There's no earthly way of knowing which direction we are going

Post by Nevermark » Wed, May 20, 2026, 10:09 PM UTC

dotancohen wrote: post #79

Nevermark wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You might want to read about the history of the term sabotage then. This actually is precedented. Yes, history. History reveals time and again that dislodging the powerful via lawlessness is not a sweet prelude to a better world. To be precise, even in the best case, at least a generation goes through hell before things stabilize. I am not a big fan of "solutions" that dramatically introduce much bigger deeper prob…

Thank you for the blunt response. I was not advocating for sabotage - rather I was demonstrating that the current situation has precedent and giving GP a starting point from where to read. Thank you for pointing out that interpretation.

Post by silver_silver » Wed, May 20, 2026, 11:41 PM UTC

rhubarbtree wrote: post #59

silver_silver wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reads like an avocado toast critique. Businesses which respect their staff, particularly junior staff, are few and far in between. Why should anyone not “silently quit” when the attitude of their employer is to extract as much value for the lowest cost before a round of layoffs?

Well, the workplace I referred to was very kind and supportive of staff. Even people who left later sent messages saying it was the best treatment they’d ever had. So not the reason in this case. And I personally know another company that seems similar.

Post by keybored » Thu, May 21, 2026, 5:19 AM UTC

danaris wrote: post #74

keybored wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t know. I haven’t seen anyone who is brave enough to deserve to be called a (Neo) Luddite. People that have negative opinions about technological progress at least have the will to form an opinion backed by arguments. Contrast that with the faith order of dismissing negative opinions simply because they are negative about tech. Are technologist tech professionals? Or tech priests? (No wait, priests have to have…

The Luddites were able to destroy the mechanical looms because they were right there, in the buildings they worked in, doing the work in front of them. And, of course, because they were fairly straightforward and moderately fragile mechanical devices. It takes much more bravery—and much more than bravery—to first figure out which datacenters are actually hosting Gemini (or Claude, or ChatGPT, etc), then travel across…

Post by keybored » Thu, May 21, 2026, 7:40 AM UTC

danaris wrote: post #86

keybored wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any fighting back. Equipment sabotage not needed.

And what, exactly, does "fighting back" look like in this case? Because people are already taking steps to try to poison the AI training data. They're trying to create their own art and culture in spite of the machine. They're protesting the political forces that are enabling the techbros. They're unionizing in numbers not seen in decades. What would actually count as "brave" to you, if this isn't it?