Discussion
Hacker Compromises a16z-Backed Phone Farm, Tries to Post Memes Calling a16z the ‘Antichrist’
x3n0ph3n3: Anyone working for a company like that should be deeply ashamed of themselves.
bix6: Imagine investing your hard earned money into a phone farm that spams AI content in order to manipulate people into buying shit they don’t need, while our world burns.
userbinator: I'm not sure if LLMs can be ashamed of themselves./s
kurthr: See, there's your problem, introspection.https://youtube.com/shorts/b6Zw50f5jJk
n_u: > an a16z-funded startup that uses a phone farm to flood social media with AI-generated TikTok accountsIsn't this a bot farm? Don't they already exist and aren't they against TikTok's terms of service? The most surprising part of this article is that a16z invested in this.also their website is unsettling https://doublespeed.ai/
blargey: Having looked at https://doublespeed.ai/ out of morbid curiosity, I have to say a simple screenshot would have sent the message more effectively. Well, that and the tagline "a16z funded this".
ryandrake: > The most surprising part of this article is that a16z invested in this.Why would this surprise you?
verdverm: I wonder how many people can be ashamed of themselves these days!/s?
sofixa: Yeah, we're talking a VC. And one run by and named after two guys who between them have publicly backed racism+misogyny+xenophobia+nepotism, have asked for more housing to be built while blocking housing in their own city, etc.Them investing in a troll farm is pretty on brand.
ra: [delayed]
speedping: I can't be the only one who thought this was a phone farm based on iPhones running Apple A16Z SoC (which doesn't exist btw, it's A12Z or A16)
heavyset_go: If that surprises you, imagine the shady shit people with too much money invest in when the thought of "what if I hired some hackers" crosses their minds.
balls187: Help me understand. Is this just AI replacing influencers?
jim33442: There are at least two of us
liquidise: I have an opposite reaction for what I assume are reasons we agree on.Social media has been a transparent race to the bottom for many years. The sooner it is shittified beyond repair the better. AI flooding content to them should help speedrun its descent, or maybe I’ve giving the average user (above child age) too much credit.
phplovesong: Doublespeed looks like cancer. Never heard about them or "a16z" before, but looks like the pinnacle of slop
fxtentacle: SaaS = Slop as a Service. I heard SaaS is all the rage with VC money these days.
fxtentacle: Wow. I thought you were being snarky, but he actually says to skip all kinds of introspection, reflexion, and also therapy.
Legend2440: More like a tiktok spam botnet for hire.
jim33442: I think so. These sites can be hardened by relying on people following who they know, but the slop ruins discoverability. That's also partially the reason people moved to TikTok from older, more dumped-on platforms.
mayneack: A16Z was (is?) up to their eyeballs in crypto as well.
rexpop: What is wrong with his upper respiratory system?
Zanfa: > I thought A16Z were a top-tier VC wanting to create long-term value.That hasn’t been the case since they publicly went all-in into crypto scams.> It might be a bit facetious, but if I had 10m invested with them I'd be asking questions about their investment thesis.Their fund sizes have skyrocketed since.
OtherShrezzing: A16z’s owners have been fairly open about their societally unpalatable attitudes of late. Maybe they were always like that, just a bit more private about it in the past.In any case, their investment into this company just fits onto a trendline of high-capital antisocial behaviour.
sph: How can I contribute to such endeavours?And still Wikipedia calls the dead internet a ‘conspiracy theory’
tonypapousek: a16z is a pretty big VC firm, popular among the ycombo startup crowd
georgemcbay: > calling them the 'antichrist'I'm not an expert on the antichrist, but I think they are at least better candidates than Greta Thunberg.
utopiah: No way... that's the most retarded thing I've heard for a while now, and I did read about international news.Introspection is basically THE core mechanism for learning. That's HOW one learns on any topic. It's not a "wishy washy hippie feeling" (being provocative here) but rather introspection is (and to be fair I verified with https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/introspection/ just to make sure I wasn't talking out of my own ass) precisely looking at your inner workings. How you function IN ORDER to do better. You notice flaws, inefficient behaviors, things you enjoy, etc THEN you act on it.Having no introspection is like doing math without verifying. It's like coding without compiling, linting or even executing without looking at the output.So dumb it hurts.
01HNNWZ0MV43FF: Has accelerationism worked before?
kklisura: > I thought A16Z were a top-tier VC wanting to create long-term value.Wait till you hear about this one called YC.
jart: [delayed]
eszed: Jesus. Yeah, that explains a lot.By the way, his notion that introspection is an "invention of the 1920s" is historical bullshit. I think he's taking potshots at psychotherapy? Whatever, man, but then do that. It's not like a Freudian concept of the self is beyond criticism - far, far from it - but using that to interdict "introspection" is just sloppy thinking.Anyway, leaving aside anything else to be said on the topic, the idea that "great men of history don't introspect" is utter bullshit. I'll see you Abraham Lincoln, and raise you Marcus fucking Aurelius.So, if what you really want to say is that "most 'great men of history' were sociopaths" then, well, yeah: you're probably onto something. If your next thought is "and I want to be like them", then that's 1) a pretty damning confession, and 2) also evidence that you, sir, aren't actually a sociopathic "great man" at all, just an insecure nerd who got lucky a few times, and now are getting high on your own farts.
pseudalopex: > I thought A16Z were a top-tier VC wanting to create long-term value.They invested in Cheddr.We're building the TikTok of sports wagering. Accessible by 18 to 21 year olds. Live in game micro betting. Swipe to predict every moment. It's sports wagering at the pace of a slot machine.[1]They invested in Coverd.Bet on your bills — OnlyFans, child support, and last night’s Uber. Wipe them from your credit card by playing your favorite casino games all from the comfort of our app.[2]"We didn't build Coverd to help people inhibit their spending; we built it to make spending exciting. We let spenders win twice – the second time is when they play it back and win. Our users want immediacy and upside. Coverd gamifies transactions with real financial leverage, meeting users where they are and turning spending into a moment they look forward to," said Albert Wang, co-founder & CEO of Coverd.[3][1] https://player.vimeo.com/video/1067223945[2] https://archive.is/XWKEI[3] https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/coverd-launches-app...
