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It is easy wax philosophical when it doesn't affect you directly. There are folks honing on their VFX skills for close to a decade and they will be impacted in

It is easy wax philosophical when it doesn't affect you directly. There are folks honing on their VFX skills for close to a decade and they will be impacted in a significant way.

roenxi 3y ago
HN is in the perfect position to wax philosophical; this behemoth is coming for tech too. I've started plotting out what will happen if I have to use my hands to make a living and I'd really rather not be doing that. But reality is as reality is and nobody is owed a desk job. These are very exciting times with what type of society could be built with this tech, human inefficiencies are responsible for a lot of suffering that we can might be ab;e to stamp out soon.
fasterik 3y ago
It's not waxing philosophical, it's concrete advice for how to handle negative emotions associated with uncertainty and instability. The way things are going, it's very likely I'll be affected directly by these developments at some point. When that time comes, I'm not sure what will be better advice than focusing on the problems that I'm personally able to solve and looking at the potential upsides of the situation.
- aknfffn 3y ago
  I think the issue with “don’t worry about things you can’t control” is, in this tech forum, not as valid as you might think. We are building technology, to suggest no agency is helpful in avoiding any feeling of responsibility or guilt — perhaps rendering your comment within the realms of waxing philosophical. Who better to worry about this than the people of hacker news? From a pure mental health standpoint, sure, it’s solid advice but I think it’s narrowed the context of the broader concern too much. An alternative to learned helplessness of “nothing you can do” is to encourage technologists to do the opposite. Instead of forgetting about it, trying to put it out of your mind, fight for the future you want. Join others in that effort. That’s the reason society has hope — not the people shrugging as people fall by the wayside. Depression mediation by agency feels more positive, but I don’t have a lot of experience tbh. Just a view that we, technologists, shouldn’t abdicate responsibility nor encourage others to do so. That culture, imo, is why a large section of tech workers, consumers and commentators see the industry in a bad light. They’re not wrong. EDIT: to add, “what problems can I personally solve” also individualises society’s ability to shape itself for the better. “What problems can I personally get involved in solving”, “what communities are trying to solve problems I care about” is perhaps the message I’d advocate for.
  - fasterik 3y ago
    Sure, I would include a broad set of things under "what you can control", including joining an organization, donating, voting, etc. The OP is excessively worrying about things they truly can't control, like the long-term political implications of emerging technologies.
  - DougEiffel 3y ago
    I think the point is to start considering a back up plan and then...hakuna matata. Cat's out of the bag. There is no legislation that will stop this. Not unless/until it has some obscene cost and AI gets locked down like nuclear weapons. But even then, it's just too simple to make these things now that the tech is known. I sure don't know the answer but we just don't know what's coming next. Gonna have to wait and see.
slillibri 3y ago
Sure, let's ask all the model makers and matte painters that had honed their skills for decades and were put out of work by CGI VFX.
- j16sdiz 3y ago
  As an society, we have gone through that. As an individual, I think the experience would be dreadful
- shortrounddev2 3y ago
  That literally happened with Jurassic park. They replaced the stop motion modeled animations with CGI and most of those guys were out of a job

It is easy wax philosophical when it doesn't affect you directly. There are folks honing on their VFX skills for close to a decade and they will be impacted in a significant way.

roenxi 3y ago

HN is in the perfect position to wax philosophical; this behemoth is coming for tech too. I've started plotting out what will happen if I have to use my hands to make a living and I'd really rather not be doing that. But reality is as reality is and nobody is owed a desk job. These are very exciting times with what type of society could be built with this tech, human inefficiencies are responsible for a lot of suffering that we can might be ab;e to stamp out soon.

fasterik 3y ago

It's not waxing philosophical, it's concrete advice for how to handle negative emotions associated with uncertainty and instability. The way things are going, it's very likely I'll be affected directly by these developments at some point. When that time comes, I'm not sure what will be better advice than focusing on the problems that I'm personally able to solve and looking at the potential upsides of the situation.

aknfffn 3y ago
I think the issue with “don’t worry about things you can’t control” is, in this tech forum, not as valid as you might think. We are building technology, to suggest no agency is helpful in avoiding any feeling of responsibility or guilt — perhaps rendering your comment within the realms of waxing philosophical. Who better to worry about this than the people of hacker news? From a pure mental health standpoint, sure, it’s solid advice but I think it’s narrowed the context of the broader concern too much. An alternative to learned helplessness of “nothing you can do” is to encourage technologists to do the opposite. Instead of forgetting about it, trying to put it out of your mind, fight for the future you want. Join others in that effort. That’s the reason society has hope — not the people shrugging as people fall by the wayside. Depression mediation by agency feels more positive, but I don’t have a lot of experience tbh. Just a view that we, technologists, shouldn’t abdicate responsibility nor encourage others to do so. That culture, imo, is why a large section of tech workers, consumers and commentators see the industry in a bad light. They’re not wrong. EDIT: to add, “what problems can I personally solve” also individualises society’s ability to shape itself for the better. “What problems can I personally get involved in solving”, “what communities are trying to solve problems I care about” is perhaps the message I’d advocate for.
- fasterik 3y ago
  Sure, I would include a broad set of things under "what you can control", including joining an organization, donating, voting, etc. The OP is excessively worrying about things they truly can't control, like the long-term political implications of emerging technologies.
- DougEiffel 3y ago
  I think the point is to start considering a back up plan and then...hakuna matata. Cat's out of the bag. There is no legislation that will stop this. Not unless/until it has some obscene cost and AI gets locked down like nuclear weapons. But even then, it's just too simple to make these things now that the tech is known. I sure don't know the answer but we just don't know what's coming next. Gonna have to wait and see.

slillibri 3y ago

Sure, let's ask all the model makers and matte painters that had honed their skills for decades and were put out of work by CGI VFX.

j16sdiz 3y ago
As an society, we have gone through that. As an individual, I think the experience would be dreadful
shortrounddev2 3y ago
That literally happened with Jurassic park. They replaced the stop motion modeled animations with CGI and most of those guys were out of a job