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The Bitter Prediction

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Re: The Bitter Prediction

#3
post #2

this article precisely captures what i have been thinking recently. it’s really demotivating me.

Sounds about right, but consider also that music, painting, sculpture, theatre are all simultaneously (1) hobbies requiring great skill to master and which people dervive much joy from, and (2) are experiences that can be bought for a pittance as a download, a "print your own {thing}" shop, 3D printing etc., or YouTube.

The bathwater of economics will surely dirty, but you don't need to throw out the baby of hobbies with it.

Re: The Bitter Prediction

#4
I can really relate to the feeling described after modifying save files to get more resources in a game, but I wonder if it's the same kind of 'cheating'. Doing better in a game has its own associsted feeling of achievement, and cheating definitely robs you of that, which to me explains why playing will be less fun. Moving faster on a side project or at work doesn't feel like the same kind of shortcut/cheat. Most of us no longer program in assembly language, and we still maintain a sense of achievement using elite languages, which naturally abstract away a lot of the details. Isn't using AI to hide away implementation details just a natural next step, where instead of lengthy error prone machine level code, you have a few modern language instructions?

Re: The Bitter Prediction

#5
I think this particular anxiety was explored rather well in the anonymous short story 'The End of Creative Scarcity':

https://www.fictionpress.com/s/3353977/1/The-End-of-Creative...

Some existential objections occur; how sure are we that there isn't an infinite regress of ever deeper games to explore? Can we claim that every game has an enjoyment-nullifying hack yet to discover with no exceptions? If pampered pet animals don't appear to experience the boredom we anticipate is coming for us, is the expectation completely wrong?

Re: The Bitter Prediction

#6
I don't really see it. At least the article should address why we would not assume massive price drops, market adjusted pricing and free offerings, as with all other innovation before, that all lead to wider access to better technology.

Why would this be the exception?

Re: The Bitter Prediction

#7
The financial barrier point is really great.

I feel the same with a lot of points made here, but hadn't yet thought about the financial one.

When I started out with web development that was one of the things I really loved. Anyone can just read about html, css and Javascript and get started with any kind of free to use code editor.

Though you can still do just that, it seems like you would always drag behind the 'cool guys' using AI.

Re: The Bitter Prediction

#9
post #4

I can really relate to the feeling described after modifying save files to get more resources in a game, but I wonder if it's the same kind of 'cheating'. Doing better in a game has its own associsted feeling of achievement, and cheating definitely robs you of that, which to me explains why playing will be less fun. Moving faster on a side project or at work doesn't feel like the same kind of shortcut/cheat. Most of…

> Moving faster on a side project or at work doesn't feel like the same kind of shortcut/cheat.

Depends whether you're in it for the endgame or the journey.

For some the latter is a means to the former, and for others it's the other way around.

Re: The Bitter Prediction

#10
post #7

The financial barrier point is really great. I feel the same with a lot of points made here, but hadn't yet thought about the financial one. When I started out with web development that was one of the things I really loved. Anyone can just read about html, css and Javascript and get started with any kind of free to use code editor. Though you can still do just that, it seems like you would always drag behind the 'coo…

You still don’t need AI to write software, but investing in it will make you more productive. More money enables you to buy better tools, that was always true for any trade. My friend is a woodworker and his tools are 5-10x more expensive than what I have in my shack, but are also more precise, more reliable and easier to use. AI is the same, I would even argue it gives you a bigger productivity boost with less money (especially given that local models are getting better literally every week).
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