Alex Karp says only trade workers and neurodivergents will survive in the AI era(fortune.com)
13 pointsby anticensor6 hours ago8 comments
  • dtagames4 hours ago
    Alex Karp needs to read Richard Dawkins. Neurodivergence is a chromosomal aberration that shows up in the phenotype. It takes evolutionary time scales to affect chromosomes through evolution. Launching a new tech isn't going to do it.

    Dawkins also writes in The Selfish Gene that memes, a word he coined, are faster than DNA evolution because we can transmit "better" ideas (through language and art) that lead to better behavior. This kind of memetic transition is what AI is bringing. We're seeing it already. The communication around AI causes fights among friends (pro gen AI vs against, esp in the arts) and layoffs from VC-led companies, as well as spawning all kinds of new business ideas as the article mentions.

    • bob10294 hours ago
      > It takes evolutionary time scales to affect chromosomes through evolution

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics

      If we are mostly concerned with effects, focusing on the genome only tells you a small part of the story.

    • simianwords4 hours ago
      Karp is likely aware of all this. You are right about genetics vs memetics difference but the point here is that genetic differences can affect us at memetic level. People with certain genetic aberrations have ideas that might win the memetic lottery
  • simianwords5 hours ago
    Strong agree with Karp that people with different thinking will be rewarded.

    But strongly disagree that humanities will be automated or become less popular. It will just take a new shape. What I mean is humanities will no longer be gatekept by elite academics with fancy degrees but rather take a new form. What the form would be I don’t know.

    • mikkupikku5 hours ago
      I think you're right about the humanities. If you want to talk humanities with an LLM, they're more than capable. But that doesn't mean they're going to take the humanities from humans, all they'll do is make the humanities more accessible to normals. They're great at breaking down complex subjects without feeling judgemental or elitist. They're also excellent for extremely personalized recommendations, not just explanations. I've gotten amazing book recommendations over the past year or two, discussing in detail what I liked, didn't like, didn't understand, etc.
  • digitcatphd5 hours ago
    I never quite understood the notion trade workers will be exempt for a couple reasons:

    1. Right now trades businesses are profitable because of supply and demand. They are profitable, because they are undersupplied.

    2. We are assuming robotics stagnates.

  • xyzsparetimexyz5 hours ago
    Like Blindsight/Echopraxia
  • bigfatkitten6 hours ago
    > One-fifth of sales organizations within Fortune 500 companies are expected to actively recruit neurodivergent talent to improve business performance by 2027, according to a Gartner study.

    Good luck with that. HR departments and interview processes expertly and efficiently filter out neurodivergent talent.

    • simianwords5 hours ago
      The fellowships mentioned in the post probably select for such traits. At some level I agree that maybe line workers at big companies may need to be of stable and predictable mental character. But entrepreneurs may not be held to that standard.
      • tonyedgecombe5 hours ago
        I have a feeling that a lot of entrepreneurs start businesses simply because they don't fit into the modern work environment.
    • mindcrash5 hours ago
      Indeed. Most neurodivergents I know in my country are on government benefits because they are unable to work -- or rather "incompatible with the modern workplace", because they can but not allowed to.
    • mikkupikku6 hours ago
      [flagged]
  • weikju4 hours ago
    So which path is in Mr. Karp's future? Oh wait he's an exempt one right? (says me before reading the article and finding out about his dyslexia...)
  • burnt-resistor3 hours ago
    And the vast majority of people will make peanuts with a tiny middle-class of cutthroat specialists all ruled by warmongering, sociopathic billionaires who want it all. Feudalism has returned.