The Coming Divide: AI-Native or Left Behind | Hacker News Reader

The Coming Divide: AI-Native or Left Behind

danielmiessler.com

6 pointsskeledrew8 comments

"Talking to someone who reads 20–50 good books a year is nothing like talking to someone who hasn't read a book since school made them."

Most books are outdated, before they are released.

I read well over the amount text in 20-30 books from online content/non-books.

This idea is outdated and not a good indicator of someone who reads.

AI is just a tool. It's pretty obvious it's here to stay and if you don't start embracing it, you will be left behind.

> Most books are outdated, before they are released

What an odd thing to say.

Given the outsourcing of thinking, I’d argue that the author has got their book analogy the wrong way around.

It's the wrong way around if you think that people are[/should be?] seeking to think more (or something along those lines) about issues they encounter. It isn't if you think that people are seeking to offload yet another task, similar to automating away many other areas of life.

I'm an early adopter of AI products myself, but I'm always disgusted when I hear this kind of case being made for them. It's fear-mongering, plain and simple. The cloud, mobile, even crypto sounded like "join us in this exciting new world" at their most hyped. Why does AI so often sound like "get on board or you'll be obsolete"?

If the author really is right, that we're heading for a world with a cutthroat binary divide between the adopters and the non-adopters, then I know in my gut which side I want to be on, and it's not his.

It's a simple logical proposition though. Either one is using AI in some way, or one isn't. And only those who use it can benefit from it. And we know that there are definitely benefits. Therefore those who avoid it will miss out on said benefits, ie "left behind".

You could have said that about any successful technology ever! But for some reason everyone is anxious to say it about AI while being extremely vague about the benefits. (This is especially funny in the mouth of VPs and the like: "we're not sure what AI means for us, but we urgently need to adopt it so we don't fall behind!") If you want me to get deeper into AI tell me what it'll do for me, don't try to scare me with vague FOMO.

> successful technology

Heh, I find it interesting that you say this in relation to AI.

As an early adopter and - I assume - continuing user, I'm going to guess that you've encountered some of those benefits, and are anticipating even more over time. You know, which is what really matters. Those VPs et al are primarily bandwagonists who smell potentially more money, and that's all they usually care about. It's a tangent to the benefits, but also a useful one because it helps to keep those who have money invested in investing in AI so there isn't another winter.

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