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Comment by amai | Hacker News Reader

We need human mathematicians for humans.

But companies are our gods (don't believe? E.g. companies cannot die from natural causes). They don't need puny humans. They need AI.

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Companies are nothing other than the tool of rich people used to control normal people. There's some sort of mass delusion that "companies" are evil. Guess what, a company has no own agency to destroy the environment, exploit people, profit from suffering, etc. It's just following the whims of its shareholders, who are humans with accountability.

I didn't say companies are evil. But there are companies and banks in our world, which are much older than any human could ever be. There are people who think they are in charge of these companies, however sooner or later they will be replaced and the company will still exist without them. In that sense companies are eternal entities, which gives them a godlike status.

Alright sorry if I was unclear. I wasn't saying that you specifically claimed companies are evil. But there is a general sentiment / understanding that companies are (being used as a tool for) doing evil things in general. I suppose whether you think that companies are (being used for) doing more good than bad is a different question, so let's not get bogged down in that.

My point however is that companies have no agency of their own. Their age doesn't really matter for that. There are guns that are older than all living people too. If somebody used a flintlock pistol to go around robbing people that wouldn't make the pistol a "godlike eternal entity". Or for that matter if somebody used a 200 year old shovel to create a really nice garden (in the case you believe companies are a net positive).

So you are saying a company is basically a tool, like a shovel? But AIs are also tools like shovels, they have no agency on their own. Adding an AI to a company makes sense. It is an additional tool.

I wouldn't know anything about that. My point is that this is a completely ridiculous statement:

> But shovels are our gods (don't believe? E.g. shovels cannot die from natural causes). They don't need puny humans. They need AI.

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