"Anthropic are the Good Guys" by Ivan Vendrov cover art

"Anthropic are the Good Guys" by Ivan Vendrov

"Anthropic are the Good Guys" by Ivan Vendrov

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Summary
 I’m writing these lines in Alamogordo, New Mexico. I’m about as close as a civilian can get to the site of the Trinity test, the first nuclear bomb detonation in history. I fled here from the San Francisco Bay Area; after two weeks of being back I just couldn’t take it anymore. The fear-greed complex that paralyzed me at Anthropic three years ago is now everywhere in the Bay. People are not thinking clearly. Hardly thinking at all, actually. Rumors of astronomical funding rounds and weird financial arrangements and inner ring gossip are everywhere. Everyone is worried. Everyone is checking their phone. Where are we? What's happening? When did this nightmare start?

In a way I think it started on July 16, 1945, not far from where I’m sitting now. I think it's impossible to understand Anthropic without putting yourself into the shoes of the Los Alamos physicists huddling together at sunrise in the aftermath of Trinity.

It must have felt like an initiation. An end to childhood, an end to innocence. We can no longer afford to fuck around, those brilliant men must have thought. Unless we figure out how to live peacefully together on this planet, we [...]

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Outline:

(03:50) Anthropic and Empire

(08:01) Three Lucky Breaks

(12:20) Put Down Your Sword

(14:04) But What About China?

(17:08) It's Time to Breathe

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First published:
October 26th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/zj8Pk3kJujk5LoqhK/anthropic-are-the-good-guys

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