Charlie StrossFeb 25, 2023

The thing I find most suspicious/fishy/smelly about all the current hype around Stable Diffusion and ChatGPT is that it follows, as night follows day, about six months after the bottom dropped out of the cryptocurrency scam bubble.

This is not a coincidence.

Hucksters are chasing the sweet VC/private equity money that has been flushed out of crypto, and AI is the new hotness all of a sudden.

If you're thinking about investing now? Don't: it's too late and you'll be the target of a grift.

Show threadChris [list of emoji]Feb 25, 2023

@cstross

It's probably a just a coincidence that both of these are applications that benefit from buying lots of GPUs.

Show threadAngus McIntyre

@suetanvil @cstross We've badly underestimated the sheer manipulativeness of Nvidia.

"Yes, Jim, I've read your confidential internal memo that says that cryptocurrency and AI are going to pretty much destroy civilization, and I can't argue with your conclusions. But I have to remind you that we have a fiduciary duty to our shareholders ..."

Feb 25, 2023 at 2:53pmWeb
Show threadCharlie StrossFeb 25, 2023
@angusm @suetanvil You say that like it's a joke, but Exxon, BP, Shell, and etc. did *exactly* that. As did BAT, Philip Morris, and the other tobacco companies before them. Profit regardless of genocide.
Show threadRob HoneycuttFeb 25, 2023

@cstross @angusm @suetanvil

For readers of this thread, Naomi Oreskes' book "Merchants of Doubt" details exactly how these people operate. With the tobacco and FF companies it was literally the same people doing the work for both.

Show threadChris [list of emoji]Feb 25, 2023

@cstross @angusm

To be clear, my only question is whether it's an organized plan or just a bunch of short-sighted selfish actors with a common goal.

Show threadCharlie StrossFeb 25, 2023
@suetanvil @angusm When the same PR firms handle multiple clients in the same industry with overlapping campaigns, it's hard to say where coincidence ends and conspiracy begins. Most likely because it lends plausible deniability to the kind of conspiracy that you can't prove without having mikes-on-lapels for at some of the right games of golf. In other words nothing in writing, just an agreed high level strategy.
Show threadAmeliaFeb 25, 2023
@angusm One might even say their behavior has been... predictably invidious.