How did we get here? Why am I, a lifelong tech enthusiast, on a tech enthusiast board championing someone for resisting technology? I’ve been on HN for years but it’s starting to feel absurd ever since I’ve been out of sync with the whole AI thing. Thanks for listening to my Ted talk.
even tech enthusiasts can see that a major chunk of the populace is increasingly falling on the "to" side, so championing resistance makes a lot of sense.
Person A: I'm a tech enthusiast! I have the latest smartphone, smartwatch, smart car, smart TV, smart home... all networked together and automated to make my daily life easier.
Person B: I work in tech. The last piece of tech I bought is a printer from 2004, and I keep a loaded gun nearby in case it starts acting funny.
Once you understand how the sausage is made and what the incentives are, you become very suspicious of every hot new tech integration that comes along.
But humans just don't write commercial software anymore. Don't expect to keep doing that for a living.
Like...a smart TV so you don't need a second device to play your streaming services? I kinda understand, though I think it's a silly move. If my Fire TV stick gets deprecated, I can buy a new one for under $50. If my TV itself gets deprecated, I'm spending $1500+ for a new one. But like...the number of people who have their heads in the sand when it comes to pervasive ads being injected by their TV is appalling.
But why does anybody need a smart washer (either clothes or dishes)? I need to be physically there to load it. There's literally nothing to be gained by having an app. Sure, sometimes I want a delayed start for whatever reason, but literally every washer already has that function without an app.
I don't even see the purpose of WiFi-connected light bulbs. The only time I'm turning a light on or off is when I'm entering or leaving the room, in which case I'm passing by the light switch anyways.
Very few people appear happy to receive generated content. It is fun to make however.
We as a society will probably figure this out(and look back fondly on the days of real handcrafted artisanal writing) but for now there is a lot of tension between the two sides.
I know I loose all interest in a thing when I learn it is generated.
AI has been multiplying the wrong things (for the common people) at an amazing rate, while the good things it multiplies have been few, arguable, and lagging behind.
Usually to be enthusiastic about new tech, it needs to be the reverse. New tech that multiplies the "good things" first while the wrong things catch up later (see Internet, cars, commercial aviation, smartphones).
Sure, fellow software engineers who spend 8+ hours a day writing code see it as the opposite, since AI _is_ seen as doing the "good things" (i.e. writing code). But eventually the bad things will catch up with us too.
AI is no different. People like to think they have some special new insight as to why "it's bad this time!" but the average person has always reacted to change with FUD.
It is not my fault if people using sans-serif fonts get mad about it.
This headline is much less confusing for the change. Thanks.
Good song though.
The man's a saint.