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The Permanent Upper Crow

permanent-upper-crow.jasonwu.ink

81–88 of 88 posts

Re: The Permanent Upper Crow

#81
post #22

What's interesting is the creator of the site has listed on their linkedin that they're ... wait for it ... a co-founder at some generic AI startup with the goal of using AI agents to automate away manual jobs.

Understandig how the hammer falls tells you where to stand to avoid it.

Unless the hammer ultimately destroys the world. And it seems our escape rocket is no more.

Re: The Permanent Upper Crow

#82

I wasn't expecting this to get the visibility it did... but I want to say thank you to everyone that took a few minutes of their precious time to play through this. I made this on a whim yesterday. It's inspired by many of my experiences talking to folks in the AI space. While it paints a grim picture, I still have hope that we'll find a way out of this mess in the future. I also want to give some recognition for the…

Money is the root of all evil.

Re: The Permanent Upper Crow

#83
post #77

What's interesting is the creator of the site has listed on their linkedin that they're ... wait for it ... a co-founder at some generic AI startup with the goal of using AI agents to automate away manual jobs.

What if the intended takeaway was something else like this? "Jumping so late onto the bandwagon by buying shares like that is for losers! Winners are people bold enough to be entrepreneurs who make the stuff and sell the shares. (Like I'm going to do, because I'm smarter than that crow.)" I must warn that it isn't the most charitable random-ass-theory of a stranger's worldview... but it would resolve the apparent inc…

We know what the intended takeaway is because the author helpfully explained it in a blog post [1], and it's way less cynical than what you guessed:

> A world where a majority of the population is suffering is not a world good for anyone. Even from a selfish perspective, does you making it into the elite class mean the people you care about will too? Who wants to eat caviar alone on the moon?

I agree, though I would have stopped at the first sentence.

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[1] https://www.jasonwu.ink/signals/2026-05-27-permanent-upper-c...

Re: The Permanent Upper Crow

#84

What's interesting is the creator of the site has listed on their linkedin that they're ... wait for it ... a co-founder at some generic AI startup with the goal of using AI agents to automate away manual jobs.

Are we the Baddies? Yes, and how interesting. I could vibe a game about that.

> Are we the Baddies? Yes, and how interesting. I could vibe a game about that.

The author's actual take is way less cynical. It seems he wanted to point out that a world where you try to save yourself at all costs while the majority suffers is not a good world.

See: https://www.jasonwu.ink/signals/2026-05-27-permanent-upper-c...

Re: The Permanent Upper Crow

#85

What's interesting is the creator of the site has listed on their linkedin that they're ... wait for it ... a co-founder at some generic AI startup with the goal of using AI agents to automate away manual jobs.

Maybe he strongly supports UBI or a national dividend and understands how automation makes these much easier.

The author explains his opinion in a blog post, and it's not that: https://www.jasonwu.ink/signals/2026-05-27-permanent-upper-c...

It's simply: saving yourself (by getting rich or whatever) before AI puts us all out of a job is not good, because the majority of the world will suffer and that's not good for anyone.

Re: The Permanent Upper Crow

#86

I wasn't expecting this to get the visibility it did... but I want to say thank you to everyone that took a few minutes of their precious time to play through this. I made this on a whim yesterday. It's inspired by many of my experiences talking to folks in the AI space. While it paints a grim picture, I still have hope that we'll find a way out of this mess in the future. I also want to give some recognition for the…

Are you familiar with Molleindustria? [1] (Oiligarchy, Unmanned, Every Day The Same Dream)

I think your game would fit quite well in that collection of "political" indie games. Which, in my opinion, is high praise.

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[1] https://www.molleindustria.org/

Re: The Permanent Upper Crow

#87
post #82

I wasn't expecting this to get the visibility it did... but I want to say thank you to everyone that took a few minutes of their precious time to play through this. I made this on a whim yesterday. It's inspired by many of my experiences talking to folks in the AI space. While it paints a grim picture, I still have hope that we'll find a way out of this mess in the future. I also want to give some recognition for the…

Money is the root of all evil.

That's a common misquotation of 1 Timothy 6:10 from the bible, which is that the love of money is the root of all evil. Not to get theological, but I reckon it's an important and informative distinction.

Here's a link to the verse in many translations: https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/1%20Timothy%206:10

Re: The Permanent Upper Crow

#88
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are we the Baddies? Yes, and how interesting. I could vibe a game about that.

> Are we the Baddies? Yes, and how interesting. I could vibe a game about that. The author's actual take is way less cynical. It seems he wanted to point out that a world where you try to save yourself at all costs while the majority suffers is not a good world. See: https://www.jasonwu.ink/signals/2026-05-27-permanent-upper-c...

Now I get it. The context read so badly because it was written as a critique of complete bugmen.
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