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I am still excited about new technology (45+) Douglas Adams inflection point is not real. It's the result of an author having fun with his audience very much i

by makach 4y ago

I am still excited about new technology (45+) Douglas Adams inflection point is not real. It's the result of an author having fun with his audience very much in the same way horologists make fun of their followers.

jhbadger 4y ago
I'm 52 and while I'm excited by some new technologies (I think AI art like DALL-E and Stable Diffusion are fascinating), I find I'm less and less excited by new gadgets, even though when I was younger I was an "early adopter" who liked to buy these things even in their first versions that often didn't work that well.
- mattkrause 4y ago
  My interest seems to depend on why the device doesn't work well. - The problem is intrinsically hard --> fun regardless - The problem is hard but we're pretending it isn't --> maddening - The problem isn't that hard (anymore) but the code/gizmo was rushed out or is pointlessly convoluted --> enraging.
  - mrandish 4y ago
    This is exactly how I look at new tech too. Makes me crazy when something new could work but doesn't for stupid reasons.
mordechai9000 4y ago
> horologists make fun of their followers Is this a reference to something in the article? I've never heard of horologists having followers, let alone being smug enough to mock them. I'm sure the best can make their craft sound very interesting, their are probably some YouTube rabbit holes there...
- makach 4y ago
  I am terribly sorry! English is not my first language, I meant astrologer not horologist. Considering its real meaning, I have to admit it is as funny as it should be-
Damogran6 4y ago
Now I want to know how Horologists mess with their followers. I remember new toys coming out every few months...CUseeMe, Pointcast, Palm Pilots, etc...lots of people doing lots of interesting things when things were developable. I get some of that same vibe around AI image generation today, but also a lot more disambiguation. You type a command, 60 million lines of code happen, and now you have a serverless webapp on the internet.

by makach 4y ago

jhbadger 4y ago

I'm 52 and while I'm excited by some new technologies (I think AI art like DALL-E and Stable Diffusion are fascinating), I find I'm less and less excited by new gadgets, even though when I was younger I was an "early adopter" who liked to buy these things even in their first versions that often didn't work that well.

mattkrause 4y ago
My interest seems to depend on why the device doesn't work well. - The problem is intrinsically hard --> fun regardless - The problem is hard but we're pretending it isn't --> maddening - The problem isn't that hard (anymore) but the code/gizmo was rushed out or is pointlessly convoluted --> enraging.
- mrandish 4y ago
  This is exactly how I look at new tech too. Makes me crazy when something new could work but doesn't for stupid reasons.

mordechai9000 4y ago

> horologists make fun of their followers Is this a reference to something in the article? I've never heard of horologists having followers, let alone being smug enough to mock them. I'm sure the best can make their craft sound very interesting, their are probably some YouTube rabbit holes there...

makach 4y ago
I am terribly sorry! English is not my first language, I meant astrologer not horologist. Considering its real meaning, I have to admit it is as funny as it should be-

Damogran6 4y ago

Now I want to know how Horologists mess with their followers. I remember new toys coming out every few months...CUseeMe, Pointcast, Palm Pilots, etc...lots of people doing lots of interesting things when things were developable. I get some of that same vibe around AI image generation today, but also a lot more disambiguation. You type a command, 60 million lines of code happen, and now you have a serverless webapp on the internet.