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ByteDance sacks intern for sabotaging AI project

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192 points beedeebeedee | 10 comments | 21 Oct 24 03:21 UTC | HN request time: 0.836s | source | bottom
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lysace ◴[21 Oct 24 18:53 UTC] No.41907169[source]▶
I find it weird that China has a very tight information control and simultaneously over and over again has the weirdest "netizen" rumors that go mainstream.

What's the explanation? That they are explicitly allowed for some strategical reason? Something else?

Edit: @dang: Sorry in advance. I do feel like we got some pretty good discussion around this explosive topic, at least in its first hour.

Folks, keep up the good behavior — it makes me look good.

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erulabs ◴[21 Oct 24 19:15 UTC] No.41907399[source]▶
My explanation is that their tight control is an illusion. Not to get political, but the illusion of power is power, and suggesting they control billions of peoples speech is certainly an illusion of power.

China, and all other (supposedly) top-down-economies, survive only because their control is not airtight. If they were to actually have complete control, things would fall apart rapidly. “No one knows how Paris is fed” and all that.

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lysace ◴[21 Oct 24 19:24 UTC] No.41907493[source]▶
From my work visits and sort of guarded discussions with people there: I feel like they have just accepted the inevitable. Don't ask weird questions about things you're not supposed to ask about, be pragmatic, get things gone, get rich.
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1. erulabs ◴[21 Oct 24 19:30 UTC] No.41907576[source]▶
My experience as well! Pragmatism over idealism is a fantastic virtue for everyone — but turns out a vital one for communists :P
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2. Liquix ◴[21 Oct 24 19:58 UTC] No.41907897[source]▶
Is pragmatism really a "fantastic virtue" when people are forced away from alternatives by an overbearing government?
3. throwaway19972 ◴[21 Oct 24 19:58 UTC] No.41907901[source]▶
Is there any culture on earth that prioritizes idealism over "pragmatism", if we must use that term? What does this even look like?
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4. whythre ◴[21 Oct 24 20:05 UTC] No.41907974[source]▶
There are individuals and subcultures that prioritize idealism, yes. Often they are young people. Idealistic individuals can get ground down and turned into pragmatists, but some hold onto their hopes and dreams very tightly.
5. blaufuchs ◴[21 Oct 24 20:20 UTC] No.41908138[source]▶
I wasn't aware that Chinese citizens owned the means of production ;) just looks like another authoritarian dictatorship to me.
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6. erulabs ◴[21 Oct 24 20:33 UTC] No.41908256[source]▶
I mean, one could argue that the early Soviet Union suffered from this issue. Or early revolutionary China. Cambodia is certainly an example. The french revolution might be an even better example, what with wanting to re-do the clock and calendar and such. To convert startup culture speak's "pragmatism beats idealism" into political science speak, it might come out as "rationalism has tremendous difficultly reinventing all unconscious behavior".
7. AlexandrB ◴[21 Oct 24 20:42 UTC] No.41908337[source]▶
One could argue that the only system under which a citizen can own the means of production is capitalism. If you "own" something you can sell it, trade it, and otherwise use it as you wish. In any realistic version of communism these powers are transferred to a central authority instead.
8. rgrieselhuber ◴[21 Oct 24 21:03 UTC] No.41908502[source]▶
Guess they never really tried it.
9. lysace ◴[21 Oct 24 21:28 UTC] No.41908695[source]▶
Wow, even mentioning communists made you get downvoted. That's sad.
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10. erulabs ◴[21 Oct 24 22:49 UTC] No.41909373[source]▶
And I was being cheeky too! Such is life.