The thing is, I can criticise gen ai exactly the same as I criticised crypto and I’ll be able to criticise the next *thing* the same way because they are all just shitty products disguised as technologies and they use potential to distract from lack of purpose - ThreadSky

fasterandworse.com • 184 days ago

The thing is, I can criticise gen ai exactly the same as I criticised crypto and I’ll be able to criticise the next *thing* the same way because they are all just shitty products disguised as technologies and they use potential to distract from lack of purpose

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kevinleecaster.bsky.social•180 days ago

Just hoping that you don't jump on the bandwagon of people who don't comprehend climate science who are criticizing DACCS.

fasterandworse.com•180 days ago

If it says what it’s for on the box and it does what it says in the box, then it’s fine

fasterandworse.com•12 days ago

https://bsky.app/profile/abeba.bsky.social/post/3lrqh32rzr22o

fasterandworse.com•184 days ago

https://bsky.app/profile/mcopelov.bsky.social/post/3ldydczyf7k23

fasterandworse.com•184 days ago

There is no escape from the need to qualify as an innovation by being better in every way and any shortcomings justified and balanced by the importance of the purpose being satisfied.

fasterandworse.com•184 days ago

Even the critics elevate these software product pushers to something more by treating their outputs as emergent technologies free from the shackles of packaging that take up shelf space which would be justified if they can just find that killer app.

fasterandworse.com•184 days ago

That’s the problem! All the killer apps of the past were recognised in hindsight. They weren’t anticipated as some inevitable justification for the underlying technology.

fasterandworse.com•184 days ago

We are very susceptible to thinking *anything* is more than a product because a lot of money and effort went into making it. But that’s like playing Desert Bus for the full 8 hours and expecting a reward

fasterandworse.com•184 days ago

I also think that @edzitron.com is right that this time *feels different* than just “that’s capitalism” because capitalism has never had such an advantage of a product being so *virtual*, so *ethereal*

fasterandworse.com•184 days ago

The ai pin and rabbit should be seen as the virtual being taken away for a moment of clarity. A look behind the curtain. They weren’t crap products, they were manifestations of a crap product.

mechtroid.bsky.social•184 days ago

My tinfoil hat optimism is that VC investors are being backed into a corner. Now that there's an actual interest rate again, they can't pay off their old debts with new ones forever.

Self-driving cars into Bitcoin into NFTs into "AI", each one reeks of more desperation than the last.

fizzvstheworld.bsky.social•184 days ago

They're all the same "Hide Your Money From THOSE PEOPLE" widget...

doriantaylor.com•183 days ago

heh i kinda poked at this here https://youtu.be/HcSPep8v6ZU

fasterandworse.com•183 days ago

lol sorry I’ve completely blocked youtube from my devices till sunday so I have bookmarked this to watch then.

fasterandworse.com•183 days ago

I actually block YouTube from all my devices and have a home server running yt-dlp that dumps the files into my plex folder. It keeps me from rabbit holing and being more intentional in my viewing. And it gives me a nice archive

fasterandworse.com•183 days ago

I’m actually halfway through your presentation you shared with me last week from the ia conf. I’m really enjoying it! I even have some notes

doriantaylor.com•183 days ago

word

doriantaylor.com•183 days ago

lol fair; it was a riff off of some ted nelsonism about how so many things that get called "technology" are actually packaging because they just twiddle the cosmetic configuration around a genuine and much older technology that actually represents a substantive methodological innovation

fasterandworse.com•183 days ago

Then there are things like blockchains which I see as more of novel mechanisms than technologies

doriantaylor.com•183 days ago

lol "novel mechanism" is a rough synonym for "technology" in my brain

fasterandworse.com•183 days ago

Yeah you’re right. I’m probably being pedantic on that one

fasterandworse.com•183 days ago

That’s one of my favourite observations of his!

spavel.bsky.social•183 days ago

*pedant voice* I believe you'll find that packaging is a technology

doriantaylor.com•183 days ago

disnothus.bsky.social•184 days ago

A different snake oil is still snake oil

spavel.bsky.social•183 days ago

And people are using exactly the same argument to defend it - but when they claim that it does something they are confusing a capability with a beneficial outcome.

amanda.systems•150 days ago

Permanent Bubble Economy

jaytingle.bsky.social•184 days ago

Lack of function, outside of criminality.

exostrologist.bsky.social•150 days ago

I've been a data scientist for nearly 20 years and guess what I never use? Generative AI, cause it's bullshit and stealing

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