• sc_griffith@awful.systems
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    1 year ago

    The question of whether you interpret Whytham Abbey as a sign of lavish spending and motivated reasoning or as a a very reasonable investment largely depends on your view of EA and whether you trust EA/CEA/EVF

    The question of whether you interpret Bob’s habit of wiping his ass with donation money as a sign of lavish spending and motivated reasoning or as a a very reasonable investment largely depends on your view of Bob and whether you trust Bob.

    Those who do not trust Bob will say he could use toilet paper or at least smaller denominations. People who do trust Bob will point out that keeping guests comfortable is very important to Bob, that toilet paper doesn’t have the right softness and that Bob can save more lives if he doesn’t have to worry about hemorrhoids.

    While there may be no obvious, evidence based conclusion to reach, I think we can all agree that Bob should have managed perception of his ass wiping money more thoughtfully.

      • David Gerard@awful.systemsOPM
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        1 year ago

        loved how they got the second castle in the Czech republic for a mere 4m EUR, and didn’t at any point question why a whole fucking castle was on sale for just 4m EUR

      • Charlie Stross@wandering.shop
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        1 year ago

        @maol 25 years ago I saw one for sale in the Scottish borders for £250K. An absolute steal—if you could afford the £25K/year for heating and the extra £100K+ to repair the leaky roof. Never mind the £50K to install double glazing and insulation and the £200K or so in renovation it urgently needed. Etc.

        • maol@awful.systems
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          1 year ago

          There’s a reason there aren’t any aristocrats living in the shagging things anymore - you need a big staff and a lot of resources to run them! They only made economic sense when there were throngs of peasants to work in them for cheap or free, and people had very different expectations when it came to energy, heating and lighting.

          It’s hard to see what OpenAI could have gotten out of this purchase, except the chance to fulfil their Bond villain fantasies.

          • Deborah@hachyderm.io
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            1 year ago

            Are you undervaluing how important it is to them to fulfill their Bond villain fantasies?

            (Anyway the x-risk people think there’ll be hoards of peasants to staff them as soon as the Evil AI/Dirty Bomb/Typhoon destroys civilization, and they need a place to live when they open their survival bunkers.)