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Slop Terrifies Me

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201–210 of 370 posts

Re: Slop Terrifies Me

#201
post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s completely wrong. There was barely any progress in previous millennia. There was even economic Nobel prize for showing why!

The GDP per capita of the world has been slowly increasing for several millenia. Same for the advancements in core technology. The industrial revolution increased the pace, but it was already there, not flat or randomly flunctuating (think ancient hominids versus early agriculture vs bronge age, vs ancient Babylon and Assyrian empires, vs later Greece, and Persia, later Rome, later Renaissance and so on). Post 1970s…

> Post 1970s most of the further increase has been based on mirages due to financialization, and doesn't reflect actual improvement.

Of course it does. It would be good if you would try to actually support such controversial claims with data.

Re: Slop Terrifies Me

#202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its existential dread, of being useless and of not being able to thrive. Its being compared to that of a slop machine, and billionaires claiming that its better than you are in all ways. Its having integrity in your work, but the LLM slop-machines can lie and go "You're actually right (tells more lies)". It all comes down to that LLMs serve to 'fix' the trillion dollar problem: peoples wages. Especially those enginee…

I wonder how people like you would have fared even just 100y ago, if typing on a keyboard with your own fingers is so foundational to your identity.

"People like (me)".. And what are me and people like me like?

How's about you say what you're comparing me and people like me to.

In my experience, people who use terms like "You people" are just using that as a placeholder for racism, sexism, or ableism. Which is it in your case?

And 100 years ago, when industry took over something, the new thing still needed people. But thats not a hard economic law - thats just what happened before. There is no guarantee of that observation to still hold true.

Re: Slop Terrifies Me

#203
post #136
post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of it is probably more part-time but, yes, people who are some definition of rich spend more money on people to do more work for them (cleaning, landscaping, accounting, etc.) Doesn't mean they don't do any of those things--and outsourcing some can be more effort than it's worth--but they don't necessarily cut their own lawn or do car repairs.

I pay to have my car serviced... but I don't employ a full-time mechanic.

In this day and age, how often do you actually need to have your car serviced? And there is no shortage of places that will do it for you in a few hours.

Similarly, if money were no real object within reason, I'm not sure what I would really need done on a day-to-basis that I couldn't just order or contract for pretty easily.

Re: Slop Terrifies Me

#204

Now that generative AI products are becoming more widely used, it's a little depressing how folks don't seem to view the world with a broad historical context. The "AI effect" on the world has many similarities to previous events and in many ways changes very little about how the world works. > I'm terrified of the good enough to ship—and I'm terrified of nobody else caring. For almost every product/service ever offe…

> Most users just absolutely do not know about, care about, or worry about security, privacy, maintainability, robustness, or a host of other things.

nitpick: most users don’t care about these things until something goes significantly wrong and it impacts them, e.g. a massive data breach or persistent global downtime.

then they get angry. very angry.

just because people don’t care about it now doesn’t mean they won’t care about it in the future.

edit — these are the hidden requirements.

> For example, it's possible to make hiking boots that last a lot longer than others. But if the requirement is to have it last for just 20 miles, it's better to pay less for one that won't last as long.

until requirements change, or the hidden requirements come out to play … most software engineers can probably recall multiple times when the requirements changed half way through. hell, i’ve done it on solo projects.

now we’re stuck with boots that can only last 20 miles, but we need to go 35.

Re: Slop Terrifies Me

#205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its existential dread, of being useless and of not being able to thrive. Its being compared to that of a slop machine, and billionaires claiming that its better than you are in all ways. Its having integrity in your work, but the LLM slop-machines can lie and go "You're actually right (tells more lies)". It all comes down to that LLMs serve to 'fix' the trillion dollar problem: peoples wages. Especially those enginee…

I wonder how people like you would have fared even just 100y ago, if typing on a keyboard with your own fingers is so foundational to your identity.

My job, a place I spend 1/3 of my days is a core part of my identity. It's also how I manage to feed myself.

Re: Slop Terrifies Me

#206
post #79
post #10

I think this is far too nuanced. I am terrified by what the civilization we have known will become. People living in less advanced economies will do OK, but the rest of us not so much. We stand on the brink of a world where some wealthy people will get more wealthy, but very many will struggle without work or prospects. A society where a large percent have no income is unsustainable in the short term, and ultimately…

I definitely recommend to watch this video with Reinhold Niebuhr. Sure some things deteriorate, but many things improve. Talking about a net decline (or net gain) is very difficult. Every age has its own set of problems that need to be solved. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93EJJVAinRc

There is one thing different though: Technology allows surveillance on a level and scale that did not ever exist before. I would expect that that in turn allows far greater levels of oppression than ever before. And with all payments going more and more digital, if the powers decide to cut you off you can't even buy anything any more. Or get a job. Or go anywhere without being seen and identified by various cameras.

Or, try organizing any kind of movement that those with power don't like. It does not even have to be violent! Here in Germany, as soon as the previous government with the Green Party was in power, a huge never-ending campaign started. Easy - after all, the vast majority of the important media is owned by very few, just like in the US. Funny enough, after inevitably that government failed, turned out the CDU failed many if not most of the promises made, and in other areas does exactly what they heavily criticized.

The point is, surveillance, "soft" punishments, and media control and reach are on a whole new level. Trump wanted TikTok for a reason, and Musk wanted X not for the money that company could make.

The more tech we have, and it's conveniently concentrated too, the worse it can get if you don't want to play that game.

On top pf that, debt and a system of law heavily skewed for those with money, just because of its complexity and to gain access, and no more competition for minds from a block of socialist countries, so no clear alternative apart from obviously stupid ideas most people won't want to vote for, and this "democratic" system can go very far towards being very controlling and restricting for many.

We can see for example in Iran, or few decades ago in China, or since it was founded in North Korea what happens when people protest - and how nothing changes. Now we have billionaires who would love to have similar powers, who don't want to be "held back" by laws and regulations.

Re: Slop Terrifies Me

#207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

book keepers, graphic artists

I wouldn't let an LLM touch my business's books with a 10 foot pole.

If your corp is large enough to use a full-sized ERP system it will no longer be your choice to make. The whole software industry is desperately trying to fit AI functions into every pore of their software, ERP vendors being no exception.

Re: Slop Terrifies Me

#208

"terrified".... overused word. As a man I literally can't relate. I get terrified when I see a shark next to me in the ocean. I get impatient when code is hard to debug.

Its existential dread, of being useless and of not being able to thrive. Its being compared to that of a slop machine, and billionaires claiming that its better than you are in all ways. Its having integrity in your work, but the LLM slop-machines can lie and go "You're actually right (tells more lies)". It all comes down to that LLMs serve to 'fix' the trillion dollar problem: peoples wages. Especially those enginee…

I hear you, especially as a man, because we're attuned at looking for trouble in the horizon. AI is not some transition from horses to cars, which just meant selling the horse, buying a car, and continue your transport business. It's intelligence that may be able to take over all aspects of our current professional training, thus potentially threatening our livelihoods.

Re: Slop Terrifies Me

#209
post #186
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They already do and always have. They never stopped hiring butlers (who are pretty well paid BTW), chefs, chauffeurs, maids, gardeners, nannies..... The terminology may have changed a bit, but they still employ people to do stuff for them One big difference is while professional class affluent people will hire cleaners or gardeners or nannies for a certain number or hours they cannot (at least in rich countries) hire…

>increasingly hostile to ordinary people educating their kids outside school There is a whole lot more nuance here than you're giving the topic. There is one side that wants to give their kids a good education, they have the resources and the motivation to ensure they come out ahead. They are not the problem, the problem is the other side of this coin. Where I grew up there were a lot of homeschooled kids that belong…

> Where I grew up there were a lot of homeschooled kids that belonged to religious organization. These groups had very little motivation to ensure they were intelligent, but instead nice dumb little worker bees that would stay with said organization

Not true in the UK. Studies in many countries (the UK, US, Australia) and others have shown that home educated kids have better outcomes than school going kids after correcting for parental education, wealth etc.

Yes, there are exceptions, but there are also bad schools and some terrible schools.

UK law also requires children to receive a "suitable and efficient" full time education and there are legal mechanisms for sending children to school if they do not.

> They were also at a much higher risk of being sexually abused/sexually trafficked as they were given little to no education about sex or risky adults.

Stats in the UK show home ed kids are MUCH less likely to be abused, to self harm, or commit suicide.

Of course there are bad home educating communities, but there are also some horrific schools and the latter are a lot more common. Does that mean we should shut down schools?

Re: Slop Terrifies Me

#210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We can (and should) provide for those among us who aren't able to provide for themselves, without also firing everyone in the welfare department. UBI is shit. People need to do something in order to recieve money, even if the something is begging on the side of the freeway or going into the welfare office to claim benefits. Magic money from the sky is not the answer.

I agree with you about magic money . Frequently downvoted when I put it forward but by and large I think that the human psyche needs to have a daily sense of having "accomplished something". Otherwise I suspect many of us will (reluctantly) drift off into lives that center around drinking alcohol, playing video games…

I have a decent job, get paid an acceptable amount, and at the end of the day I never get the feeling that I've "accomplished something".

I'm extremely jealous of anyone who feels a sense of reward from their job.

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