Like cars, airplanes and the industrial revolution in general, I think the genie is out of the bottle.

I know and understand the multitude of reasons to oppose AI, but there is no halting technology. Perhaps safeguards can be imposed, but judging from the changes in only my lifetime, I can only imagine what life will be like in another decade. The change only becomes more rapid. Will we meet George Jetson in my lifetime, maybe? My only hope is that the good outweighs the bad, but change is inevitable.

Like cars, airplanes and the industrial revolution in general, I think the genie is out of the bottle.

Yeah, no. That’s like saying, “womp womp. Might as well burn coal and drive a gas guzzling SUV. It’s too late to do anything so why not make it worse?”

Yeah, no. That’s like saying, “womp womp. Might as well burn coal and drive a gas guzzling SUV. It’s too late to do anything so why not make it worse?”

I'm not saying you're obliged to use it directly or like it, but it's already been widely integrated into just about everything. Even when you're not directly engaged with something like ChatGPT you're interacting with it.

You won't have the kind of choice you'd have between buying an electric vehicle and an oversized pickup because it's being so thoroughly woven into the business structure.

Everywhere there's Capitalism there will be AI because AI eliminates labor costs.

I think it's just acknowledging reality. Humanity ain't great when it comes to long-term thinking vs. short-term gains, as Hec says, and AI's unlikely to go anywhere. There are some ways its impact can be lessened [link] but I'm mostly just trying to figure out how to get to retirement age without it replacing me.

(Tragically, BTW, figuring out how to get to retirement age with a job = having Doctor Strangelove the damn tech.)

Perhaps safeguards can be imposed

It just feels like our gerontocracy in Congress didn't understand this technological shift at all, and now it's far too late to put any safeguard on it. The Tech companies already scraped all the books and data they needed to get started and there was no check on them.

I definitely think that just on the cultural side there will be AI generated pop hits (I've already heard perfectly credible contemporary country songs done by AI), children's shows and romances within a year or two. Because a lot of people consume culture because they want their tropes served up to them with no surprises.

That's the whole model of Spotify which is already working AI songs into particular mood playlists.

but I'm mostly just trying to figure out how to get to retirement age without it replacing me.

I have so many friends who've had careers which are just going to disappear. I know a few people who've supported themselves writing ad copy for catalogs. That's definitely going away.

Book and magazine layout. Menu design. Signage. Background music. Curriculum. Project management, Captioning. Copyediting, book blurbs, marketing.

All the administrative work I used to do as a secretary. Lots of programming (as noted by Sophia at the beginning of this discussion).

I just read this morning that the DOJ has started sending letters to medical journals demanding to know if the journals are accepting articles with “competing viewpoints.” I can’t even wrap my brain around that. The “competing viewpoints” are nonscientific, dangerous, and potentially deadly because they are INCORRECT. Science is about facts, not viewpoints.

Science is about facts, not viewpoints.

Surely anti-vax pseudoscience needs mainstreaming!

That could be in response to my article proposing that a diet of ice cream, pizza, and beer leads to guaranteed longevity. About time my competing viewpoint was recognized.

Joke or tremble in fear, it's a constant battle here.