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Between 2016 and 2024, an advanced alien race arrived and was preparing to make first contact with humanity. Their primary goal was to ensure that the human rac

Between 2016 and 2024, an advanced alien race arrived and was preparing to make first contact with humanity. Their primary goal was to ensure that the human race would be a good steward of their technological heritage they were about to bestow upon mankind. After observing the large wasteful investments in techs such as during the Crypto mania, AR/VR mania, and Gen AI mania, the alien race decided that the human race was still too immature and decided to schedule another return visit in 100,000 years hoping that the situation would be improved by then.

ben_w 3y ago
> Crypto mania, AR/VR mania, and Gen AI mania One of the things I will never stop finding weird, is the tendency to group together things that aren't really related. I wonder if I do it too? If I did, I expect I wouldn't notice…
- adfm 3y ago
  They are all related as they are all primary examples of technologies enabled by hardware-accelerated floating point math. Pro tip: WebGPU provides a common API to all hardware acceleration going forward. From the din of bitcoin miners parked next to hydroelectric plants to the vents in the new Apple Vision Pro to the render farm spitting out hyper-surrealistic midjourney banality to your handset rendering this text; it's all happening via a Web-focused API. You may be asking yourself why Apple would release a half-baked $3500 HMD. This is why. They can balk all they want, but the app store model is eroding and they're looking for cover.
- bugbuddy 3y ago
  [flagged]
- xanderlewis 3y ago
  I think you can make a case they’re related; they’re all technologies that have been hyped in much the same way by much the same people. That’s not to say they’ll all end up in the same place, however — it seems already clear to me that ‘Gen AI’ has far more readily-applicable utility than, say, cryptocurrencies. I think you’re just objecting on the basis that AI is obviously already immensely useful while other hyped technologies (in their current state) aren’t. > I wonder if I do it too? If I did, I expect I wouldn't notice… A very good point! You might not. But grouping things together that don’t immediately seem related can be one of the most fruitful acts of all… ‘Mathematics is the art of giving the same name to different things’ - Henri Poincaré.
  - ben_w 3y ago
    > they’re all technologies that have been hyped in much the same way by much the same people. Really? I can see that for GenAI and Crypto (to my mild annoyance because I was doing GenAI before such people heard of Bitcoin), but not AR/VR. > I think you’re just objecting on the basis that AI is obviously already immensely useful while other hyped technologies (in their current state) aren’t. While I do indeed think AI is valuable, I also look at AR/VR and think "this is just another games console — some are handheld, some connect to your TV, this one is on your face". VR just… it just doesn't seem any more hyped than any of the other games consoles over the years that were also "revolutionary" and "amazing photorealistic graphics" etc., and mostly by different people?
    - xanderlewis 3y ago
      > Really? I can see that for GenAI and Crypto (to my mild annoyance because I was doing GenAI before such people heard of Bitcoin), but not AR/VR. Actually, you’re right. I haven’t seen AR/VR hyped in quite the same way as the other two. I’m not actually sure why… because it seems just as ripe for hyperbolic claims as any other ‘futuristic tech’. Possibly because the idea’s been around for much longer and has had a chance to burn out before it came close to being practically possible. Of course, ‘AI’ of the kind popular now is not an entirely new idea either (as you point out), but to the grifters on Twitter it is.

ben_w 3y ago

> Crypto mania, AR/VR mania, and Gen AI mania One of the things I will never stop finding weird, is the tendency to group together things that aren't really related. I wonder if I do it too? If I did, I expect I wouldn't notice…

adfm 3y ago
They are all related as they are all primary examples of technologies enabled by hardware-accelerated floating point math. Pro tip: WebGPU provides a common API to all hardware acceleration going forward. From the din of bitcoin miners parked next to hydroelectric plants to the vents in the new Apple Vision Pro to the render farm spitting out hyper-surrealistic midjourney banality to your handset rendering this text; it's all happening via a Web-focused API. You may be asking yourself why Apple would release a half-baked $3500 HMD. This is why. They can balk all they want, but the app store model is eroding and they're looking for cover.
bugbuddy 3y ago
[flagged]
xanderlewis 3y ago
I think you can make a case they’re related; they’re all technologies that have been hyped in much the same way by much the same people. That’s not to say they’ll all end up in the same place, however — it seems already clear to me that ‘Gen AI’ has far more readily-applicable utility than, say, cryptocurrencies. I think you’re just objecting on the basis that AI is obviously already immensely useful while other hyped technologies (in their current state) aren’t. > I wonder if I do it too? If I did, I expect I wouldn't notice… A very good point! You might not. But grouping things together that don’t immediately seem related can be one of the most fruitful acts of all… ‘Mathematics is the art of giving the same name to different things’ - Henri Poincaré.
- ben_w 3y ago
  > they’re all technologies that have been hyped in much the same way by much the same people. Really? I can see that for GenAI and Crypto (to my mild annoyance because I was doing GenAI before such people heard of Bitcoin), but not AR/VR. > I think you’re just objecting on the basis that AI is obviously already immensely useful while other hyped technologies (in their current state) aren’t. While I do indeed think AI is valuable, I also look at AR/VR and think "this is just another games console — some are handheld, some connect to your TV, this one is on your face". VR just… it just doesn't seem any more hyped than any of the other games consoles over the years that were also "revolutionary" and "amazing photorealistic graphics" etc., and mostly by different people?
  - xanderlewis 3y ago
    > Really? I can see that for GenAI and Crypto (to my mild annoyance because I was doing GenAI before such people heard of Bitcoin), but not AR/VR. Actually, you’re right. I haven’t seen AR/VR hyped in quite the same way as the other two. I’m not actually sure why… because it seems just as ripe for hyperbolic claims as any other ‘futuristic tech’. Possibly because the idea’s been around for much longer and has had a chance to burn out before it came close to being practically possible. Of course, ‘AI’ of the kind popular now is not an entirely new idea either (as you point out), but to the grifters on Twitter it is.