I’m a bit concerned about the accelerating rate at which we see AI-powered nonsense.
Will AI sign the end of the internet?
Would this turn to be good for humans?
2 Likes
The internet itself is both a blessing and a curse. The widespread dissemination of information has made us generally more proficient in specialized fields for personal growth which is only limited by our own ability and understanding, but it has also diminished the value of specialized knowledge in specialized fields and has reduced the availability of prior resources. Often once something has been digitized, normal people’s access to hard copy of the same information is greatly reduced and in some cases the resources themselves are lost or destroyed due to obsolescence.
If we lost the internet it would set us back further than as if it never came along in the first place. So many people in this generation are raised with it and have no frame of reference for what to do without it. In fact our generation will likely be the last which remembers what life was like without the internet therefore your kids and their kids would be ill equipped to revert back to a society without it. It would be quite literally like stepping backwards in time.
If we lost the internet, rather than the pleasant idea of us being less prone to influence and AI or whatever, it would quickly become evident that it was a luxury to be able to dislike things like AI as we are forced to adapt as a society that once again exists with only special groups having access to resources or (particularly) access to resources in specialized fields yet with the modern roadblocks of class and privilege already firmly in place.
A further separation of the proverbial one percent would be unavoidable, as nepotism and birthright would again become increasingly influential in smaller spheres of existence. Very few people in pre internet times participated in nationwide or global organizations simply because the interconnectivity required more deliberate connections to others in the same spheres of interest, whereas we are able to gather on many forums with a global presence and communicate wirelessly with the greatest of ease.
We would literally need to be deliberately weened off of the internet for at least one generation in order to undo the damage as it is now, and that’s being optimistic.
Likely, someone would be waiting to take advantage of the situation and those of us lowest on the proverbial totem pole would surely suffer most.
I would rather casually dodge AI slop than to deal with the alternative, as it is certainly a privelege for us to be able to have our opinions and also have access to the data which allows us to inform ourselves of them.
6 Likes
FTFY!
4 Likes
It’s not as if any of us have the choice to not have the slop weaponized against us either way.
3 Likes
This whole AI hate is incredibly annoying! I truly don’t get why it makes people so angry.
Disclaimer: I don’t use it, don’t care to use it, don’t even fully understand it. Nor do I want folks to tell me why I should hate it or love it.
All I know is it’s not affecting my family’s life, nor mine. So I guess I can safely ignore it. It just seems like another trendy complaining option that people so desperately seek!
Live life folks! One day it’s over, don’t waste it!
Good for you that you can still ignore it.
3 Likes
As a mod here I understand you unfortunately can’t and totally understand the frustration it brings. I would also be very annoyed wasting my time cleaning up nonsense.
1 Like
I lost my job because of it. That non-trendy enough for you? 
6 Likes
The company I work for has stated they want to replace my job with AI. Frankly, it’s a job that actually seems possible to automate almost entirely and that terrifies me - we already automated part of my job with great success before LLMs etc. It wouldn’t entirely eliminate my job but it’s very reasonable that my team could be reduced to like 10% of its current staff. I don’t have the luxury of ignoring it, and I’m not the only person in this position.
I think about this a lot more than is probably healthy. Literally everything shuts down if the internet goes away and society grinds to a halt. Even in a less bad scenario where the US becomes insular in a way similar to China, my life and lives of many others get significantly worse. I also loathe our societal dependence on the Internet for entertainment, information, Commerce, etc. But that cat is out of the bag and there’s no going back.
6 Likes
Welp, that blows! Sorry to hear that. Did not in anyway mean to upset anyone.
I guess this where I’ll see myself out!
6 Likes
I mean not knowing enough about the topic would mean you don’t understand fundamental criticisms.
Enjoy your blessed life 
5 Likes
I chose Lethal Weapon 3 because it is the worst… 
1 Like
Please stay 
4 Likes
They are, to their own detriment sometimes.
3 Likes
It’s good you are open to changing your mind!
If AI could cut all of the labor we need to run the world in half, and it meant that everyone could go from working 40 hours a week to 20 hours (which isnt even an accurate metric since lots of people work way more than 40), then we should welcome it.
Except that that isn’t what’s going to happen. AI will cut labor, but all of the benefits of that automation will go into private hands, into capital and into the people who profit from AI. Everyone else who loses their jobs will be expected to find a different 40 hour a week job, except now those jobs will be even harder to find. So, a small group of people will see a huge gain from AI automation, while a huge group of people will become unemployed, competing over a shrinking job market.
These are the lies of neoliberalism and capitalism - that “a rising tide lifts all boats”. It doesn’t, it’s a scam and a grift. AI automation will lead to mass social collapse, riots, and unrest unless the people at the top realize that we’re coming for them if they kill our careers without sharing any of the gains.
Not to mention how AI art tools are trying to make the creation of all art and music totally frictionless, where the meaning will supposedly come from “what we can think” or “what we can dream”, where the way we use our hands or struggle or challenge ourselves suddenly has no value. With AI art we can retreat further into ourselves and away from relations with one another, since pretty soon we’ll be able to generate very specific music that caters exactly to our own tastes. We won’t have to learn about culture through other people, or ever challenge ourselves with new things, because we can just crawl up our own assholes and retreat into ourselves further.
I’ve seen a few artists do special things with AI, but they’re in the tiny minority.
16 Likes
Enshittification’s final boss
10 Likes
As usual, it is not the technology per se that is the problem, but the ways in which people abuse it. Much as those of us on the tech side of things would like to believe otherwise, it is impossible to disentangle these two.
9 Likes
does the new world order come with popcorn or do I have to bring my own?
3 Likes
I dunno man, give me a choice between skynet and a bad spell check/admin clerk/vomiter of bad art and I know which one I’ll pick.
3 Likes
