I have long said that most technology is a combination of lowering our standards while giving us change without progress. In a talk at an iMedia many years ago now, Jaron Lanier said that the reason he hated Google was that it forced us to look dumb so that the machine could look smart. I'm reminded of Albert Brooks' short speech in "Broadcast News" about the devil:
"What do you think the Devil is going to look like if he's around? Nobody is going to be taken in if he has a long, red, pointy tail. No. I'm semi-serious here. He will look attractive and he will be nice and helpful and he will get a job where he influences a great God-fearing nation and he will never do an evil thing... he will just bit by little bit lower standards where they are important. Just coax along flash over substance... Just a tiny bit."
I see what's happening and I'm scared too. Thank you. This was one of the best things I've read about AI because it was the most human. The thing that so many people miss when talking about AI is just how fucking sad it all is. My spouse has become an AI causality. He worked in an industry where jobs where so plentiful he's get 15 emails from recruiters a week, where he would have a new one within a week of being laid off. Now it's been months and he's barely had enough interviews to count on one hand. The one thing you really can't do to people in Capitalism is not provide jobs. The whole things collapses. Because we collapse.
The effed-up paradox is that capitalism starts to work less well the more efficient it gets. Over-efficiency starts to strangle markets because there's no-one to buy your stuff -- stuff you're overproducing because it's now cheap and easy to do. surplus goods, but no one can afford them.
I love this.
i’m glad you like it! i’m also glad you’re my audience. i write for nice, smart people.
"Still pretending my edge is sharper than the blade coming for me." There it is, in one beautifully written nugget.
As per usual, Greg, I could not have said this better. Who knew the law of intended consequences would become the law of the land.
I'm excited for the next 100 years. Next week, not so much.
I have long said that most technology is a combination of lowering our standards while giving us change without progress. In a talk at an iMedia many years ago now, Jaron Lanier said that the reason he hated Google was that it forced us to look dumb so that the machine could look smart. I'm reminded of Albert Brooks' short speech in "Broadcast News" about the devil:
"What do you think the Devil is going to look like if he's around? Nobody is going to be taken in if he has a long, red, pointy tail. No. I'm semi-serious here. He will look attractive and he will be nice and helpful and he will get a job where he influences a great God-fearing nation and he will never do an evil thing... he will just bit by little bit lower standards where they are important. Just coax along flash over substance... Just a tiny bit."
I see what's happening and I'm scared too. Thank you. This was one of the best things I've read about AI because it was the most human. The thing that so many people miss when talking about AI is just how fucking sad it all is. My spouse has become an AI causality. He worked in an industry where jobs where so plentiful he's get 15 emails from recruiters a week, where he would have a new one within a week of being laid off. Now it's been months and he's barely had enough interviews to count on one hand. The one thing you really can't do to people in Capitalism is not provide jobs. The whole things collapses. Because we collapse.
The effed-up paradox is that capitalism starts to work less well the more efficient it gets. Over-efficiency starts to strangle markets because there's no-one to buy your stuff -- stuff you're overproducing because it's now cheap and easy to do. surplus goods, but no one can afford them.
Last night I spoke to a copywriter who works for Dell and the writers are REQUIRED to use ChatGPT. She’s looking for another job.
That's so creepy.