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Comment by abm53 | Hacker News Reader

An alternative idea to the regulatory moat thesis is that it serves Big Tech’s interests to have people think it is dangerous because then surely it must also be incredibly valuable (and hence lead to high Big Tech valuations).

I think it was Cory Doctorow who first pointed this out.

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You don’t even need fear, hype alone would do that and did just that over the past year, with ai stocks exploding exponentially like some shilled shitcoin before dramatic clifflike falls. Mention ai in your earnings call and your stock might move 5%.

Exactly like "fentanyl is so dangerous, a few miligrams can kill you" which only led to massive fentanyl demand because everybody wants the drug branded the most powerful

A few milligrams CAN kill you. This was the headline after many thousands of overdoses, it didn't invigorate the marketplace. Junkies knew of Fent decades ago, it's only prevalent in the marketplace because of effective laws regarding the production of other illicit opiates, which is probably the real lesson here.

It's all a big balloon - squeezing one side just makes another side bigger.

Any source for this? I thought the demand was based on its low cost and high potency so it's easier to distribute. Is anyone really seeking out fentanyl specifically because the overdose danger is higher?

Yup this is it. As anyone who worked even closely with "AI" can immediately smell the bs of existential crisis. Elon Musk started this whole trend due to his love of sci fi and Sam Altman ran with that idea heavily because it adds to the novelty of open AI.

I don't think they are so capable actors to do it on purpose.

I think they really believe what they are saying because people in such position tend to be strong believers into something and that something happens to be the "it" thing at the moment and thus propels them from rags to riches, (or in Musk case further propels them towards even more riches).

Let's be honest here, what's Sam Altman without AI? What's Fauci without COVID, what's Trump without the collective paranoia that got him elected?

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