The only way to win is not to play. Opt out of everything. Total ban on usage of anything genAI. Trust me, you'll still be mad at the world sometimes, but in your own life you'll be far happier.
Ask HN: What's the Point Anymore?
61–70 of 88 posts
Re: Ask HN: What's the Point Anymore?
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a good read, thanks for sharing. But the flaw in it, is the fact that you think that the world is built on merit, i.e. Good Taste, as you call it. And while sure, merit / good taste are important, but if you look at the mainstream it's filled with average. Now, from the consumer side you can claim "what do you care about the mainstream, just look for good taste, and you will find it", and I agree with you. But I…
The world is built at a balance between good taste and good economics. AI slop is still slop. Reminds me when there were massive booms on outsourcing software to low cost labor markets. Most of the software born out of those markets was slop and not much different than what we see today. Good taste still matters in most work. I am pretty big proponent of AI but I don’t think AI can write a book that I enjoy. Similarl…
This might be one of those “the market can remain irrational for longer than you can remain solvent” cases, though.
And for arts and entertainment, where the long term value is less important economically than the immediate click, AI slop is good enough that the percentage of people unable to tell the difference means there’s no point in creating any more except at the highest end or for the love of it.
Re: Ask HN: What's the Point Anymore?
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
The world is built at a balance between good taste and good economics. AI slop is still slop. Reminds me when there were massive booms on outsourcing software to low cost labor markets. Most of the software born out of those markets was slop and not much different than what we see today. Good taste still matters in most work. I am pretty big proponent of AI but I don’t think AI can write a book that I enjoy. Similarl…
This might be one of those “the market can remain irrational for longer than you can remain solvent” cases, though. And for arts and entertainment, where the long term value is less important economically than the immediate click, AI slop is good enough that the percentage of people unable to tell the difference means there’s no point in creating any more except at the highest end or for the love of it.
Sorry ai slop is no where good enough. Not sure what hype you are consuming.
Re: Ask HN: What's the Point Anymore?
#64[dead]
Re: Ask HN: What's the Point Anymore?
#65> How should people make money? No idea, as in the "prosperous future", everything is replaced by AI. If we taxed land ownership a la Georgism and then taxed negative externalities like pollution, we could give everyone UBI and probably kick back and take it easy for a bit. Of course this would require a global democratic mandate bigger than the world's ever seen, so I'm not waiting up on it.
There's no reason Georgism requires a global mandate. Any level of government that levies taxes can replace their current taxes with land/resource/pollution taxes.
In most countries the national government levies the most tax (usually as income and company taxes), and pays out the most in benefits, so they are the level that needs to change most. There are no global taxes that need to be replaced, just local, state, and national.
Re: Ask HN: What's the Point Anymore?
#66Efficiency is not the same as meaning. If you only valued the output, you’ve already lost
Re: Ask HN: What's the Point Anymore?
#67AI can do a lot, but it can’t live your life for you.
It can’t raise your kids, explain your choices to your parents, apologize and mean it, or face consequences when things go wrong. And most importantly—it can’t take responsibility or go to prison for you.
So maybe the point isn’t productivity anymore. AI does the work. Humans carry the liability.
Re: Ask HN: What's the Point Anymore?
#68Bottle of mine, why was I ever decanted?
A gramme is better than a damn
Re: Ask HN: What's the Point Anymore?
#69Do you read a book just so you know what happens at the end, or because you like the journey there too? Do you read blog posts "just to know" or because you like reading? Sure, if you don't like reading, then it's great you don't have to. But personally I like to read, and be taken on an adventure by writers, that's why I read, I don't read just so I "know what happened". So everything remains the same, nothing has c…
You don't get it. You, and I, are in the minority. How do you expect authors to keep writing, when the market will be, eventually, flooded by AI generated slop? It's the same with coding: I no longer see point to write OSS by hand, as every day, 10 projects appear on HN front page, that are 95.9% AI generated. Becoming a successful writer / musician, is already hard. With software, it was easier, but in my opinion, i…
Why do I want authors to keep writing commercially? Books get worse every year, and there is more than a lifetime of great literature even from 500 years ago. Lack of books is just about the last thing I'd consider a problem. This hasn't anything to do with your original point of summarizing books with AI, which is silly.
>I'm an average Joe, who wants to live an average Joe's life, but it's being taken away from me
Literally nothing has been taken from you. Go read the book.
Re: Ask HN: What's the Point Anymore?
#70[dead]