It's awesome to see the amazing value for society being created by big tech these days.
As PoC I’d say look at the subreddit SubSimulatorGPT2
www.reddit.com/r/SubSimulatorGPT2
If this industry didn't pay so well, I would've been gone years ago. I'm lucky to work in a job that I think is ethical and improving the world, but it's so goddamn embarrassing to even be in the same room as the AI and blockchain types and the ad hucksters.
To quote the young'uns, we are so cooked.
Hey we can't ALL have the same plan, man! The tech oligarchs that own all of society's wealth will only need so much bespoke furniture!
More seriously, my plan had been to build a decent savings and go work for the USPS or the local public transit company, supplemented with savings interest and maybe some woodworking income. But then the 2024 election happened so who fucking knows anymore.
The point is to not owe people money so that you are self sufficient and not need to make money.
> Or buy with friends or family.
yeah, but i don't like people. /s
Got to find that perfect plot of land that has water, some trees for wood, some land that can be farmed and hopefully a clear sky to the south for solar. Oh, and it's gonna need to be far enough from a city so my telescope can finally be used the way it was meant.
Trouble is, if you become self-sufficient the government will soon swoop in and try to take a piece of the pie, and now you're back to owing people money again.
The ideal is to owe so much money that you become "too big to fail". Then you get all the benefits of being self-sufficient, but with nothing on paper to share.
Those are very honest and useful jobs for society. More than being paid $250,000 a year to design the next startup frontend by copy-pasting some template
I'm currently a "woodworker" in suburban Houston, but usually only average $500-ish per month (heavily loaded toward a couple of times of year - Mid Spring, Back to School, Christmas).
1: https://www.icloud.com/photos/#/icloudlinks/08c7DUB5txbSRiCs...
1994-1998 – Don't give out any personal information online.
1998-2004 – Well, maybe just don't give out your real name.
2004-2010 – Never mind. Your full name is fine. Just stay away from sharing racy or compromising photos.
2010-2016 – Actually, the photos are okay as long as your "bathing suit area" remains modest.
2016-2020 – On second thought, bare all if you wish. But, please, don't spread misinformation.
2020-2025 – Ugh, fine. Whatever you do, do not share your exact GPS coordinates!
That's the root of the problem. Intelligent and want to live nicely? Then have your mind exploited for profit! Have morals? Compromise on them and get paid.
I know someone who works for a large gaming company who told me upon hearing a friend of mine was entertaining a position at a Musk company told me "your friend lacks a moral compass to work for that man." I reminded them they work for a company who was fined half a billion dollars for willfully exploiting children. They did not take that well.
There's a list of 20-ish large companies we univerally agree are evil and openly bash all the time, but the reality is 95% of the industry is at best doing absolutely meaningless work, and at worst work that's deeply negative for the world.
Good riddance. Humanity is hell.
Social media's always been about giving people whatever makes them come back to the site, no matter how unethical. If an army of fake fans makes me think I have an army of real fans and keep posting for attention from my fans, they will totally do that. Unless it's illegal.
Even better, soon none of us will have to use social media at all, our AI bots will do it for us. Then we will finally find peace.
[0] https://www.weforum.org/stories/2024/07/the-water-challenge-...
Closed systems are much more water-efficient, and are more common in cooler climates.
https://engineeringprompts.substack.com/p/does-chatgpt-use-1...
https://simonwillison.net/2025/Jan/12/generative-ai-the-powe...