meristohm

A poem I composed from the section headings:

It's Not "AI" Its Boosters Are Misanthropic The Hype Sucks And It’s Encroachingly Ubiquitous Its Obsequity Is Annoying And Its Prose Is Vapid Its Boosters Don’t Give A Shit About Consent So What Am I Even Fucking Doing Here

"Surely, you have one job and that is to deliver tech that works—not to waste users' time by giving them irrelevant copy to read which has no functional value."

Microsoft has been doing this for years, with its messages during Windows setup, along the lines of "sit back and relax while we work our magic" which is at best annoying.

Sure, a four-day, twelve-hour-per-day work week.

Huh. Us meatbags are not just artificial intelligences, we're organic intelligences and thus more important than robots (who are not alive; even if we make golems and infuse them with "life", they are not human animals), and all of us are in training throughout our lives, so this means training on copyrighted material is fair use.

Edit: I see another commenter, presumably human, clarified: "legally-acquired copyrighted books" Even with the arguments about AI being potentially helpful to disabled humans, one healthier route is to help each other out directly instead of dividing and conquering with technology, in the name of helping. Feels like one of the aims of Capitalists is to put us each into our Matrix (1999 movie) battery capsules and bleed us dry while we're distracted.

Perhaps part of the point is to stir action towards not accepting the status quo, harmful as it is? We can do better.

In keeping with the list preceding "climate change", consider changing it to:

"...advance AI, change climate."

To what end, all that work? If ultimately to enrich Capitalists, that's not a train I want to ride or indoctrinate anyone else to ride (I'm a teacher). How much time does it take to meet our needs in a community living on healthy land, with access to clean air and water? That might well fill our days, but I'd consider bonding with others to be a basic need, something many college students do.

Also, this focus on STEM is harmful. Even STEAM isn't enough. History, Philosophy, Languages, learning about arts and cultures- these are as, if not more, important than learning how to convert minerals into tools, because they get at the Why.

I appreciated your question. I don't really know the answer, and I grew up in the USA. Maybe someone took it as a rhetorical question?

Capitalism (control of land, labor, and money) has been on the rise since the 1600s[0]; to what degree has this economic model shaped Democracy?

[0] according to Invisible Doctrine, a history of capitalism by Monbiot and Hutchison (2024)

Having read Mutual Aid by Dean Spade I understand better what you're saying, namely that solidarity amongst people outside the dominant paradigm of capitalism (owning land, renting, working for scraps while the Capitalist's boats are lifted higher) can be quite strong, and that they have extensive freedoms while also not having the luxuries I grew up with (hot water, food when I'm hungry, a quiet and relatively secure place to sleep, lots of stuff and room to store it, health insurance, ...). If we in the US decoupled health care from employment that would be a huge step in caring for people here. Capitalists (if anything I'm a small-c capitalist because I sometimes "own" land but I'm against owning more than the property I live on, and I buy/use things produced by the enslaved labor of others- this hand-me-down mobile computer, for one) would be with less leverage in that case, though.

Edit to add: if I wasn't a parent and didn't have support from my spouse I might be homeless or at least "highly mobile". I'd probably live with family or friends first, and hopefully find again meaningful work (teaching, probably, but the list is longer now), but I'm not interested in amassing wealth to survive whatever apocalypse. I choose to survive in community with other humans, a far richer experience.

Also, I didn't include education on the list of luxuries because I consider the dominant form of schooling in the US to be akin to the "kill the indian, save the man" residential schools. We could all be indigenous to the land we grow up on, even as children of immigrants without deep roots, but so much nonsense gets in the way.

Like others have said, it is healthy to grieve. In some cultures there is a specific amount of time where everyone understands the bereaved won't be doing much other than honoring the dead by paring away all distractions and just existing. That sounds difficult as a US-ian raised on distractions, but I gave it a try several years ago when my dog died. Ended up sharing a good cry with an older lonely neighbor who was also closely bonded with their aging dog, and later I was there for them after their dog passed on- thanks to embracing grief and vulnerability we were less alone in our suffering, but not wallowing either; it felt healthy.

It took me many months before the waves of sadness and loss subsided, and a year or two to where the dominant memories are joy, love, adventure.

All that to say- especially given your fortune, I wouldn't be concerned with what's next at the expense of what's now.

Charities- yes, and: consider the concept of mutual aid as well. In-the-mix helping others, and being helped reciprocally (but not transactionally) is potentially more meaningful than helping through charitable giving, though given our dominant paradigm of capitalism, charity is certainly helpful too.

If you go this route, I've found it easier to walk around the house if I look at my upraised hand and navigate peripherally- hand is in focus, and the rest is expectedly not, rather than everything in front of me being blurry.

A decade on from my teacher certification, and not currently teaching classes (only parenting), and Vygotsky's ZPD is still a touchstone for me.

If only we had the collective right of recall, like the Haudenosaunee government that the US is in part based on, rather than having to wait years.

Edit: "if only", ha. If only it were that simple.

For doing things that are uncomfortable, I've found a habit of cold showers first thing in the morning to be helpful. I've heard this also as "eat the frog (and the rest is easier)", but I'm not that desperate, and we've done enough damage to amphibians.

Dean Spade's Love in a F*cked-up World is also helpful; starting with loving oneself and forgiving missteps/mistakes/failures might help you break through the barriers.

How is it shocking that an elderly man decides to stop doing a thing that he's been doing for decades?

Headline might as well be "Shareholders shocked at the prospect that someone is nearing the final chapter of their life and will eventually die".

Are you entitled to get what you want to make DreamCo operate?

What are all the costs involved, and not just costs to you directly?

Word choice matters. I prefer "person" or "human" rather than "consumer". Sure, we consume to live, but consider other terms: eaters, drinkers, breathers, sleepers, ... okay, I see that context matters. When talking about money, we're consumers. Still, something feels off about that.

There's a governor on my ebike that prevents the battery from pushing the bike faster than a set speed. I can pedal it faster than that sometimes, but that is a limiting factor. I'm not opposed to such governors in automobiles. If you can Flintstone it faster, go for it.

Processing plant fibers for string/rope/etc. Nettle, yucca (so I've heard), hemp, ... it's a long list but regional.

Humming to find the resonant frequencies of the space you're in.

Observational drawing- paper, pencil, draw what you see (or if not sighted, maybe there's a similar activity?)

Listening to what's happening around you. Originally thinking birdsong, but the lowest barrier is just where you are.

Walking or bicycling (or whatever mobility mode one can do), on the low-effort end, without sound in ears or eyes on screen; this lets the mind wander and eventually, interesting ideas and syntheses bubble up.

Anything to help people move away from dependence on Microsoft Windows. I'm concerned about the glut of hardware incompatible with W11- now is a great time to switch to Linux Mint Debian Edition, for one great example. When I played games, including via Steam, it worked great, except for ones with uncooperative anti-cheat, in which case I didn't care because it was just another nail in the coffin of using games as self-medication (this may not be the most common use-case).

Keep in mind the opportunity cost of playing games beyond "wind-down" time. Raising a kid gave my life more meaning and helped me get out of the compulsive gaming. It's nice to not be drugged with bread and circuses anymore.

Anyone can do whatever they choose. I try not to "should". There is a potential distribution of consequences for acting in protest. The degrees to which each individual cares, knows enough to care, etc are diverse, and that diversity is important. I prefer an alternative story than "neoliberal/surveillance capitalism ftw!" and that leads to conflict, which I'm learning to navigate.

Sounds like generational wealth to me, to whom the "success sequence" sounds like what I would promote if I were a Capitalist. There are alternatives, or at least a messy, diverse mix of ways of existing.

Okay Tina.

(In the words of Margaret Thatcher, there is no alternative.)

What are some non-money ways to value what we do for each other?

"These people" who, uncared for, are "generally harmful to [our] libing spaces" are part of us; we are here alive together, and I help out my fellow humans because it feels part of being a good human, not to avoid discomfort.

I wear a facemask when around a lot of people or around any vulnerable people (hospital, clinic) to help protect both myself and other people. I may be contagious and not know it.

I wash my hands for the same reason.

I am fully vaccinated (I don't travel much anymore, but when I did I got those vaccines relevant to my destination) for the same reason.

I am increasingly okay with dying because I increasingly understand that I'm just one of many humans on the "bleeding edge of life", in it together; it's not all about me.

Restructuring culture/society/government so that our basic needs are more-easily met, freeing us to do what we each feel is meaningful. That's way oversimplifying, and perhaps not a useful answer. I wouldn't get into OSS for the money. Do it because it matters to you, and maybe do some bs job to pay the bills. If the open-source software is a for-profit venture rather than a for-public-benefit venture, there might be a risk of making decisions based on money rather than public good.

OpenAI might be an example? I'd far rather humans help other humans directly[0] than farm it out to robots.

[0] Mutual Aid, book by Dean Spade

Upboated because I've seen this message a few times and find it interesting, a sort-of meta-relevance.

I've had enough of hn for now anyway, time to log off and go outside.