For startups, giving a shit has always been a requirement. Once it get removed from requirements, it becomes a "corporation".
It's awfully hard to find people who do give a shit and even harder to interview for it. It doesn't scale with money, which is exactly why but companies don't look for it.
The results don't lie; it's why companies like Google who hire the most expensive people in the world regularly fail to release something like Antigravity in a stable form when people are building these things solo.
Corporations end up buying these startups for massive amounts of money. It works for everyone because the startups are compensated well for giving a shit and corporations just sit on the gold mine making sure the money keeps flowing.
But it's a good point you raise here. I disagree to an extent - AI will give more of a shit than many humans. It's the main reason many people lose their jobs over it.
So it stands to reason that startups will continue to be AI-resistant. There's a lot of hype that you can build "anything". But where are the alternatives to Facebook, Jira, MS Teams, Stack Overflow, Stripe, and all these other proven business models that everyone hates but is forced to use anyway?
I work for a small start up. We often work with corporations. It does, from a distance, seem like giving a shit separates the two. I feel that. But you look inside big companies, and lots of folks inside care a great deal. I've also been through incubators and accelerators. And some of those people didn't give 1/2 a fuck.
Corporations aren't people. LLMs aren't people. Personification of these things is the source a great deal of trouble.
People will say there is more to it than that, I mean, ethics is a big branch of philosophy, but I think "you feel bad when you do something wrong" is what makes you a moral subject.
I'd say that animals are moral subjects in that they are sensitive to ruptures in relationships and expectations. The first time I fell off a horse the horse was a lot more shook up than I was. A cat doesn't feel guilty about killing a bird (not against the values of cats) but does seem to feel guilty about breaking a vase.
Accountability is especially beautiful when self directed. It isn't us holding the cat accountable for the vase. That is pointless. The cat holding itself responsible, that is what makes our relationship with them possible.
As humans, we actually enjoy work. Not all work; but having a purpose and doing something meaningful. We hate to admit it, but it’s true. That’s why people who retire sometimes die quickly after.
No, it's not care, in my opinion the key to understand, is the lack of pain, as both a motivator and a refrain. Pain is what would make LLM afraid of lying or dying. They can fake care, they can fake tears, but they cannot fake pain. They drag you in a spiral of concoacted synthetical sentences, with no shame or guilt about what they are saying, as cold as a fridge. Why? Because they have no compassion, no passion, which means, no pain.
For startups, giving a shit has always been a requirement. Once it get removed from requirements, it becomes a "corporation".
It's awfully hard to find people who do give a shit and even harder to interview for it. It doesn't scale with money, which is exactly why but companies don't look for it.
The results don't lie; it's why companies like Google who hire the most expensive people in the world regularly fail to release something like Antigravity in a stable form when people are building these things solo.
Corporations end up buying these startups for massive amounts of money. It works for everyone because the startups are compensated well for giving a shit and corporations just sit on the gold mine making sure the money keeps flowing.
But it's a good point you raise here. I disagree to an extent - AI will give more of a shit than many humans. It's the main reason many people lose their jobs over it.
So it stands to reason that startups will continue to be AI-resistant. There's a lot of hype that you can build "anything". But where are the alternatives to Facebook, Jira, MS Teams, Stack Overflow, Stripe, and all these other proven business models that everyone hates but is forced to use anyway?
I work for a small start up. We often work with corporations. It does, from a distance, seem like giving a shit separates the two. I feel that. But you look inside big companies, and lots of folks inside care a great deal. I've also been through incubators and accelerators. And some of those people didn't give 1/2 a fuck.
Corporations aren't people. LLMs aren't people. Personification of these things is the source a great deal of trouble.
I agree completely.
People will say there is more to it than that, I mean, ethics is a big branch of philosophy, but I think "you feel bad when you do something wrong" is what makes you a moral subject.
I'd say that animals are moral subjects in that they are sensitive to ruptures in relationships and expectations. The first time I fell off a horse the horse was a lot more shook up than I was. A cat doesn't feel guilty about killing a bird (not against the values of cats) but does seem to feel guilty about breaking a vase.
See also
https://simonwillison.net/2025/Feb/3/a-computer-can-never-be...
Accountability is especially beautiful when self directed. It isn't us holding the cat accountable for the vase. That is pointless. The cat holding itself responsible, that is what makes our relationship with them possible.
As humans, we actually enjoy work. Not all work; but having a purpose and doing something meaningful. We hate to admit it, but it’s true. That’s why people who retire sometimes die quickly after.
Pass that wine.
Wine is good for the soul
No, it's not care, in my opinion the key to understand, is the lack of pain, as both a motivator and a refrain. Pain is what would make LLM afraid of lying or dying. They can fake care, they can fake tears, but they cannot fake pain. They drag you in a spiral of concoacted synthetical sentences, with no shame or guilt about what they are saying, as cold as a fridge. Why? Because they have no compassion, no passion, which means, no pain.
Reminds me of the quote from A Princess Bride - Life is pain. Anyone who says different is selling something.