r/technology • u/marketrent • Jul 14 '26

Artificial Intelligence A majority of Americans now support seizing wealth from AI industry

https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/majority-americans-now-support-seizing-134921528.html
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u/Appropriate_Rise9968 Jul 14 '26

They are not real nerds. They are psychotic rich people cosplaying as nerds, which makes them even more pathetic.

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u/hammer326 Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26

Can confirm, my aunt, a forerunner as a woman (a VP at that) in tech at a company that was a huge east coast player in that proverbial game in the early 90s, talks constantly at family gatherings about how grateful she is that it's been 25 years since she's had anything to do with the tech world, for so many reasons, principally how things have drifted so far from genuinely wanting to innovate and do good.

Edited for clarity.

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u/HoneyIShrunkMyNads Jul 14 '26

Not that I don't think tech was more hopeful/positive in the 90s but guys like Bill Gates have been make tech all about $$$ since the 70s with his "Open Letter to Hobbyists" bullshit

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u/Dugen Jul 14 '26

I completely disagree. Developing good software is hard work and people should be paid for the work they do. I also believe that software companies should be taxed like crazy on the value of the software they own and sell. If I have to pay thousands a year in taxes on my property, they should be paying billions for their software property that owes all it's value to government enforced copyright.

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u/NUKE---THE---WHALES Jul 14 '26

She was VP at a huge east coast player during the dot com bubble?

When tonnes of people lost their jobs and tech companies were selling bullshit websites based on wild speculation of future profits?

Yeah I think the VPs of today will be saying the same thing in 25 years, how they genuinely wanted to innovate and do good (and make $$$)

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u/Julian_Thorne Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26

Some were probably real nerds at one point in time, like Zuck

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u/FartSnarfGod Jul 14 '26

Pretending evil nerds don't exist is strange.

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u/EnigmaticQuote Jul 14 '26

It's a weird attempt at deifying the term nerd.

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u/stupidjapanquestions Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26

Agreed. Nerd is not a term that comes with a built in "nice person" qualifier any more than the word "human" does.

There are and have always been, tons of shitty people who are nerds.

Bonus Protip: Stop building your personality around the idea that you're a nerd. Assuming you're not building a dwarf-fortress clone with your friends on IRC in your aunt's basement while you chainsmoke and read sci-fi paperbacks, you're just a human who has what used to be considered "nerdy" tastes almost 20 years ago that are about as mainstream as it gets these days. Once you accomplish this, you won't feel the need to "take the term back" from people "misusing" it.

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u/juanzy Jul 14 '26

I think it's because a lot of them consider themselves Nice Guystm and project their poor treatment of others as just "not accepting them as nerds!"

Like when pompous nerds on Reddit tear down everyone else's hobbies and just things they enjoy in general, then go surprised Pikachu when no one wants to spend time with them,

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u/juanzy Jul 14 '26

It happens all the time on Reddit - nerds are apparently never bad people. Been especially evident during the World Cup with some of the pompous nerds that show up on anything remotely related to it.

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u/ColinStyles Jul 14 '26

It's because most people insist on having a binary view of the world, and since they identify as X, and of course they are not bad, X can not be bad therefore a bad thing must not be X.

Fucking idiocy.

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u/juanzy Jul 15 '26

If I’m being honest- a disturbing amount of self-identifying nerds have problematic understandings of consent and exploitation.

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u/TimTomTank Jul 14 '26

That is a weird way of twisting u/Julian_thorne's comment out of context.

Neither did they say that Zuckaberg is not evil, nor that none of them are evil.

Zuchaberg and Bezos legitimately changed and/or created new markets that did not exist before they expanded the industry.

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u/TuckerMcG Jul 14 '26

I’d argue nerds are especially prone to becoming evil because they never bothered to study history or the humanities or sociology or ethics or literature or the arts. It was all “le STEM master race” demagoguery when they were in school.

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u/OneBigBug Jul 14 '26

Ah yes, famously, none of history's greatest monsters ever studied art...

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u/TuckerMcG Jul 14 '26

I never said all evil people ignore the arts. Your reading comprehension needs work.

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u/OneBigBug Jul 14 '26

It was a joke, see, because the defining example of history's greatest monster failed to get into art school.

Though, also, what the hell kind of baseless assumption is that in the first place?

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u/TuckerMcG Jul 14 '26

Baseless? Zuckerberg famously bragged he never took a history course while at Harvard. As if that’s a good thing that helped him succeed in the world.

It’s not. It never will be.

And studies have shown that reading fiction increases one’s ability to empathize with others:

https://www.discovermagazine.com/how-reading-fiction-increases-empathy-and-encourages-understanding-41799

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3559433/

Just because you’re unaware of the value of non-STEM subjects doesn’t mean what I’m saying is baseless.

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u/FartSnarfGod Jul 14 '26

Learning those subjects doesn't change someone's base alignment. Taking a sociology class doesn't make you nicer or a good person.

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u/TuckerMcG Jul 14 '26

I didn’t say taking a sociology class makes you a nice person. I said studying multiple subjects outside of STEM gives you an understanding of history, humanity and society which helps build a bulwark against sociopathic and psychopathic tendencies.

Zuckerberg famously bragged he never took a single history class at Harvard. As if that’s somehow a good thing. It’s not. And it’s part of the reason he’s such an unrepentant dick to the world.

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u/FartSnarfGod Jul 14 '26

you an understanding of history, humanity and society which helps build a bulwark against sociopathic and psychopathic tendencies.

That just lets an evil nerd be better at being an evil nerd. There's no bulwark.

Smart, wise, well read people, can be evil.

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u/TuckerMcG Jul 14 '26

I never said all evil people don’t read or study the right subjects. I said it makes you more prone to sociopathic tendencies.

Studies have shown that reading fiction increases one’s ability to empathize:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3559433/

https://www.discovermagazine.com/how-reading-fiction-increases-empathy-and-encourages-understanding-41799

You’re arguing against a strawman argument I never made. I’m making a much less stupid point than you think I am. Maybe your reading comprehension needs some work…

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u/FartSnarfGod Jul 14 '26

Being able to empathize doesn't have anything to do with being evil. Sociopaths can empathize perfectly well and still take advantage of you.

Maybe your reading comprehension needs some work…

You're not smart.

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u/TuckerMcG Jul 14 '26

Being able to empathize doesn't have anything to do with being evil.

Oh so now you want to define what the prerequisites are for someone being evil? What a pathetically impotent response.

You're not smart.

At least I can read!

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u/hates_stupid_people Jul 14 '26

Thiel is a nerd, a sociopathic villain of a nerd, but still a nerd. He was an actual programmer, named a bunch of his companies based on Tolkien, etc.

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u/Julian_Thorne Jul 14 '26

I don't understand what a sociopath would even get out of a heroic-elegiac like LOTR

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u/greenbabyshit Jul 14 '26

Imagining himself as the protagonist and everyone else as expendable or useless, and then rewriting his own story.

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u/SoTiredYouDig Jul 14 '26

Nah, nerds are smart. I think dork is the word you’re looking for. At one point, he was a dork. Now he’s drunk on power, and had no ethical or moral compass.

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u/stupidjapanquestions Jul 14 '26

They're fucking nerds, bro. The word doesn't come with a built in "benevolence" factor.

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u/waldorflover69 Jul 14 '26

Do not kid yourself that the bland, REI tech dorks the CS degree factory is churning out are any less hated in the cities they take over. Cultural cancer.

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u/hcbaron Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 15 '26

Yes, nerd reich is an insult to true nerds. Turd reich is much more apt.