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Graduates are booing pep talks on AI at college commencements

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Re: Graduates are booing pep talks on AI at college commencements

#61

Post by bawolff »

happytoexplain wrote: post #46
jstanley wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We've done this dozens of times before. In the short term some people suffer and that is bad for them. In the long term everyone is much better off due to increased productivity.

Every time, the people suffering are correct to revolt, and the people trying to repress them are incorrect to repress them, from the perspective of human beings. Every time, the "increased productivity" is inevitable , but that is not the same as better off . None of these changes has been 100% positive, even in the long run, and this one is shaping up to be the most disappointing of them all in that dimension. Inev…

> None of these changes has been 100% positive, even in the long run,

Personally i do in fact think we are better off (in the long term) because of e.g. the industrial revolution.

Short term, it was horrific, but i'd still rather live now than as a peasent in the mid-1700s.

I'd be intersted in hearing a counter argument from anyone who disagrees, as its hard for me to imagine.

Re: Graduates are booing pep talks on AI at college commencements

#62

Post by happytoexplain »

jstanley wrote: post #25
dmbche wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When is the productivity showing up?

If productivity doesn't increase then you don't need to worry about displaced workers.

Business leaders are not perfectly rational beings.

Re: Graduates are booing pep talks on AI at college commencements

#63

Post by joezydeco »

throwaway27448 wrote: post #22

Who thought it was a good idea to involve AI into a commencement speech? Talk about showing contempt to the graduates!

There's a bit of hypocrisy going on as well. Are you sure 100% of those kids in the crowd never touched AI to help them with an assignment or fake their way through a homework?

The feeling I get right now is that we're happy to use the assist when necessary, but hate being told it will replace you completely.

Re: Graduates are booing pep talks on AI at college commencements

#64

Post by everyone »

In theory more automation = less drudge work for humans, so its great. But in practice, in corrupt societies, elites reap all the benefits while the lower classes eat all the downsides.

The thing is though, this is not a tech problem, it's a society problem. Elites will use literally any technology from any era to do the same thing. It's been the case for 1000's of years, even Romans had factories and slave powered mega-farms for example.

Lots of countries are extremely corrupt, they have systems that allow power to concentrate over time (political/ military/ financial, it doesnt matter, it ends up the same either way. Eg. With enough financial power you also gain all the political power and vice versa). That's the root issue people should be trying to fix imo. And how to fix? I dunno, something drastic, we probably need something like the French revolutions.

Re: Graduates are booing pep talks on AI at college commencements

#65

Post by monknomo »

rybosworld wrote: post #40
jstanley wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We've done this dozens of times before. In the short term some people suffer and that is bad for them. In the long term everyone is much better off due to increased productivity.

> We've done this dozens of times before. No, we really haven't. Every previous wave of automation has targeted human labor. The thing that makes human's unique in the animal kingdom is our intelligence. From an economic stand point, that's the thing that makes people valuable. When that's automated, what is there left? Onlyfans?

hardly, onlyfans is going to have loads of competitions from ai waifus

Re: Graduates are booing pep talks on AI at college commencements

#66

Post by happytoexplain »

bawolff wrote: post #61
happytoexplain wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every time, the people suffering are correct to revolt, and the people trying to repress them are incorrect to repress them, from the perspective of human beings. Every time, the "increased productivity" is inevitable , but that is not the same as better off . None of these changes has been 100% positive, even in the long run, and this one is shaping up to be the most disappointing of them all in that dimension. Inev…

> None of these changes has been 100% positive, even in the long run, Personally i do in fact think we are better off (in the long term) because of e.g. the industrial revolution. Short term, it was horrific, but i'd still rather live now than as a peasent in the mid-1700s. I'd be intersted in hearing a counter argument from anyone who disagrees, as its hard for me to imagine.

I said 100%. Not on average. Billions of humans are more complicated than that. We can be elevated in some ways while being degraded in others.

I.e. progress is not free, and some costs last forever, they are not only up-front. Ignoring the costs is deadly.

Re: Graduates are booing pep talks on AI at college commencements

#67

Post by havblue »

ethanplant wrote: post #5

I’m genuinely confused as to why the speakers are baffled by the boos. Everyone, and especially new grads constantly hear that AI is going to replace every job. And absolutely no one seems to be interested in answering the question of “okay, then what?” Of course people are going to react negatively when they hear, “the machines are going to take your jobs from you. No, we don’t care how you’ll be able to pay your re…

When I was in high school, the guidance counselors never really talked about job headwinds. Those were things that would presumably happen to other kids. The recipient of a motivational speech has infinite potential.

It's the same logic with discussing AI. The audience is the cream of the crop and will adapt to the future and benefit from technology. It's those other kids who didn't get your advice that might have to change careers.

Re: Graduates are booing pep talks on AI at college commencements

#68

Post by pesus »

dakiol wrote: post #52
jstanley wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We've done this dozens of times before. In the short term some people suffer and that is bad for them. In the long term everyone is much better off due to increased productivity.

Who cares about productivity? Your CEO. Not you, not me. We all cannot be CEOs.

Related: productivity has greatly increased over the last ~75 years, but wages have not increased anywhere near the same amount[0]. There is no reason for anyone besides CEOs (or similar positions) to care about productivity.

[0]: https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/

Re: Graduates are booing pep talks on AI at college commencements

#69

Post by toasty228 »

jstanley wrote: post #50
toasty228 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In the long term everyone is much better off due to increased productivity. reply Do people still believe in these fairy tales lmao? Most of the productivity gains don't go to the workers, pretty much everywhere in the developed world working hours and retirement age are going up, housing affordability is going down. You're not "much better off" https://assets.weforum.org/editor/HFNnYrqruqvI_-Skg2C7ZYjdcX... Politi…

[flagged]

As if these were the only choices: submit to your AI overlords or become a peasant. What a lack of imagination...

Re: Graduates are booing pep talks on AI at college commencements

#70

Post by Joel_Mckay »

mkw5053 wrote: post #24
brcmthrowaway wrote: post #3

College students are cooked for entry level work. I'm guessing there will soon be a government mandate requiring some percentage of NCGs to be hired, similar to India and other countries with huge cohorts.

I believe Anthropic has stopped hiring junior and mid eng. So if they're an indication of what's the come (or is already here)

They are a business, and not an outreach program.

Note NVIDIA is engaged in questionable operations that must end... sooner or later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUbJDrL6ZfM

Unfortunately, the economic fallout will impact kids hardest. =3

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