Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The AI backlash is only getting started

economist.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

241–250 of 272 posts

Re: The AI backlash is only getting started

#241

Post by tern »

justonepost2 wrote: post #176
tern wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I agree, but the relevant debate isn't "pro vs anti-AI." That's a fight only one side can win. The relevant debate is: "human empowerment vs disempowerment". It's still a long-shot, but at least there's a specific target that a majority may be able to agree on. (Not saying you were specifically saying either.)

I think his point is that “human empowerment vs disempowerment”, in the long term, is itself a fight that only one side can win.

I mean, fair—it's a possibility. But what are we to do with a point of view that admits no positive outcome?

Re: The AI backlash is only getting started

#242

Post by justonepost2 »

tern wrote: post #241
justonepost2 wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think his point is that “human empowerment vs disempowerment”, in the long term, is itself a fight that only one side can win.

I mean, fair—it's a possibility. But what are we to do with a point of view that admits no positive outcome?

I would guess that our near future includes mass suicide on an unprecedented scale. I have a spot picked out, at least.

Re: The AI backlash is only getting started

#243

Post by lelanthran »

bensyverson wrote: post #109
HEmanZ wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think the claim is that people will be less productive, the world will be far more productive. The claim is that the value of most human labor will be at or near enough to 0 compared to deploying capital (robots, ai) to product the same goods. So humanity becomes owners living ludicrously well on highly productive capital and everyone else getting whatever “humanitarian” portion is assigned to them. And no wa…

People need to Google Jevons Paradox, smdh

> People need to Google Jevons Paradox, smdh

You're talking to a group who has seen a comment similar to yours every day of the week for two years.

That also means that they have already seen the rebuttals. So have you, too, maybe?

Re: The AI backlash is only getting started

#244

Post by throwmeaway876 »

dwa3592 wrote: post #64

People have been made to believe by very influential people (dario, sam, elon etc) that AI will replace them. As a result people are getting angry. Who did not see this coming? Why da f*#$ do they have to continue developing a technology which they think will replace droves of people by machines?? There is nothing sexy about it. There is nothing cool about it either. Imagine a taxi driver facing his family knowing he…

>Why da f*#$ do they have to continue developing a technology which they think will replace droves of people by machines??

If they don't do it, others will anyway.

>There is nothing sexy about it. There is nothing cool about it either.

I disagree. I think it's very cool having machines that can actually talk to you and do stuff better than you.

I understand why people are upset since they perceive (justifiably) that their livelihoods are threatened and the CEOs and founders only made it worse by fear-mongering. However, the luddism and denial will always be absurd to me.

Re: The AI backlash is only getting started

#245

Post by ptrhvns »

beej71 wrote: post #99
dwa3592 wrote: post #64

People have been made to believe by very influential people (dario, sam, elon etc) that AI will replace them. As a result people are getting angry. Who did not see this coming? Why da f*#$ do they have to continue developing a technology which they think will replace droves of people by machines?? There is nothing sexy about it. There is nothing cool about it either. Imagine a taxi driver facing his family knowing he…

I think they just don't care that the people are mad. The equation doesn't include workers. It actively excludes them. Because no sane person would pitch a product that would put you out of work, it seems surprising to us to hear that pitch. But the pitch isn't to us; we're not part of the equation. We're passive listeners between uncaring, unfeeling parties who only value one thing, and that thing ain't us. > The an…

I know what you're saying about their perspective, but the real equation does include the workers. One possible result of being ignorant of that fact is there could be blood on the streets.

Re: The AI backlash is only getting started

#246

Post by charlie90 »

spwa4 wrote: post #224
watwut wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty much all historians writing about industrial revolution are claiming completely opposite of what you do. Industrial revolution was a catastrophe for an average worker. The child mortality went up during industrial revolution. Social problems went up. It took quite a lot of violence for things to settle.

No they aren't. There very much was a reason during the industrial revolution why people were driven to the cities and into the factories.

The reason was agricultural labor was automated, it had nothing to do with the preferences of the people at the time. If people preferred farming to factory work, tough luck.

Re: The AI backlash is only getting started

#247

Post by enoint »

mschuster91 wrote: post #220
baron816 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is just how productivity works. If people spend less time building a unit of output, then you have more output. People aren’t going to stop wanting stuff. Right now, the world can’t come close to making all the stuff people want. As long as there’s a desire for further consumption, there will be work for people to do.

> People aren’t going to stop wanting stuff. The danger arises when people want stuff but cannot afford it as there is no more work and what remains of available work (i.e. trades and sex work) is being fought over heavily, driving down the prices. When that "cannot afford it" extends to necessary stuff such as housing and food too much, eventually there will be a revolution once people are fed up. The US is in a par…

Food is a good example. HN can talk about the effect of AI on industry. The average person is fully prepared to blame AI on any incidental food shortages. Maybe even the next pandemic.

Re: The AI backlash is only getting started

#248

Post by JBlue42 »

dgellow wrote: post #88
dofm wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People have been made to believe by very influential people (dario, sam, elon etc) that AI will replace them. As a result people are getting angry. Who did not see this coming? Cal Newport calls this "Doom-Trolling" — there was an NYT article, he has talked about it on his youtube channel and there was an actually really great, long discussion with Ed Zitron about it where Ed covered a lot more topic ground than he…

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/17/opinion/ai-dangerous-open...

Also, in discussion with Ed Zitron on the article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr6tOIjFXDs

Re: The AI backlash is only getting started

#249

Post by josefritzishere »

lnenad wrote: post #200
josefritzishere wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry but it's painfully true. I now spending time daily like the "reverse-centaur" fixing things that AI has hallucinated, conflated, or just done wrong. It's miserable work. The copy/pasta part is easy.

My point is you'd be doing the same if you wrote the code or an average person did it. If you spend time for the prep work AI is solid in execution.

I am at this very moment re-writing AI slop that contains errors a half-competent intern would have caught. It's demoralizing that this is the future.

Re: The AI backlash is only getting started

#250

Post by lostmsu »

erikschoster wrote: post #142

> The backlash is only just getting started, because the technology is only just getting started, too. Britain’s flimsy prime-minister-in-waiting, Andy Burnham, has barely said a word about AI. Even Americans still rank it 29th out of 39 election issues. [..] That is bound to change—and battles over data centres offer a hint of the struggles to come. Or we'll see through the bullshit (which seems to be happening alre…

You can't put the genie in the bottle.
Post reply on HN