this post was submitted on 12 Mar 2026
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Big brain tech dude got yet another clueless take over at HackerNews etc? Here's the place to vent. Orange site, VC foolishness, all welcome.

This is not debate club. Unless it’s amusing debate.

For actually-good tech, you want our NotAwfulTech community

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[–] flamingos@feddit.uk 83 points 2 months ago (4 children)

This is not in any way a “new” idea. It’s company scrip — a company’s own made-up money that you can only spend in the company store.

At least you could buy food with company script. Tech bros have really invented company script, but worse.

[–] DigitalAudio@sopuli.xyz 30 points 2 months ago (1 children)

This is exactly how the banana massacre in Colombia took place 100 years ago. Workers were being paid in United Fruit Company bonds, which caused revolts and protests, the US government threatened to invade to protect the company's interests, so the Colombian government deployed the army to suppress the protests and murdered thousands of farmers.

This still shapes Colombian politics to this day, has appeared in A Hundred Years of Solitude, and has absolutely helped power the leftist movements in the country since. The parliament and president have constantly referenced this instance in recent years too as examples of American neocolonialism.

It's a tale as old as time.

[–] froztbyte@awful.systems 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

it’s amazing what knowing even a lick of history can do, hey?

[–] DigitalAudio@sopuli.xyz 7 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Don't worry, the Colombian right wing has done its absolute best to victim blame the farmers, or to diminish the atrocity or to claim it was a necessary sacrifice.

Meanwhile the Colombian guerrillas did their absolute best to shit on the popular movements that fueled them initially by allying themselves with drug traffickers and committing atrocities themselves against rural civilian populations.

So basically the Colombian civilians of the 20th century were sandwiched between an overzealous fascist right wing and a violent and reckless left wing.

Nowadays both sides are politically mostly rhetorical and the left wing is far less violent while the right wing is more careful about their image after losing elections and Congress seats to the left.

[–] apotheotic@beehaw.org 16 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Just a heads up that its "scrip" not "script" :3

[–] jaybone@lemmy.zip 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

In this context it’s a good pun though.

[–] apotheotic@beehaw.org 4 points 2 months ago

That isn't lost on me but it didn't seem like an intentional one (if it was I blame my autism)

[–] flamingos@feddit.uk 1 points 2 months ago

Well that's embarrassing, it's literally in the part I quoted.

[–] mawhrin@awful.systems 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

but they did it from first principles and without needing to update their priors!

[–] froztbyte@awful.systems 2 points 2 months ago
[–] Jiral@lemmy.org 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yes, at least that company script could buy you real stuff, food etc. AI tech bros want to pay you in hot air. Anyhow, isn't that illegal even in the US? It surely is in the EU.

[–] Formfiller@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

We didn’t have many worker protections prior to this president and they just completed the biggest deregulation in history by far gutting the few agencies that investigated violations of labor law. Thiel, Karp and Musk have been very clear about their intentions to destroy democracy and replace it with feudalism supported by big tech. The EU will follow if you don’t stop supporting fascists because these tech companies have already infiltrated your governments.

[–] Jiral@lemmy.org 2 points 2 months ago

The US Tech oligarchs are certainly spending a fortune on corruption (ie lobbying) on national and EU level, however to mixed success so far. The biggest threat to us are Russia's fifth column, right (but also some left) populist autocrats. Those things are going hand in hand however. Those populists are ready to not only sell us out to Russia but to any foreign power willing to pay. Take the lead candidate of the AfD for the previous EU election. He was shown to have been bought not only by Russia but China as well. I am sure, he would have gladly worked for US tech oligarchs as well, if the AfD would not have frozen him out a bit, not for selling out to foreign powers but for getting caught red handed.

It is up to the voters to vote for or against those people. Sadly, my confidence in this regard is rather low. It is shocking how similar the 2020s are to the 1920s. I am not looking forward to the 2030s.

[–] frustrated_phagocytosis@fedia.io 46 points 2 months ago

Are none of them offering to convert their own wealth into AI tokens to signal their support for this new amazing system? Why not?

[–] CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de 36 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Hopefully they run out of cash flow asap.

[–] froztbyte@awful.systems 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

as I said elsewhere: I suspect this is happening because cash is becoming tighter

[–] someacnt@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago

It really looks like this is getting to the end. Somewhat paradoxically, I am on the edge on the issue, nearly being forced to join the LLM hype. I think this is the indicator.

Gotta see what remains after bubble pops.

[–] zqwzzle@lemmy.ca 17 points 2 months ago

This just sounds like shittier crypto 2.0

[–] SlurpingPus@lemmy.world 17 points 2 months ago

“Thanks, I'm 300 tokens short for rent this month.”

[–] o7___o7@awful.systems 12 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Labor theory of value, but worse

[–] froztbyte@awful.systems 1 points 2 months ago

watching the saltman interview (in this frame) is…so much worse

I was planning to get drunkwatch it but I haven’t really had the headspace to get that mad this week

Sorry. That's not legal tender. 

[–] Sidyctism2@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Sixteen prompts
What do i get?
Another day older
And deeper in dept
Saint peter (thiel) dont call me
Cause i cant go -
I owe my soul to the AI slopstore

[–] pikesley@mastodon.me.uk 2 points 1 month ago

@dgerard these tokens, are they... Fungible?

[–] Maleficannot@awful.systems 2 points 1 month ago

I literally thought this shit was The Onion at first glance

we are living through the shittiest Shadowrun campaign ever written

[–] daychilde@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago