Ask HN: What's the Point Anymore?

#1

Post by fnoef » Tue, Jan 27, 2026, 1:14 PM UTC

I love technology. But I'm no longer optimistic about the future. It seems like AI is not going to go away, and instead of building reliable software, managers seem to push people to use AI more, as long as they ship products. Everything else is being destroyed by AI: art, music, books, personal websites. Why read a blog post, when Google AI Summary can just give you the summary? Why read a book, when you can just get AI summary of it? Why pay artists for music, when you can just generate endless amount of AI music?

And even things like "doing day to day chores" are being automated away with tools like AI assistants. The only thing you are left to do is to eat and take a sh*t throughout the day. How should people make money? No idea, as in the "prosperous future", everything is replaced by AI.

So my question HN: What's the point anymore? Why keep going and where to?

Re: Ask HN: What's the Point Anymore?

#2

Post by jjgreen » Tue, Jan 27, 2026, 1:17 PM UTC

No point, buy tinned food and head for the darkest part of the forest.

Re: Ask HN: What's the Point Anymore?

#3

Post by embedding-shape » Tue, Jan 27, 2026, 1:18 PM UTC

Do 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 changed. Nothing been destroyed by AI, it only seems to have destroyed your own perspective.

Re: Ask HN: What's the Point Anymore?

#4

Post by FrankWilhoit » Tue, Jan 27, 2026, 1:20 PM UTC

The point is to cultivate the ability to distinguish between real and fake. Soon enough, that ability will be extremely rare, and for the people who really need it, nothing else will do.

Re: Ask HN: What's the Point Anymore?

#5

Post by mmarian » Tue, Jan 27, 2026, 1:25 PM UTC

Sounds like you're getting burned out by too much hype-chasing. Follow your interests, and you'll always discover something that AI hasn't solved by itself. And keep in mind that people have always had these concerns whenever something new came along - photography, computers, etc.

Re: Ask HN: What's the Point Anymore?

#6

Post by fnoef » Tue, Jan 27, 2026, 1:25 PM UTC

embedding-shape wrote: post #3

Do 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, it will become hard as well. There will be individuals in the software development who are like Taylor Swift, because they know how LLMs work, and how to optimize them to squeeze one more KPI. The rest will just be nobodies.

And sure, if you think you are an extraordinary person, or you were born in the right environment, then you probably don't have to worry. But I'm an average Joe, who wants to live an average Joe's life, but it's being taken away from me. And while the select few might have access to a live Taylor Swift performance, or a personal reading of the latest novel by a struggling author, the rest of us are going to be fed AI slop.

Re: Ask HN: What's the Point Anymore?

#7

Post by fnoef » Tue, Jan 27, 2026, 1:28 PM UTC

mmarian wrote: post #5

Sounds like you're getting burned out by too much hype-chasing. Follow your interests, and you'll always discover something that AI hasn't solved by itself. And keep in mind that people have always had these concerns whenever something new came along - photography, computers, etc.

This is different. AI is not a "personal computer" or a "digital camera". AI is a change in perspective of our entire society, how it works, and what we define to be human or human-made creation. The end goal of AI is to abolish all work possible. In a world where there is no work for the common man, I'm afraid to imagine what is left there.

Re: Ask HN: What's the Point Anymore?

#8

Post by boxed » Tue, Jan 27, 2026, 1:31 PM UTC

> Why read a blog post, when Google AI Summary can just give you the summary?

Because the summary is often wrong, and the summary might not even be the point?

> Why read a book, when you can just get AI summary of it?

You've been able to read a good summary by a human for most books on Wikipedia for decades now.

Re: Ask HN: What's the Point Anymore?

#9

Post by paperplaneflyr » Tue, Jan 27, 2026, 1:36 PM UTC

Going to the example used thousands of times, maybe the horse drivers thought the same way, but guess what? now we have cars, race cars, super cars, flying cars. The engine kept changing, car markets kept evolving. People kept adapting. Adapting is the only way or the Penguin way :P

Re: Ask HN: What's the Point Anymore?

#10

Post by embedding-shape » Tue, Jan 27, 2026, 1:40 PM UTC

fnoef wrote: post #6

embedding-shape wrote: post #3

Do 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…

I think you don't get it :) I've written more about how I see it being here: https://emsh.cat/good-taste/

To repeat, I'm not worried. Making music might be easier than before, but having "Good Taste" isn't easier than before, it's still hard. And good stuff isn't just produced and made, they have decisions and choices behind them, and make the wrong ones, your thing ends up sucking.

If you just care about average content then yes, you can probably live on slop. But do you want to? Because no one is forcing you, there is still high quality stuff out there, produced by people with good taste, and it'll remain like that forever.