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Weird, as I see it as almost the flip side of the coin from the author. I was just today discussing my playing with a resolution to - by year end - go back to

by kromem 3y ago

Weird, as I see it as almost the flip side of the coin from the author. I was just today discussing my playing with a resolution to - by year end - go back to a flip phone. But the only way I see this as feasible in a modern world, to disconnect from a connected world, is to leverage AI to do so. Have it read and triage my inbox, and if it's important and urgent, call me. Otherwise just summarize it in an EOD back and forth. Rather than seeing AI as enslaving me to overstimulation for my monkey brain I see it as a potential liberator at long last. Similarly, while yes Moore's Law for most traditional computing workloads means we're hitting a flattening curve, specifically neural network workloads have continued massive potential in hardware shifts over the next decade. And the ways in which we are already seeing proof of concepts for moving traditional computing tasks to AI has me wondering just how important traditional processing is actually going to be for the majority of my increasingly liberated computer usage. For the first time in over a decade I'm actually looking forward to what tech has to bring to my life beyond a slightly faster processor with diminishing returns.

justanotherjoe 3y ago
I see this sentiment a lot. People want to have AI be on the internet for them instead of themselves. It really shed light on the 'always online' thing: we never really 'want' this, rather we feel that it is necessary for survival. Given the same benefit, people would rather not be on the internet. That blows my mind a bit.
- verisimi 3y ago
  Well, the internet is not what it was. It was an explosion of individuality, new information - I found this highly beneficial to personal growth. It is now a series of corporate sandboxes connected by steep-walled corridors, with each individual's actions bent and monetised for the benefit of others. The promise of the future is even worse - an ai that will curate a custom reality for you. But then, who wants that? If that's it, may it die a quick death or at least let its offerings be recognised as largely irrelevant to people, like the some unhinged communist uber television channel.
- ChatGTP 3y ago
  My instagram feed is full of fake AI images. I really find it fucking disgustingly boring. Last month was the first time that I actually truly thought, "Instagram is boring, why bother". I know Instagram isn't "the internet" but there is about 5 platforms that make "the internet" up, and Meta's are up there. But yeah, the less I'm on a computer or phone, the better.
- pjc50 3y ago
  It's a "broken glass cornucopia": the Internet is a horn of plenty disgorging an unlimited amount of free, good content .. with harmful fragments mixed in. Sometimes the effort of filtering out the harmful bits is too much. Sometimes one too many bits breaks through. Sometimes you become aware of it gradually, like a cigarette smoker. Sometimes the very plenty itself feels like the problem. I think one of the things I'm going to spend 2024 looking at is trying to separate out "want to do", "enjoy doing", "feel compelled to do", and "feel good about having done".
- sp332 3y ago
  This has been true since the very beginning of the information age, before the internet was a thing. The dream was to have "user agents", little AIs that would navigate and take action on our behalf. The BBC released this "Hyperland" video with Douglas Adams and Tom Baker in 1990. https://archive.org/details/DouglasAdams-Hyperland https://archive.org/details/DouglasAdams-Hyperland
- jwells89 3y ago
  I think it’s more that people want to pick and choose what parts of the internet they personally engage with, automating the loathsome-but-necessary parts and leaving the parts they enjoy for themselves. It’s kind of chasing the internet as it was for many in the late 90s and early 00s, where it wasn’t yet common enough to be a hard requirement for most people, with the bulk of usage being being for leisure or at least entirely voluntary.
- svilen_dobrev 3y ago
  > People want to have AI be on the internet for them instead of themselves. Hah that's the electric Monks of Douglas Adams' Dirk Gently universe.. Happening too soon i'd say.
throwaway290 3y ago
> But the only way I see this as feasible in a modern world, to disconnect from a connected world, is to leverage AI to do so. Have it read and triage my inbox, and if it's important and urgent, call me. Might shock you but people for ages did and today do live like this without AI!

by kromem 3y ago

justanotherjoe 3y ago

I see this sentiment a lot. People want to have AI be on the internet for them instead of themselves. It really shed light on the 'always online' thing: we never really 'want' this, rather we feel that it is necessary for survival. Given the same benefit, people would rather not be on the internet. That blows my mind a bit.

verisimi 3y ago
Well, the internet is not what it was. It was an explosion of individuality, new information - I found this highly beneficial to personal growth. It is now a series of corporate sandboxes connected by steep-walled corridors, with each individual's actions bent and monetised for the benefit of others. The promise of the future is even worse - an ai that will curate a custom reality for you. But then, who wants that? If that's it, may it die a quick death or at least let its offerings be recognised as largely irrelevant to people, like the some unhinged communist uber television channel.
ChatGTP 3y ago
My instagram feed is full of fake AI images. I really find it fucking disgustingly boring. Last month was the first time that I actually truly thought, "Instagram is boring, why bother". I know Instagram isn't "the internet" but there is about 5 platforms that make "the internet" up, and Meta's are up there. But yeah, the less I'm on a computer or phone, the better.
pjc50 3y ago
It's a "broken glass cornucopia": the Internet is a horn of plenty disgorging an unlimited amount of free, good content .. with harmful fragments mixed in. Sometimes the effort of filtering out the harmful bits is too much. Sometimes one too many bits breaks through. Sometimes you become aware of it gradually, like a cigarette smoker. Sometimes the very plenty itself feels like the problem. I think one of the things I'm going to spend 2024 looking at is trying to separate out "want to do", "enjoy doing", "feel compelled to do", and "feel good about having done".
sp332 3y ago
This has been true since the very beginning of the information age, before the internet was a thing. The dream was to have "user agents", little AIs that would navigate and take action on our behalf. The BBC released this "Hyperland" video with Douglas Adams and Tom Baker in 1990. https://archive.org/details/DouglasAdams-Hyperland https://archive.org/details/DouglasAdams-Hyperland
jwells89 3y ago
I think it’s more that people want to pick and choose what parts of the internet they personally engage with, automating the loathsome-but-necessary parts and leaving the parts they enjoy for themselves. It’s kind of chasing the internet as it was for many in the late 90s and early 00s, where it wasn’t yet common enough to be a hard requirement for most people, with the bulk of usage being being for leisure or at least entirely voluntary.
svilen_dobrev 3y ago
> People want to have AI be on the internet for them instead of themselves. Hah that's the electric Monks of Douglas Adams' Dirk Gently universe.. Happening too soon i'd say.

throwaway290 3y ago

> But the only way I see this as feasible in a modern world, to disconnect from a connected world, is to leverage AI to do so. Have it read and triage my inbox, and if it's important and urgent, call me. Might shock you but people for ages did and today do live like this without AI!