Disconnect
disconnect.blog · Personal blog · on HN since 2023
Paris Marx writes critical essays on Silicon Valley, AI, Sam Altman, Elon Musk, and dependence on US tech companies.
What HN saysHN commenters cite it in arguments about Sam Altman's trustworthiness, generative AI's climate impact, and the Hyperloop.
56HN people shared it
11linked it in comments
68stories submitted
866story points
5 months agolast shared
2023people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1The Hyperloop was always a scam4 people · 161 points · first shared 2023 · 192 comments on HN
- 2Why Silicon Valley is bringing eugenics back4 people · 17 points · first shared 2023 · 5 comments on HN
- 3The ChatGPT revolution is another tech fantasy4 people · 7 points · first shared 2023 · discussion on HN
- 4Generative AI is a climate disaster3 people · 33 points · first shared 2024 · 10 comments on HN
- 5Sam Altman doesn't care about you2 people · 26 points · first shared 2024 · 26 comments on HN
- 6Getting off US tech: a guide2 people · 26 points · first shared 2025 · 4 comments on HN
- 7Kara Swisher's story about Sam Altman is falling apart2 people · 21 points · first shared 2024 · discussion on HN
- 8What comes after the AI crash?2 people · 16 points · first shared 2024 · 8 comments on HN
- 9Escaping the trap of US tech dependence2 people · 16 points · first shared 2026 · 2 comments on HN
- 10Generative AI is a societal disaster2 people · 11 points · first shared 2025 · 1 comments on HN
- 11Elon Musk Wants to Relive His Startup Days. He’s Repeating the Same Mistakes2 people · 6 points · first shared 2023 · 1 comments on HN
- 12The digital revolution has failed2 people · 6 points · first shared 2024 · 1 comments on HN
- 13Google is its own worst enemy2 people · 6 points · first shared 2026 · discussion on HN
- 14Apple's Vision Pro lacks any real vision2 people · 4 points · first shared 2024 · 1 comments on HN
- 15The high cost of Uber's small profit2 people · 4 points · first shared 2024 · 2 comments on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
jazzyjackson · 2025-01-28
One doesn't have to be a liar to be untrustworthy
Why was he removed from leadership positions at Loopt, YC, and OpenAI?
https://www.disconnect.blog/p/kara-swishers-story-about-sam-altman-is-…
myaccountonhn · 2024-08-04
I think the author does a decent job laying out good ways of using the LLMs. If you’re gonna use them, this is probably the way.
But he acknowledges the ethical social issues (also misses the environmental issues https://disconnect.blog/generative-ai-is-a-climate-disaster/) and then continues to use them anyway. For me the ickiness factor is too much, the benefit isn’t worth it.
_ugfj · 2024-02-10
Let's hope we never do. Of course, there's very little hope but we all would be better off if this product didn't exist.
Let me quote Paris Marx's excellent summary from his Apple Vision Pro preview https://disconnect.blog/apples-vision-pro-headset-deserves/
> Tech companies want us isolated and constantly staring at screens because it drives profit
and of course
> The Vision Pro lets users further separate themselves from their surroundings and even create “digital personas” for video calls so other people are talking to a digital, abstracted version of themselves instead of seeing the real person.
Even The Verge acknowledges:
> using the Vision Pro is such a lonely experience, regardless of the weird ghost eyes on the front.
Of course it's Apple so it'll catch on and what in 1969 was predicted to happen in 4545 will happen, well, quite a few years earlier
: In the year 4545
...
: Nobody's gonna look at you
And of course https://img.ifunny.co/images/3461f2f61d0ac8385d0c1985ac415547f6a1ad997…
bhouston · 2025-09-23
> HH has been going off the deep end with his rhetoric for years, the current political environment has made it so that he can't be ignored anymore.
But Shopify is also right wing in its executive team, and via these move they appear to be support DHH:
https://pressprogress.ca/shopify-executives-right-wing-media-website-r…
https://disconnect.blog/the-conservative-tech-alliance-is-coming-to-ca…
And yeah, Shopify is going to protect DHH because DHH is on Shopify's board:
https://www.shopify.com/news/david-heinemeier-hansson-board
stephen_g · 2025-07-09
It was the silly and obviously unworkable Hyperloop idea that was pushed as an attempt to stop CAHSR, according to Musk’s biographer [1].
1. https://www.disconnect.blog/p/the-hyperloop-was-always-a-scam
Terr_ · 2025-01-31
I'd bear in mind that sometimes things are intentionally impossible fictions, because the authors never intended to actually build something concrete in the first place, but rather to affect the minds of investors and politicians. [0]
Just imagine the anchoring effect [1] on potential investors when the see--in actual newspapers--that a one Infinijillion dollar project of Much Seriousness is centered on Acme Corp (stock ticker: ACME.) Let alone other influences like "invest now or else be consumed by SingularityCorp."
[0] Ex: https://www.disconnect.blog/p/the-hyperloop-was-always-a-scam
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchoring_effect
qnleigh · 2025-01-26
Yes to electric cars and grid scale storage. To the Hyperloop, there is a case to be made that he mostly promoted that to kill public transportation projects, which he tends to oppose. https://www.disconnect.blog/p/the-hyperloop-was-always-a-scam
mikae1 · 2024-09-24
So, using the same logic, Meta should not be liable for what happens on Facebook because users do not pay…
That's some Barlowesque[1] thinking that would play into the hands of big tech.
If Telegram didn't want to answer to French law, they should've blocked French phone numbers from registering users. Problem solved.
[1] https://disconnect.blog/reclaiming-sovereignty-in-the-digital-age/
chx · 2024-08-16
AI bros never take anything seriously aside from the bullshit they are drunk on
https://disconnect.blog/what-comes-after-the-ai-crash/ this is your future
afavour · 2024-05-21
Recall that Musk got fired from PayPal and his history there was not illustrious:
https://disconnect.blog/elon-musk-wants-to-relive-his-start/
ahahahahah · 2026-04-07
Yep, and see https://disconnect.blog/kara-swishers-story-about-sam-altman-is-fallin…
> When Sam Altman was ousted as CEO of OpenAI on November 17, 2023, Kara Swisher started tweeting up a storm of “scoopage,” as she referred to her calls with high-ranking tech figures. Over the days Altman was on the outside, Swisher helped to craft a narrative that a board stacked with his internal rivals had pulled off a coup without a legitimate reason. The face of the AI boom had been betrayed and deserved to retake his position at the helm.
> She’s chosen a few CEOs to more regularly criticize now that they don’t give her the access she craves, but there are many more whose narratives she will happily help turn into the official record whenever it will help them. Altman is in that group, and six months after his removal and return as CEO of OpenAI, it’s become very apparent that Swisher was echoing the Altman line and defending his interests.