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I find it difficult to separate this piece’s tone from its content. The tone puts me off and makes it hard for me to judge it on its merits, despite some of th

by ElFitz 4mo ago

I find it difficult to separate this piece’s tone from its content. The tone puts me off and makes it hard for me to judge it on its merits, despite some of the arguments seeming sound and well supported.

metadat 4mo ago
Agreed. I am open to the possibility of the bubble bursting or whatever, but this piece is like 3,000 words and cites everything as evidence the sky is falling. It's just as bad as the pro-AI grifters, just in the other direction. Does the truth normally lie somewhere in the middle of it all?
- kunai 4mo ago
  Probably. Although I feel more inclined to forgive Ed in this case because it's sort of fighting fire with fire, the insanely hyperbolic and obscenely misleading drivel that's coming out of the most ardent AI boosters is continually unchallenged in the public eye. In a world where we had a more realistic view of AI/ML/LLMs, the limits to its capabilities, and the negative externalities of its widespread adoption in places where it quite frankly does not belong, then I'd be more critical of the Chicken Little sort of writing style
- viccis 4mo ago
  >Does the truth normally lie somewhere in the middle of it all? Usually does when you decide what constitutes extreme.
- marcosdumay 4mo ago
  At the /. times, there was somebody there with the best signature line. It was something like: "Some people say the Sun sets at East, other people say it sets at West. The truth, of course, is certainly on the middle."
techblueberry 4mo ago
Given the way tone has been intentionally abused, particularly in this industry, I’ll take a few f bombs and the truth.
- GaggiX 4mo ago
  >I’ll take a few f bombs and the truth. Don't want to ruin it but go read some old posts from the author about AI, the tone is the same and he is very much wrong.
- aoeusnth1 4mo ago
  What about all his other articles that had f-bombs and the predictive utility of used toilet paper?
- JacobAsmuth 4mo ago
  https://www.wheresyoured.at/peakai/ https://www.wheresyoured.at/peakai/ "I believe that artificial intelligence has three quarters to prove itself before the apocalypse comes, and when it does, it will be that much worse, savaging the revenues of the biggest companies in tech. Once usage drops, so will the remarkable amounts of revenue that have flowed into big tech, and so will acres of data centers sit unused, the cloud equivalent of the massive overhiring we saw in post-lockdown Silicon Valley." Ed Zitron. Mar 18, 2024
  - techblueberry 4mo ago
    Prescient
sumeno 4mo ago
Ed's posts are peak preaching to the choir, they're usually factually correct but he is really bad at convincing anyone who doesn't already strongly agree with him.
- JesseTG 4mo ago
  Have you seen his recent Bloomberg appearance? He's calm, collected, and matter-of-fact -- the complete opposite of how he presents himself on his newsletter and podcasts, but with the same argument. You wouldn't know from listening to him how spicy he usually is.
  - d33d 4mo ago
    I dont really understand the criticism either way. He's in the media business... its in his interest to amp things up.
    - JesseTG 4mo ago
      Yes, of course.
  - nyeah 4mo ago
    It's tuned to the audience. Bloomberg was traditionally for people who actually wanted information. People who were fallible and had limited knowledge. Of course that mentality is obsolete. Now we all have infinite access to perfectly correct information via the internet.
    - lowmagnet 4mo ago
      wow someone tell the philosophers this guy has figured out the knowledge problem!
- ElFitz 4mo ago
  Perhaps that’s it. I would tend to agree with his position, I think, but don’t appreciate being preached to. Even less so when I agree with what’s being said.
nyeah 4mo ago
Agreed. If the arguments seem sound and well supported, then all we can do is attack the tone.
- ElFitz 4mo ago
  You can disagree. Sarcastically, or otherwise. But I think you may be reading more into my comment than I put there. I’m not attacking the piece. I’m not saying it’s right. I’m not saying it’s wrong. What I’m saying is, the tone made it hard for me to judge the arguments fairly, despite finding some of them convincing. And as much as I dislike it, persuasion does partly depend on how an argument is made.
  - nyeah 4mo ago
    Thanks, it's very clear what you're saying.
deleted 4mo ago
[deleted]

by ElFitz 4mo ago

metadat 4mo ago

Agreed. I am open to the possibility of the bubble bursting or whatever, but this piece is like 3,000 words and cites everything as evidence the sky is falling. It's just as bad as the pro-AI grifters, just in the other direction. Does the truth normally lie somewhere in the middle of it all?

kunai 4mo ago
Probably. Although I feel more inclined to forgive Ed in this case because it's sort of fighting fire with fire, the insanely hyperbolic and obscenely misleading drivel that's coming out of the most ardent AI boosters is continually unchallenged in the public eye. In a world where we had a more realistic view of AI/ML/LLMs, the limits to its capabilities, and the negative externalities of its widespread adoption in places where it quite frankly does not belong, then I'd be more critical of the Chicken Little sort of writing style
viccis 4mo ago
>Does the truth normally lie somewhere in the middle of it all? Usually does when you decide what constitutes extreme.
marcosdumay 4mo ago
At the /. times, there was somebody there with the best signature line. It was something like: "Some people say the Sun sets at East, other people say it sets at West. The truth, of course, is certainly on the middle."

techblueberry 4mo ago

Given the way tone has been intentionally abused, particularly in this industry, I’ll take a few f bombs and the truth.

GaggiX 4mo ago
>I’ll take a few f bombs and the truth. Don't want to ruin it but go read some old posts from the author about AI, the tone is the same and he is very much wrong.
aoeusnth1 4mo ago
What about all his other articles that had f-bombs and the predictive utility of used toilet paper?
JacobAsmuth 4mo ago
https://www.wheresyoured.at/peakai/ https://www.wheresyoured.at/peakai/ "I believe that artificial intelligence has three quarters to prove itself before the apocalypse comes, and when it does, it will be that much worse, savaging the revenues of the biggest companies in tech. Once usage drops, so will the remarkable amounts of revenue that have flowed into big tech, and so will acres of data centers sit unused, the cloud equivalent of the massive overhiring we saw in post-lockdown Silicon Valley." Ed Zitron. Mar 18, 2024
- techblueberry 4mo ago
  Prescient

sumeno 4mo ago

Ed's posts are peak preaching to the choir, they're usually factually correct but he is really bad at convincing anyone who doesn't already strongly agree with him.

JesseTG 4mo ago
Have you seen his recent Bloomberg appearance? He's calm, collected, and matter-of-fact -- the complete opposite of how he presents himself on his newsletter and podcasts, but with the same argument. You wouldn't know from listening to him how spicy he usually is.
- d33d 4mo ago
  I dont really understand the criticism either way. He's in the media business... its in his interest to amp things up.
  - JesseTG 4mo ago
    Yes, of course.
- nyeah 4mo ago
  It's tuned to the audience. Bloomberg was traditionally for people who actually wanted information. People who were fallible and had limited knowledge. Of course that mentality is obsolete. Now we all have infinite access to perfectly correct information via the internet.
  - lowmagnet 4mo ago
    wow someone tell the philosophers this guy has figured out the knowledge problem!
ElFitz 4mo ago
Perhaps that’s it. I would tend to agree with his position, I think, but don’t appreciate being preached to. Even less so when I agree with what’s being said.

nyeah 4mo ago

Agreed. If the arguments seem sound and well supported, then all we can do is attack the tone.

ElFitz 4mo ago
You can disagree. Sarcastically, or otherwise. But I think you may be reading more into my comment than I put there. I’m not attacking the piece. I’m not saying it’s right. I’m not saying it’s wrong. What I’m saying is, the tone made it hard for me to judge the arguments fairly, despite finding some of them convincing. And as much as I dislike it, persuasion does partly depend on how an argument is made.
- nyeah 4mo ago
  Thanks, it's very clear what you're saying.

deleted 4mo ago

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