vlovich123 5 hours ago

It’s the ship of Theseus in corporate form. Even if all the people are gone but the culture hasn’t changed, is the criticism inaccurate?

  • EagnaIonat 4 hours ago

    > Even if all the people are gone but the culture hasn’t changed

    Can you expand on this? What was the culture then versus now?

    For example back then it was the culture to have suit inspectors ensure you had the right clothes on and even measure your socks. (PBS Triumph of the Nerds)

  • altmanaltman 5 hours ago

    I mean, okay, but you're taking the current leadership's words and claiming they are incorrect because IBM management was not great at identifying trends decades ago. Historical trend is not an indicator of the future and it's not engaging in good faith on the conversation if overspending on AI can be backed by revenue in the future. You're attacking the messenger instead of the message.

    • vlovich123 3 hours ago

      I’m saying given IBMs track record of completely failing at innovation repeatedly and failing at investing on the correct technologies, why do you assume today’s CEO is better at it and has bucked the milquetoast culture that has pervaded IBM? It’s a company that has largely divested its ability to provide solutions and technology and turned more into a large shop consultancy (+ milking their legacy mainframe contracts and whatnot).

      • kelnos 2 hours ago

        Except that, over the same time period, IBM was also very successful at innovation and investing in technologies. Yes, they made some very high-profile misses that the top poster lists, but they were still a powerhouse doing other stuff during that time (as a commenter replying to that points out).

    • alex77456 4 hours ago

      I didn't read the top level comment as dismissive or 'proving it wrong', but rather as adding context, or even being humorous somewhat

      • altmanaltman 4 hours ago

        I don't understand how calling something "a ship of Theseus in corporate form" or "culture hasn't changed" etc, is not dismissive of the actual comment by the CEO on AI overspending. They dismissed the content of the message by saying IBM's culture sucks, is how i read it. Also things can be funny and dimissive at the same time, they often are.

ndr 5 hours ago

Culture evolution can be very fast, yet some cultures stick around for a very long time.