4 ms·

As a teenager at the time, there was a palpable feeling of being part of a counter-culture that was on the bleeding edge of an inevitable future which adults si

As a teenager at the time, there was a palpable feeling of being part of a counter-culture that was on the bleeding edge of an inevitable future which adults simply could not grok. That world definitely ain't coming back, in large part because global internet connectivity has rendered quaint the very notion of counter-culture. On the other hand, retro computing and nostalgia for the era has never been stronger or more accessible: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3NQQ7bPf6U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3NQQ7bPf6U

b800h 4y ago
I predict that your second sentence will be thoroughly disproven by the next generation, who will go offline en masse to find reality once AI makes the entire Internet inauthentic.
- Jensson 4y ago
  They wont be able to go back to their childhood programs because they wont exist any more, so nostalgia computing wont be a thing for them even if they wanted it.
  - NovaDudely 4y ago
    Computer nostalgia is neat for a little while and emulation is making it easier than ever. As for the next generation - They won't go back to what we had but move forwards onto something completely different and new. Hopefully we will understand it, or just be the old folks yelling at clouds and children about how the world has changed!
    - RGamma 4y ago
      *Big-eyed wide-mouth filter face pulls up, 10s of Top10 song in the background* Hey guys! *5 seconds of grimaces* Today we lick toilet seats and find out whether you can drink pee (doesn't actually do it). Please download Raid: Shadow Legends Infinite *10 cuts in 5 seconds* Please like and follow and leave a comment below if you would drink pee. 50 million views, 100k advertising dollars.
  - b800h 4y ago
    I'm thinking a bit more broadly than that. It'll be about real-flesh experiences, learning physical musical instruments and playing with others, experiencing real physical peril, a thorough rejection of transhumanist ideals; essentially a reiteration of the Romantic movement which led to things after the Industrial revolution like the Kibbo Kift: By their very nature, things which can't be ingested by an AI and monetised. Of course, after that you'll have a synthesis of the two ideas emerging. That's too many steps ahead for me to predict, but there are passages from Iain M. Banks' Culture books which might be on the money.
- ragnot 4y ago
  This is an insight I'm going to remember for a while.
- mindcrime 4y ago
  who will go offline en masse to find reality once AI makes the entire Internet inauthentic. I've been thinking about this a bit lately, albeit from a slightly different angle. I think people will begin looking for a different "reality" due to the homogenization of everything due to AI. That is to say, it's not "inauthenticity" as such that I think people will react to, but lack of originality and creativity. I mean, when ChatGPT is writing all new books, screenplays, whitepapers, business plans, etc., etc., it seems to me that everything is going to collapse to one boring, homogeneous, "everything is the same as everything else" state. If my theory is right, the currency of the future might simply be "novelty" and human creativity. This is, of course, all based on the idea that (current) AI's are, as Emily Bender put it, "stochastic parrots"[1]. All they can really do is spew up a somewhat randomized pastiche of human reality circa 2021 or so. So far they don't really have any innate creativity as such. That said, I don't see any reason in principle to think that AI won't also eventually be able to be creative is the same sense that we are today. What happens then is a whole other question. [1]: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3442188.3445922 https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3442188.3445922
  - wkat4242 4y ago
    > I mean, when ChatGPT is writing all new books, screenplays, whitepapers, business plans, etc., etc., it seems to me that ChatGPT needs humans to learn from though. It's very good at combining human knowledge and existing ideas. That's totally its thing. Creative thought and new inventions? Not so much. > everything is going to collapse to one boring, homogeneous, "everything is the same as everything else" state. That's probably true. Like the circles you get in now when you try to Google something. Try to tweak your query and you keep getting the same shit back like it's the only few sites in the world. Really creepy, and probably the result of some overbearing algorithm or too many paid results. It reminds me of this ST:TNG episode where one character is In a collapsing bubble where everything keeps disappearing.
RGamma 4y ago
You know, being part of any culture (and not just leftovers) would be nice these days...
hammyhavoc 4y ago
LAN parties aren't dead, but the people that used to attend them got older, had kids, and now will probably get judged by their spouse for going to one. Younger generations most definitely have LAN parties. Now that computers are once again becoming less popular and more appliances have taken their place (smartphones, game consoles etc), the people who are into PC gaming are becoming a more tight-knit and like-minded demographic.

b800h 4y ago

I predict that your second sentence will be thoroughly disproven by the next generation, who will go offline en masse to find reality once AI makes the entire Internet inauthentic.

Jensson 4y ago
They wont be able to go back to their childhood programs because they wont exist any more, so nostalgia computing wont be a thing for them even if they wanted it.
- NovaDudely 4y ago
  Computer nostalgia is neat for a little while and emulation is making it easier than ever. As for the next generation - They won't go back to what we had but move forwards onto something completely different and new. Hopefully we will understand it, or just be the old folks yelling at clouds and children about how the world has changed!
  - RGamma 4y ago
    *Big-eyed wide-mouth filter face pulls up, 10s of Top10 song in the background* Hey guys! *5 seconds of grimaces* Today we lick toilet seats and find out whether you can drink pee (doesn't actually do it). Please download Raid: Shadow Legends Infinite *10 cuts in 5 seconds* Please like and follow and leave a comment below if you would drink pee. 50 million views, 100k advertising dollars.
- b800h 4y ago
  I'm thinking a bit more broadly than that. It'll be about real-flesh experiences, learning physical musical instruments and playing with others, experiencing real physical peril, a thorough rejection of transhumanist ideals; essentially a reiteration of the Romantic movement which led to things after the Industrial revolution like the Kibbo Kift: By their very nature, things which can't be ingested by an AI and monetised. Of course, after that you'll have a synthesis of the two ideas emerging. That's too many steps ahead for me to predict, but there are passages from Iain M. Banks' Culture books which might be on the money.
ragnot 4y ago
This is an insight I'm going to remember for a while.
mindcrime 4y ago
who will go offline en masse to find reality once AI makes the entire Internet inauthentic. I've been thinking about this a bit lately, albeit from a slightly different angle. I think people will begin looking for a different "reality" due to the homogenization of everything due to AI. That is to say, it's not "inauthenticity" as such that I think people will react to, but lack of originality and creativity. I mean, when ChatGPT is writing all new books, screenplays, whitepapers, business plans, etc., etc., it seems to me that everything is going to collapse to one boring, homogeneous, "everything is the same as everything else" state. If my theory is right, the currency of the future might simply be "novelty" and human creativity. This is, of course, all based on the idea that (current) AI's are, as Emily Bender put it, "stochastic parrots"[1]. All they can really do is spew up a somewhat randomized pastiche of human reality circa 2021 or so. So far they don't really have any innate creativity as such. That said, I don't see any reason in principle to think that AI won't also eventually be able to be creative is the same sense that we are today. What happens then is a whole other question. [1]: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3442188.3445922 https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3442188.3445922
- wkat4242 4y ago
  > I mean, when ChatGPT is writing all new books, screenplays, whitepapers, business plans, etc., etc., it seems to me that ChatGPT needs humans to learn from though. It's very good at combining human knowledge and existing ideas. That's totally its thing. Creative thought and new inventions? Not so much. > everything is going to collapse to one boring, homogeneous, "everything is the same as everything else" state. That's probably true. Like the circles you get in now when you try to Google something. Try to tweak your query and you keep getting the same shit back like it's the only few sites in the world. Really creepy, and probably the result of some overbearing algorithm or too many paid results. It reminds me of this ST:TNG episode where one character is In a collapsing bubble where everything keeps disappearing.

RGamma 4y ago

You know, being part of any culture (and not just leftovers) would be nice these days...

hammyhavoc 4y ago

LAN parties aren't dead, but the people that used to attend them got older, had kids, and now will probably get judged by their spouse for going to one. Younger generations most definitely have LAN parties. Now that computers are once again becoming less popular and more appliances have taken their place (smartphones, game consoles etc), the people who are into PC gaming are becoming a more tight-knit and like-minded demographic.