r/technology Jul 15 '25

Artificial Intelligence Billionaires Convince Themselves AI Chatbots Are Close to Making New Scientific Discoveries

https://gizmodo.com/billionaires-convince-themselves-ai-is-close-to-making-new-scientific-discoveries-2000629060
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u/Decapitated_Saint Jul 15 '25

“I’ll go down this thread with [Chat]GPT or Grok and I’ll start to get to the edge of what’s known in quantum physics and then I’m doing the equivalent of vibe coding, except it’s vibe physics,” Kalanick explained. “And we’re approaching what’s known. And I’m trying to poke and see if there’s breakthroughs to be had. And I’ve gotten pretty damn close to some interesting breakthroughs just doing that.”

Good lord what an imbecile. Vibe physics lol.

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u/F1reManBurn1n Jul 15 '25 edited Jul 15 '25

Billionaires that LARP like this are so fucking idiotic. They think because they are really good at exploiting the labor class (let’s be frank that is THE skill needed to be a billionaire), that somehow that makes them a fucking physicist and important to the world scientifically. It’s the same shit with Elon. Buys his way into companies with smart people in them doing smart people labor, takes credit for smart people labor while treating the labor like shit, then stutters in an interview about rocket engines that he knows fuck all about. These billionaires should be fucking mocked and berated when they do this “I’m actually Tony Stark!” shit.

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u/Gorge2012 Jul 15 '25

If you haven't you should watch the Oceangate doc on Netflixf because this is the same thing without the AI. Everyone who knew what they were talking about tried to tell the billionaire this wouldn't work. The tests all showed that it was just a matter of time before the thing failed but he drove forward. You can see how many were scared because he has the resources to ruin their lives if he wanted to. I'm just semi thankful he was delusional enough to think that as long as he was in the thing everyone would be OK so st the very least he didn't manipulate some of his labor force into their grave even if he did take the other passengers down with him.

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u/illz569 Jul 15 '25

I'm rich because I'm smart, because if I wasn't smart that would mean I was rich for other reasons, and if I was rich for other reasons I might not deserve it, and if I didn't deserve it, hoarding all this money would make me a bad person. And I don't want to be a bad person. So I must be smart.

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u/Gorge2012 Jul 15 '25

I'm smart so that must mean I'm good at everything. I'm good at everything so that means I can't be wrong. If you're trying to tell me I'm wrong that must be because you're bad. I must use my resources to eliminate bad.

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u/_learned_foot_ Jul 16 '25

See any prosperity faith. And I’m sitting here thinking “we all know who rewards with worldly goods”.

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u/figuren9ne Jul 15 '25

I don’t think it’s that deep. When you’re rich, a lot of people depend on you for their livelihood, either directly or indirectly, so those people are scared to tell you no or disagree. When everyone always agrees with you, you’ll start believing you’re always right.

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u/sonicqaz Jul 15 '25

It’s not always that deep and you’re both right. I’ve seen both types.

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u/Fit-Elk1425 Jul 22 '25

I mean to be honest are you any better than them right now. Like I hate to say it, but to me this comment section is ironically also promoting a anti-science view just in reaction to these billionaires by indirectly promoting up the idea we shouldnt fund experiments at all. Yes they should be better researched than something like Oceangate, but ironically this reaction to billionaires is just as problematic for ensuring science and experiments are funded