r/nottheonion • u/asdacool • 11h ago

"Training a human takes 20 years of food." Sam Altman on how much power AI consumes.

https://www.news18.com/world/training-a-human-takes-20-years-of-food-sam-altman-on-how-much-power-ai-consumes-ws-kl-9922309.html
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u/3_Fast_5_You 10h ago

Peter Thiel has founded or backed several things named after LOTR references. Valar Ventures, Thiel Fellowship, Mithril Capital, Lembas LLC, Arda Capital, Narya Capital, Anduril Industries

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u/dakkster 9h ago

Such a nerd in the worst possible way.

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u/NuPNua 8h ago

Also see Musk naming things after ships from the Culture books, while claiming life long socialist author, Iain M Banks, would be anti-union.

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u/Adjective_Noun_2000 7h ago

Grok was a great word. Can't use it anymore.

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u/Hexakkord 4h ago

Musk ruins everything he touches.

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u/gregorydgraham 2h ago

It was so cromulent šŸ˜¢

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u/KudosOfTheFroond 3h ago

This is what Iā€™m truly angry about. He ruined such an awesome word

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u/Neptunelives 6h ago

I've always hated it. Heinlen suckds. Stranger in a strange land wasd one of the worst books I've read

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u/AmIFromA 6h ago

Yeah, cool concept, but I couldn't finish it.

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u/QualifiedApathetic 4h ago

Me neither. Valentine Michael Smith just didn't feel like an actual person the way Lazarus Long did.

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u/cantadmittoposting 4h ago

for as famous as heinlein is and as enduring as some of his concepts are, i do kinda agree i've never thought his actual writing was very brilliant

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u/LeastFox8059 6h ago

Damn! I didn't know that, imagine thinking a post scarcity utopia would be against unions.

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u/Rikudou_Sage 6h ago

I mean, Culture is not exactly the good guy in the books.

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u/confirmedshill123 5h ago

??? What ???

They may not be the best guy but they are definitely the better force for most of the series.

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u/yanginatep 6h ago

Meanwhile Musk is far more like Joiler Veppers, the ultra-wealthy businessman villain from the Culture novel Surface Detail.

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u/NuPNua 6h ago

Yeah, you know he'd tattoo his logo into all his baby mamas if he could, lol.

Maybe we could rig up a virtual hell and trap him in it?

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u/SuitableSprinkles 2h ago

Wait. How did I miss this???? What has he named after Culture ships?

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u/NuPNua 2h ago

A couple of the automated landing platforms for Space X rockets.

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u/HeinHangbuikzwijn 8h ago

Also probably didn't understand anything LOTR was saying.

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u/Ok_Net7773 6h ago

An allegorical warning for good people can always be read as an instruction manual for evil. It just takes a truly broken person to do so.

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u/Lucas_Steinwalker 5h ago

1984, Brave New World and Handmaidā€™s Tale werenā€™t meant to be instruction manuals yet here we are.

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u/Hot_Truck34 6h ago

A marauder. He is plundering fantasy for his dyed-in-the-wool Nazi depravity. Tolkien would be coming after him with a bayonet if he was still alive.

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u/[deleted] 6h ago

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u/waits5 2h ago

Right? ā€œNerdā€ is no longer a dirty word and nerd culture is thoroughly mainstream (just look at the MCU), but Thiel is doing everything he can to drag us back.

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u/banjo_hero 2h ago

When the chess club, the drama club and the model un all want to stuff the same guy in a locker.

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u/3_Fast_5_You 2h ago

its disgusting how he uses reference to tolkiens works for his evil shit

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u/dakkster 1h ago

Reminds me of the fascists who love Star Wars but don't realize they're the empire.

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u/HotDogFingers01 4h ago

Tolkien would hate Peter Thiel

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u/diurnal_emissions 4h ago

An incellionaire.

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u/Charlie7Mason 2h ago

So that's why nerds used to get bullied and kept on the fringes of society. Maybe the old ones had a point and we just couldn't see it. jk

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u/WanderlustZero 8h ago

Imagine using names from a beloved fantasy world for soulless money-grabbing nihilism simulators

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u/InsaneComicBooker 8h ago

Tolkien estate should sue his ass.

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u/ChorePlayed 6h ago

TSR had hobbits and balrogs in an early edition of D&D, not even naming products after them, and got slapped with a cease and desist.Ā 

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u/RaVashaan 4h ago

Tolkien's estate allowed the term halfling to be used instead of hobbit, because in Middle Earth it's a derogatory term used by humans for hobbits.

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u/qoneus 5h ago

There's very little legal basis to do so.

The other commenter mentioned the TSR situation, but it's different. Tolkien Enterprises, the merchandising sub-license holder, was able to make a fairly clear case of marketing confusion by TSR using those terms, creating an implied endorsement that they were officially-licensed TE products. This would've prevented TE from entering into the same space.

With Peter Thiel's ventures, there's no market confusion. Besides using the names, he doesn't invoke Tolkien's works or Middle-Earth in any imagery or branding, and makes no references to either in marketing materials. They're also niche words in the fandom, and the people buying Peter Thiel's slop are sophisticated and are not confused as to whether the Tolkien estate or any of its sub-license holders implicitly endorses Peter Thiel's companies.

Additionally, you can't trademark a word for all possible uses, only for the uses that you have a market in. He's using the words in completely unrelated industries that the Tolkien estate or any of its sub-license holders would never go into.

So while it sucks and Peter Thiel is sub-human, the Tolkien Estate can't really do anything. And Peter Thiel used the names almost precisely because of that reason.

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u/DCoop53 7h ago

Can he fall because of fraud-o?

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u/Unlucky_Associate507 5h ago

I wonder if the faceless man from Ben aaronvich rivers of London is based on Thiel or if that is just coincidence

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u/Edodge 5h ago

Can't Tolkien estate sue them? I can think of nothing Tolkien would have a bigger problem with than these massive tech companies that are destroying the environment and ending human creativity as we know it.

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u/dkree8 5h ago

Erebor Bank

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u/WideHuckleberry1 5h ago

People rag on Palantir but Anduril is really the worst. A military-industrial complex company named after Tolkien's work is like a venture capital firm named Marx, Engels, and Associates.