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How to burst the AI bubble: Strike at its roots

arstechnica.com

11–20 of 58 posts

Re: How to burst the AI bubble: Strike at its roots

#11

[flagged]

While that's a bit cruel, I do have to wonder how exactly Doctorow got in the position he has -- he isn't somebody who has done great things and is now a tech critic like someone like Geoffrey Hinton. He seems a pleasant enough fellow, but basically he got fame from writing SF books that he gave away for free. How does this translate into being an expert that journalists fawn over?

Re: How to burst the AI bubble: Strike at its roots

#13
> “The bubble doesn’t want cheap useful things,” Doctorow said. “It wants expensive ‘disruptive’ things

That about sums it up. I challenge anyone to name five things that have gotten cheaper or better in their life thanks to AI.

I can't think of anything that I consume that has gotten better, and the only thing that has gotten cheaper is the value of your skills to your employer, as it wants you to offload more of your work to a machine they own or rent. But perhaps someone here can find some tangible improvement.

Re: How to burst the AI bubble: Strike at its roots

#14
post #6

The bubble is weirdly being kept alive by the promise it can replace software developers, which is ironic because all it has really achieved is a deluge of slop. Social media has also gone utterly crazy. The last time I saw a gaslighting operation on this scale and volume (including accounts who "hate" AI "because its so scary good") was during the start of the Gaza war. These accounts becoming easier to distinguish…

> The bubble is weirdly being kept alive by the promise it can replace software developers

And lawyers, and doctors, and tax preparers, and financial managers...

Re: How to burst the AI bubble: Strike at its roots

#15

[flagged]

While that's a bit cruel, I do have to wonder how exactly Doctorow got in the position he has -- he isn't somebody who has done great things and is now a tech critic like someone like Geoffrey Hinton. He seems a pleasant enough fellow, but basically he got fame from writing SF books that he gave away for free. How does this translate into being an expert that journalists fawn over?

Journalists fawn over many people who write for public consumption in some way (book authors, academics, etc.), and who already agree with the point of view the journalists want to promulgate. I don't think Doctorow has particularly more insight about AI than anyone else does, but I also don't think that "insight about AI" is the main reason Ars Technica chose to publish an interview with him - they did this because Ars Technica has an anti-AI editorial position and so they find it useful to promote Doctorow's anti-AI-book. A different group of journalists who did not have an anti-AI editorial position would not have interviewed and published Doctorow, or at least not done so under as friendly circumstances as Ars Technica did.

Re: How to burst the AI bubble: Strike at its roots

#17

[flagged]

While that's a bit cruel, I do have to wonder how exactly Doctorow got in the position he has -- he isn't somebody who has done great things and is now a tech critic like someone like Geoffrey Hinton. He seems a pleasant enough fellow, but basically he got fame from writing SF books that he gave away for free. How does this translate into being an expert that journalists fawn over?

Has Doctorow implemented Transfomer from scratch as Lesswrong wants us to atleast pass the smell test?

Re: How to burst the AI bubble: Strike at its roots

#18

[flagged]

While that's a bit cruel, I do have to wonder how exactly Doctorow got in the position he has -- he isn't somebody who has done great things and is now a tech critic like someone like Geoffrey Hinton. He seems a pleasant enough fellow, but basically he got fame from writing SF books that he gave away for free. How does this translate into being an expert that journalists fawn over?

He's also been a vocal advocate about copyright reform and against DRM, and his arguments are coherent and generally well-regarded among the tech crowd. In context, "giving away books for free" is a particularly strong form of putting his money where his mouth is.

Re: How to burst the AI bubble: Strike at its roots

#19
post #2

The “reverse centaur” is a natural product of capitalism wanting workers to be as replaceable as possible in order to drive down wages. An ordinary “centaur” is counter to companies’ goals, they don’t want workers empowered.

If that is true, they are incredibly stupid. Empowered workers create better, more effective companies.
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