10 Comments

There is also this to consider: Washing Dishes Is a Really Great Stress Reliever, Science Says https://time.com/4056280/washing-dishes-stress-relief-mindfulness/ We have lost the owner's manual for inhabiting human consciousness.

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It’ll be interesting to see the next level impacts of this. If AI eliminates jobs in game production will those people then use lower production barriers to create their own gaming offerings and increase the competition? Will there be a premium for “human only” works the way there is with artisan products now?

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"A naked drive for profit" is true. But it only becomes profit because customers accept it. It is not just. the executives that are responsible. It is the drive we all share (evolution and all that) that we want to conserve (energy, money). "Cheap" is a two-sided thing. We accept "cheap" results because we have a drive to get it on the "cheap". The executives' "naked profit drive" simply is an element in a societal setup that is optimised to find that economic optimum. That economic optimum and the drive to search it is built-in. The only thing that can somewhat constrain it is norms and values.

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If AI needs human-created data to get better. And, if it already has most of this data - how is it going to get that much better? If the proportion of the stuff it feeds off gets continuously diluted by AI-created data surely it just gets worse? Worse = less-human.

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Wow! Art automating dystopia------ We cannot fade away into the night. Rail, rail and rail!

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In today's NYT, good old David Brooks gives two-and-a-half cheers for AI. Gift link:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/07/31/opinion/ai-fears.html?unlocked_article_code=1._U0.cIMR.3OS4XXOR6Ua-&smid=url-share

"I’m optimistic, paradoxically, because I don’t think A.I. is going to be as powerful as many of its evangelists think it will be. I don’t think A.I. is ever going to be able to replace us — ultimately I think it will simply be a useful tool. In fact, I think instead of replacing us, I think A.I. will complement us. In fact, it may make us free to be more human," he says.

More human. Right. As if symbiosis with indispensable tools isn't being human. How about more humane? Can AI make us more humane?

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You really just 'nailed it' with your commentary. Thank you.

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Brian, I'll be cross posting this to The Technoskeptic to introduce our readers to your work. Hopefully you'll pick up a few.

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I've been waiting on your commentary re: the Bethesda situation. So encouraging to see it happen wall-to-wall. I'm still learning a lot from yourself and Hamilton about the power and function of unions and hope to continue learning a bunch more.

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