it isn't "his" work, is it? It's more that he's attached himself to those projects.

I haven't worked for Sam, and expect most people commenting on him haven't either, so they only have his interviews and his public commentary to judge him by. From that commentary he seems extremely ... vanilla? But that is probably good for an exec.

I haven't read any of his blogs and thought "wow, how insightful?" - rather, they read similar to press releases I see constantly on LinkedIn. "You have to put something out there" type of stuff. Just doing it to do it, not to share insight.

That's my take, anyway, from basically all I've seen of him, and this gives a "not special" vibe, but my gut tells me that's very, very intentional ...

> Just doing it to do it

With an extra dash of unctuousness that actually repels me.

Maybe he also has a "reality distortion field" that only works up close, and I never came near.

Do you even understand how much work is necessary to put in, to influence a whole industry massively and with the biggest players?

Maybe some want to celebrate BSers like Adam Neumann or Elizabeth Holmes who are good at pretending to be important and conning investments, but it never really impressed me, sorry.

I’ll stick to celebrating the actual brains, like Ilya Sutskever.

As the farmer said, "We'll see"

https://impossiblehq.com/well-see/ (or google "we'll see story")

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