Defending my own brain against enshittification • Hacker News Board

Re: Defending my own brain against enshittification

#21

Post by phoghed » Mon, Aug 10, 2026, 2:33 PM UTC

mapontosevenths wrote: post #20

phoghed wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To each their own of course, but I personally don’t get the point of avoiding AI music when what you’re listening to (lofi beats) is essentially elevator background tier noise anyway. I listen to various types of it all the time and I honestly couldn’t tell you the difference between AI or not in this genre. Listening to Tokyo Echo Sounds right now, is it AI? Probably, but how tf would I even know if I did care?

AI music makes my head feel like I'm wearing noise cancelling headphones. That sort of weird 'pressure' sensation. It's as if even the silent bits are still pushing on my eardrums. I can spot it instantly and I hate it. Gemini speculated that it might have to do with the AI not mimicking the audios phase properly.

You’re hearing the wave form of the load-bearing emdash

A web app for blind testing this would be an interesting project

Re: Defending my own brain against enshittification

#22

Post by fipar » Mon, Aug 10, 2026, 2:34 PM UTC

xyzelement wrote: post #16

askonomm wrote: post #2

I couldn't get over the amount of time lost to commuting. Not saying that OP is living their life wrong or anything, to each their own of course, but I prefer working from home precisely because of how much more _life_ I get to live as a result. The time most people spend commuting, I spend going on hikes with my dog in a forest or working out. For those who lack social activities as a result of working from home I s…

I would have agreed with this a few years ago but it's more nuanced than that. Commute time is built-in decompression time that can be very valuable. For example we have small kids and it's just not going to happen that I am going to tell my wife on a given morning or evening "take care of them while I go on a hike" or whatever. So on days they I decide to go to the office - I get about 2 hours (one hour each way) of…

I understand your point completely, as I used to feel the same way in the past. Then I realized it's just that being forced to do a commute for work makes it OK to potentially put extra load on your spouse, or to leave your kids with some other caretaker, but this doesn't have to be this way. It should be fine to take some time if you need it even if there's no job-related reason behind it.

So now both my wife and myself take time for ourselves to get that decompression time when needed.

Re: Defending my own brain against enshittification

#23

Post by Havoc » Mon, Aug 10, 2026, 2:36 PM UTC

Yeah starting to feel the need to play Defense here too. Especially on YouTube. Even with a subscribe driven flow of known creators it’s getting bad. Everything is about something negative with emotive thumbnails and clickbait titles even from the better creators. And Google has now crammed their unwanted “relevant for you” along with shorts into the top of the subscribe feed. So now even that last trick to get a non algo feed is infested.

It’s rapidly getting unusable even with Adblock etc

Re: Defending my own brain against enshittification

#24

Post by Semkas » Mon, Aug 10, 2026, 2:39 PM UTC

askonomm wrote: post #2

I couldn't get over the amount of time lost to commuting. Not saying that OP is living their life wrong or anything, to each their own of course, but I prefer working from home precisely because of how much more _life_ I get to live as a result. The time most people spend commuting, I spend going on hikes with my dog in a forest or working out. For those who lack social activities as a result of working from home I s…

I think the quality of a commute is very different depending on whether it's by car or by train, since you can actually read / write / program / draw on a train. Obviously I'm still pretty glad when I get to work from home and sleep in a little and make some good coffee though.

Re: Defending my own brain against enshittification

#25

Post by speak_plainly » Mon, Aug 10, 2026, 2:40 PM UTC

shrekmas wrote: post #12

This was well written and easy to read. I will have to look into Miyazaki now.

Other than the NHK World documentary series, The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness was quite good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24wViGZKVu8

Re: Defending my own brain against enshittification

#26

Post by sublinear » Mon, Aug 10, 2026, 2:42 PM UTC

> These exercises in slight discomfort tolerance throughout the day increase my defense against going full vegetable...

As much as I absolutely wanted to veg out doing full WFH, I saw the light and was inevitably forced to do the same.

I was enjoying a social life that revolved around drinking and staying out late. It caught up with me in the form of some mild health symptoms, but it caused significant anxiety.

I was suddenly hyper aware of the damage I was doing and had to drop the bad habits. I'm doing much better now, but can only wonder in horror what that very well-traveled road looked like. Many generations before me would have grit their teeth and suffered under that inescapable inertia for decades.

The symptoms that come with obesity, drinking, and a terrible diet like an elevated A1C, high cholesterol, hypertension, etc. are easy to ignore when you are stuck running the hamster wheel to earn a living. I had to admit they weren't just temporary from the hangover anymore and could become permanent.

I'm very thankful I got to turn things around in private without the office peer pressure.

Re: Defending my own brain against enshittification

#27

Post by Semkas » Mon, Aug 10, 2026, 2:43 PM UTC

phoghed wrote: post #11

m_w_ wrote: post #3

This was a very pleasant read. There's (justifiably) a lot of debate about AI prose on this forum, which has become tiring. It's refreshing to read something so grounded. Doubly so while looking at a packet of Belvita breakfast biscuits on my own desk. As far as lo-fi goes, I must recommend Leavv. Mind Garden and Tales of a Flowing Forest. Both pre-AI music albums that are lovely to work/study to.

To each their own of course, but I personally don’t get the point of avoiding AI music when what you’re listening to (lofi beats) is essentially elevator background tier noise anyway. I listen to various types of it all the time and I honestly couldn’t tell you the difference between AI or not in this genre. Listening to Tokyo Echo Sounds right now, is it AI? Probably, but how tf would I even know if I did care?

Couldn't it just be a moral thing? Ie "This thing was trained on the work of people it's now replacing and I think that sucks". (NB I'm not looking to get into an argument about the actual impact of these kinds of small moral stances)

Re: Defending my own brain against enshittification

#28

Post by Infernal » Mon, Aug 10, 2026, 2:45 PM UTC

calvinmorrison wrote: post #17

xyzelement wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would have agreed with this a few years ago but it's more nuanced than that. Commute time is built-in decompression time that can be very valuable. For example we have small kids and it's just not going to happen that I am going to tell my wife on a given morning or evening "take care of them while I go on a hike" or whatever. So on days they I decide to go to the office - I get about 2 hours (one hour each way) of…

I am materially not a morning person. I will push until the last second in the morning to get ready. Forcing myself to wake up an hour earlier to drive in, get my coffee and let it percolate did wonders for my morning productivity. WFH lacks that so instead I got a dog which makes me get up at the ass crack but it's still not like a good mental workout of commuting in rush hour on i95 in a 80's sedan

Ooo which 80's sedan? I had an E28 20 years ago that I still think about

Re: Defending my own brain against enshittification

#29

Post by gosub100 » Mon, Aug 10, 2026, 2:45 PM UTC

phoghed wrote: post #11

m_w_ wrote: post #3

This was a very pleasant read. There's (justifiably) a lot of debate about AI prose on this forum, which has become tiring. It's refreshing to read something so grounded. Doubly so while looking at a packet of Belvita breakfast biscuits on my own desk. As far as lo-fi goes, I must recommend Leavv. Mind Garden and Tales of a Flowing Forest. Both pre-AI music albums that are lovely to work/study to.

To each their own of course, but I personally don’t get the point of avoiding AI music when what you’re listening to (lofi beats) is essentially elevator background tier noise anyway. I listen to various types of it all the time and I honestly couldn’t tell you the difference between AI or not in this genre. Listening to Tokyo Echo Sounds right now, is it AI? Probably, but how tf would I even know if I did care?

I agree if it's clearly labeled. I like lofi or vaporwave or neo 80s beats for a while. But I definitely don't want it mixed with any genre that has vocals or mixed with human produced music.

Re: Defending my own brain against enshittification

#30

Post by mschuster91 » Mon, Aug 10, 2026, 2:46 PM UTC

xyzelement wrote: post #16

askonomm wrote: post #2

I couldn't get over the amount of time lost to commuting. Not saying that OP is living their life wrong or anything, to each their own of course, but I prefer working from home precisely because of how much more _life_ I get to live as a result. The time most people spend commuting, I spend going on hikes with my dog in a forest or working out. For those who lack social activities as a result of working from home I s…

I would have agreed with this a few years ago but it's more nuanced than that. Commute time is built-in decompression time that can be very valuable. For example we have small kids and it's just not going to happen that I am going to tell my wife on a given morning or evening "take care of them while I go on a hike" or whatever. So on days they I decide to go to the office - I get about 2 hours (one hour each way) of…

> Commute time is built-in decompression time that can be very valuable.

That assumes you can meaningfully decompress. In a car, it's almost impossible (or at the very least, reckless) if you are the driver, and on most crowded stop-and-go routes even as a passenger. In any kind of public transit you have to deal with anything from rowdy children over beggars, drunks, thieves and other undesirables to keeping up with the latest construction BS and delays. Basically the only thing left is biking or walking, but that only works out on specific routes (i.e. well built sidewalks and separate, wide bike lanes)...