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The happiest I've ever been

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Re: The happiest I've ever been

#311

Post by ryanmcl »

lukan wrote: post #251
tasuki wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The parents aren't lonely, but they're tired and mostly miserable. I haven't asked "why should I even try" in ages. The question "how do I even manage this hell" has been on my mind more often.

Well, unfortunately I also have asked myself that question way too often, but I cannot agree on the "mostly miserable" part when comparing childless single persons and parents. Life can be hell, but with kids you don't ask the question so much why even get up - because the purpose is clear. There are people depending and counting on you.

[dead]

Re: The happiest I've ever been

#313

Post by toddmorey »

“ For years, you’ve sat in front of a rectangle, moving tinier rectangles, only to learn that AI can now move those rectangles 10x better. As someone outside the equity class, you begin to wonder what your role is in this new paradigm. And whether rectangles were ever your ticket to happiness in the first place.”

Best summation of my current feelings yet.

Re: The happiest I've ever been

#314

Post by Archer6621 »

mjdiloreto wrote: post #306
Archer6621 wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes you think that AI cannot become significantly better than humans at "understanding" and modelling the world? If the AI is always more likely to be right than you or me due to being able to take more variables/knowledge into account by default, then why ever listen to a human, or even to yourself when it comes to an economic decision? My honest and rather pessimistic take is that in the long-term any craft…

It's not that it won't be better at understanding, it's that there's too many possibilities to understand. This is true for humans too, but I can use the output to make money in a particular scenario. Take even 1 simple example - software applications on a smart watch. How many dimensions of reality are relevant? Maybe I'm a busy person, so I need a personal assistant for my calendar. Maybe my wife needs access too.…

I agree with your overall perspective here. You need the human in the loop to ground the request/direction in a reality with human needs, but that's about it.

What I was getting at is that nothing stops you from asking AI what would be the next best smartwatch app to build, and based on all its aggregated knowledge and other inputs (e.g. search) it has, it can potentially make a better estimation than you or any human of a product that would sell.

Of course whether that is actually true depends on how well its training data is able to model/mimic reality, and how grounded its inputs (e.g. internet) are. You can always help it a bit by steering it into the right direction, providing additional grounding. Was mainly wondering for how long this "additional" guidance would be a necessity, fearing that it won't be for as long as we think.

Re: The happiest I've ever been

#315

Post by lotsofpulp »

__turbobrew__ wrote: post #176
cheema33 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We're retiring later and later, working more per week That may be true. But, if somebody offered me a time machine to travel back in time and live at any point in history, would I take it? Hell no. > purchasing power is going down That is not a new thing. > quality of goods is going down Phones are better. Computers are better. Cars, planes, washing machines ... > life expectancy is decreasing On the whole, this is…

> But, if somebody offered me a time machine to travel back in time and live at any point in history, would I take it? Hell no. If given a choice I would rather be born in 1940s. 80 years of relative peace, prosperity, cheap education, cheap housing, only single parent needs to work, stronger community network, less overpopulation, better access to doctors, better wealth equality, and you get to partake in the first…

Would you want to be born a girl in the 1940s? How about as a non white person? And that is assuming you were even born in the US.

Before women had the ability to be professionals earning real money, or access to birth control and many, many other types of healthcare specific to women. Before no fault divorce and before rape within marriage was outlawed?

Decades before the Civil Rights Act and Jim Crow laws still existed?

> better access to doctors

I would take a nurse today over a doctor from the 1940s. The amount of advancement in healthcare between 1940 to today, even just over the counter stuff or information wise from online searches is tremendous.

Re: The happiest I've ever been

#316

Post by lotsofpulp »

whaleidk wrote: post #68
nvarsj wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s an entire generation of mostly childless adults who are shocked to find they enjoy contributing to others’ happiness. I have friends like this, their only purpose in life is to have no responsibilities, FIRE, and never give to anyone but themselves. Seems like a terribly depressing way to live but pretty common in tech/upper middle class circles.

People who want to be childless usually champion the importance of building strong community through friends and neighbors, just because they don’t want kids doesn’t mean they don’t want to contribute to others’ happiness lol. People wanting FIRE is a lot more to do with the current economy and wealth of useless or harmful jobs than kids

> People wanting FIRE is a lot more to do with the current economy and wealth of useless or harmful jobs than kids

That is not restricted to the “current” economy. It has been that way throughout all of human history (and probably applies to other animals too).

Who wouldn’t want security of energy, food, shelter, healthcare, and education?

Everyone worries about what happens to their kids if they get injured, or even just lose their job. It’s only in the last few decades that a significant portion of people have access to more of that security (even though it’s only an increase of 1% to 10% of the US).

Now we have free brokerage accounts and low cost index funds so being financially independent has a catchy acronym.

Re: The happiest I've ever been

#317

Post by dyauspitr »

roenxi wrote: post #135
whaleidk wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People who want to be childless usually champion the importance of building strong community through friends and neighbors, just because they don’t want kids doesn’t mean they don’t want to contribute to others’ happiness lol. People wanting FIRE is a lot more to do with the current economy and wealth of useless or harmful jobs than kids

I think more than FIRE people should just focus on FI. You still have to do something with your day after becoming financially independent and a job is still one of many good ways to contribute to the community even if you don't technically need one. So retiring is an option but not the only one. On the other hand it remains quite confusing that after centuries of capital achieving vastly better results than labour p…

You don’t have to do something with your day. Most people will but you don’t have to.

Re: The happiest I've ever been

#318

Post by mjdiloreto »

Archer6621 wrote: post #314
mjdiloreto wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not that it won't be better at understanding, it's that there's too many possibilities to understand. This is true for humans too, but I can use the output to make money in a particular scenario. Take even 1 simple example - software applications on a smart watch. How many dimensions of reality are relevant? Maybe I'm a busy person, so I need a personal assistant for my calendar. Maybe my wife needs access too.…

I agree with your overall perspective here. You need the human in the loop to ground the request/direction in a reality with human needs, but that's about it. What I was getting at is that nothing stops you from asking AI what would be the next best smartwatch app to build, and based on all its aggregated knowledge and other inputs (e.g. search) it has, it can potentially make a better estimation than you or any huma…

I agree with you. I think the "additional guidance" era we are in will be measured in single-digit years.

Re: The happiest I've ever been

#319

Post by pona-a »

ioudep wrote: post #242
jimbokun wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does this word salad mean?

“Every generation of builders believed their tools defined their value.” People anchor identity to the hardest part of their work. • Assembly → craftsmanship • Hand coding → engineering skill • Complex stacks → seniority • Writing longform → intellectual authority The difficulty of the tool becomes proof of worth. “If few people can do this, then my contribution matters.” So value feels intrinsic to the technical act…

Next time you can just tell us you didn't write it.

Re: The happiest I've ever been

#320

Post by throwaway290 »

anal_reactor wrote: post #224
N_Lens wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s an old saying regarding what you’re saying.

Higher social classes have always despised the lower ones. Imagine going to ancient Rome and saying that slaves should be given full citizenship and treated as equals.

"liquid crap" is obviously exageration but if you take a truly random slice of population 90% will be any combination of not interesting/not a nice person/hidden agenda or want to exploit you/have crazy views/...

many of them are higher class than me. in absolute numbers it's more lower class simply because there are fewer rich people than poor people but take 5 truly random people of either high or low, I think you would agree with me that only 1 at best you would want something to do with.

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