Take Sam Altman. Altman is not an engineer. He is not a scientist. He has no real training in either. He is an entrepreneur, with a flair for optimistic tech futurism. He places bets on where technology is headed, and then attempts to bend society in a direction that makes those bets pay off.

The previous generation of venture capitalists were, for the most part, actual engineers and scientists. They had spent time in the lab. They had experience being “close to the metal.” They made some real money early, then started to point that money in the direction of funding audacious high-risk/high-reward projects that didn’t fit anywhere else. The sector was small, compared to government money and corporate R&D money.

Folks like Altman approach the future much like bad sci-fi.

Original: https://toots.dgplug.org/@jason/112301539920185920