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Comment by WhyOhWhyQ | Hacker News Reader

[flagged]

> The job doesn't pay you to be curious.

YOUR job doesn’t pay you to be curious.

Well, you could say mine doesn’t either, literally, but the only reason I am in this role, and the driving force behind my major accomplishments in the last 10 years, has been my curiosity. It led me to do things nobody in my area had the (ability|foolishness) to do, and then it led me to develop enough improvements that things work really well now.

I'd be curious if jobs like yours are not on the tail side of the distribution. It's very common that in work groups, curiosity / creativity gets ignored if not punished. I've seen this even in small techies groups, there was a natural emergence of boundaries in which people don't get to think beyond (you're overstepping, that's not your role, you're doing too much). It seems a pavlovian reflex when leadership doesn't know how to operate without assigning roles.

I've certainly experienced this. The 'stay in your swim lane' mantra is often misapplied to people who are being curious and creative. Some (not all) managers feel undermined if people below them do anything more than exactly what they are told to do.

I mean, think of all the people getting paid eight-digit compensation right now because they were curious about this dead-end deep learning stuff 15 years ago for no good reason!

I couldn't resist... Like the kid at facebook who's buddies with Altman so gets to be a billionare? Like Altman himself (when did he enter the field again? Oh yea he was a crypto huckster). Like everyone I've ever met in the machine learning department? 95% of the people in that field are just following trends and good at winning that game. Call it sour grapes, but I'm just observing reality here. And everyone who thinks following fads = being curious is just doing the larp I described earlier. Moreover, everyone who thinks following fads keeps them safe from AI is deluding themselves. The AI of 2026 can do it better than you can.

> 95% of the people in that field are just following trends and good at winning that game.

That's the curiosity the parent was talking about. Like it or not, that's what got them to millions.

That's the larp I was talking about. Following fads and being a scammer is not curiosity in my book.

Quite telling that you're calling AI research scientists (which is who this thread is about, not Altman and friends) scammers, sour grapes indeed.

Yea, because I actually know many, and they're not good people. Also good job missing that this thread is about Altman and friends in addition to every one involved in it. Satvik here just thinks nobody on the internet with a grievance could possibly have any merit to their feelings.

No, you're the only one who brought up Altman (literally, ctrl-F "Altman" and your comment is the one that starts mentioning him), and either way, the vast majority of AI scientists are not personally connected to Altman or Zuck or whoever else you're talking about. If we're swapping anecdotes, I also know many and they're perfectly fine people, not sure what's bad about them, unless you literally think anyone working on AI is bad, in which case, I can't help you there. Just because you have a grievance doesn't mean it's justified, seems like it's some personal vendetta you have instead.

How are you trying to help me lol? I brought up Altman because he's one of the heroes of the AI movement. For some reason anything I add to the conversation isn't a part of it though.

So I know many bad people involved in it and you know many good people. I guess that's the end of it because I have no reason to trust what some random guy on the internet says over my own extensive real life experience.

> I guess that's the end of it because I have no reason to trust what some random guy on the internet says over my own extensive real life experience.

Yes, you are right, and that is the same for me when replying to you. Have a good day.

I stepped away from the keyboard to cool off and I just wanted to apologize for being a bit mean here. I am sorry. I did have a bad experience, but not everybody in any field is bad. Have a good day as well.

Thank you for apologizing, I appreciate it, this level of candor is why I stick around on Hacker News.

I’m talking about the people who were doing ML work before it was trendy. That’s why I said “dead end”.

Didn't Sam Altman write a "friend locator" app that sold for millions after (angrily) refusing to disclose how many users it had? Then it was summarily shut down after acquisition ... and turned out to have never had more than 500 DAU (though appreantly more registrations)

"Loopt"

Curiosity as your only trait makes you jobless. Curiosity enough to learn something new can help you remain employed.

Speak for yourself. Maybe get a job that involves intellectual achievement. Then you’ll discover the importance of curiosity.

You are technically correct that no one is directly paid to be curious. But it is also true that no one is directly paid to sleep. Nevertheless, if you don’t sleep when you are away from work, your mind will not function when you ARE at work.

Curiosity is an evolutionary adaptation that enables the discovery of heretofore unknown resources.

We need some curious people. Otherwise nothing gets discovered, including solutions to future problems.

We do. But the would-be modern nobility are quite happy with being a sort of feudal lord.

Fully expecting to get banned for my comment, but I'll just go on. Look at the silicon valley heroes and they're all business types. There's a few rare exceptions.

Calm down. Hardly any drama except yours.

You're right. Signing off for the day.

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