Posted by BloondAndDoom 1 day ago
Anyone who puts their name on that list might potentially be a target. On the flip side, there is no signaling value in putting your name on the list anonymously. Therefore anonymous names on the list believe in it (tho some people might make the calculation that they can't handle being a target but they might still resist and obstruct in other ways.)
So: It's inspiring that a lot of people are ready to obstruct or delay even if they're not ready to deal with personal consequences.
My first inclination is to read letters like this as a threat from employees to the employer. It says hey boss-men, this shite is not on. Signing anonymously undermines that message. I tend to read those signatures as as, I don't like this but it's not worth my job. I have no faith in the efficacy or even existence of "obstruct or delay" tactics from folks like that.
No it doesn't. It says "Hey boos I'm telling you this shit is not cool, and there's nothing you can do to me personally because you don't know who I am."
Let me put it differently. Suppose YOU are the boss. You company has 1000 employees and you receive a letter with 500 anonymous signatures saying "we fucking hate what you're doing" (so, 50% of your employees, 100% anonymous). Do you get a little bit worried? Or do you get not worried at all because everybody signed anonymous? Actual question, let me know how you think.
Why does this change the calculus for management? They don't pay folks to be happy, they pay them to do their jobs. Threaten to take away the labour however and you create a bargaining position. That's how strikes and threats of strikes work. This letter is fundamentally different. For a start, have you considered the veracity of a list of anonymous petitioners? How do you differentiate the real thing from a made up list?
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
Would this "open letter" be covered on TV news?
That said, here are some American examples - it is being covered by CBS: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/anthropic-ceo-dario-amodei-full...
And a local affiliate: https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/nation-world/trump-order-a...
And ABC: https://abcnews.com/US/wireStory/anthropic-refuses-bend-pent...
And a local affiliate: https://abc7news.com/post/anthropic-refuses-bend-pentagon-ai...
NBC: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/trump-bans-anthropic-...
Fox: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/tech-company-refuses-pentag...
Searching "anthropic letter tv news coverage" in Google, the News tab has tons of other mainstream news sources, worldwide, covering this story.
So yes. This and many "technical" stories that appear on HN would be covered by "tv news."
We protect our families when we are home. That's all everybody wants.
Prisoner's Dilemma in Action!
Does this mean you dipshits are going to stop your own domestic surveillance programs? You sold your souls to the devil decades ago, don't pretend like you have principles now.
"Title I authorizes the President to identify specific goods as 'critical and strategic' and to require private businesses to accept and prioritize contracts for these materials."
If you invented a new kind of power source, and the government determined that it could be used to efficiently kill enemies, the government could force you to provide the product to them under the DPA. Why should AI companies get an exemption to that?