Mastodawn

RE: https://tldr.nettime.org/@tante/116082694984669549

I am just so tired of this "AI" shit. Truly. Not just the extra maintenance burden on my but the constant discussions that lead nowhere. I can keep making the same arguments against using "AI" for anything relevant from here till the cows come home but it's not gonna change people's opinion. Because they are "on AI" or their bosses force it upon them or whatever.

But honestly. It's all been said. Neither does the tech change significantly (regardless of what the boosters tell you) nor do the other facts at hand, the brain and skill atrophy, the exploitation, the ecological impact, etc. etc. etc.

Dunno. It's hard to keep doing this whole "keep making your point and maybe some people will change their mind thing" when the facts are all on the table and people just have made decisions I find morally questionable.

Maybe I am just tired. Will keep doing the same shit tomorrow. Keep running against that concrete wall hoping that it will somehow crumble.

I was interviewed for a documentary last week and we talked a lot (also about "AI") and the director told me to write a quick book on it, like bring it all to paper he'd help me get a publisher and all that. And - not trying to brag - I don't think I'd have a hard time getting it published, I do have a bit of visibility in Germany.

But holy shit do I not want to have to tie my name even more to that soul crushing, inhumane, life-negating slop topic.

Huh. The act of typing this made me realize just how tired I am of all of it.

It's so similar to crypto/web3 when for a year or two everyone kept telling me that I was just dumb or lacked vision or just didn't understand shit and when it all crashed as I had predicted, hurting the people I predicted in the way I predicted everyone just moved on to "AI". The same motherfuckers doing the same shit.

Burns you out.

So yeah. Thanks for listening. I'm gonna crash. Sleep a bit.

Tomorrow we'll get up and do it all again. What else is there to do?

why_o_why Feb 16

@tante Can't say "I feel you", but I feel the tiredness.
I wish someone w/b there with you, just to give you a long hug before you go to sleep. 😔
Thanks for the things you are doing and writing...

EventOrg Feb 16

⬇️
https://bsky.app/profile/bethsawin.bsky.social/post/3mevpmqnjzc2u

Dr. Elizabeth Sawin (@bethsawin.bsky.social)

Another day another chance to meet crisis from a different worldview than the one that created it. Be weird. Be experimental. Be bold. Be connected and brave and remember that what lasts in this complex swirl of life and matter is what fits in and flows and balances taking and giving.

Bluesky Social

hendrikstier Feb 17

@tante a lot of us are tired. I am exhausted. Thanks for sharing your feelings on the subject though, it makes me feel a fraction better!

Juliette Feb 17

@tante I so, so feel you. And yes, I'm so, so tired too.

Don't bother. As you said, they don't want arguments, facts, truth, or science: they want positive emotions and flattery. The best way to combat them is to play on that need and shame them as the white supremacists they are.

Let's count ourselves instead, try and make connections with people who properly refuse AI so we can help each other when it's going to be hard, and completely ignore and belittle anyone who vouches for AI. They're not worth our energy or mental health.

@tante It's just ruined all the joy of this field.

@mttaggart Yeah. Especially seeing so many people who should know better bend the knee to big tech because the slot machine feels so good. Maybe that's part of it? Seeing so many people I respected and maybe even admired just throw it all away. It does feel like a form of betrayal. Even though of course none of those people owe me anything.

Fabian Transchel Feb 16

@tante @mttaggart Oddly enough, this toot reminds me of the time I got blocked by one of the German "Wirtschaftsweisen" on Twitter for pointing out some of my observations* about Blockchain and smart contracts.

* Rather simple observations, mind you.

Vlad 🇺🇦Feb 16

@tante @mttaggart Betrayal is precisely one of the main feelings - of course like you say not because anyone owes you anything but rather because for a brief moment of time we* had the power to shape our own destinies without having influence or capital.

@vladimir_lu @tante Betrayal and a feeling like the world is asking me to accept something I know in my bones to be wrong.

Juliette Feb 17

@mttaggart @vladimir_lu @tante This 👆 So much this.

Kaleissin Feb 17

@tante @mttaggart Addicts gonna addict, right?

@kaleissin @tante @mttaggart Except addicts are just self medicating, trying to relieve some kind of pain. I can feel empathy & even compassion for an addict.

What is the root of this addiction? I guess if I’m being charitable it’s a “blood sacrifice to the God of Capital”? AI is Cthulhu & AI bros are its cult?

@tante wenn du magst

🫂

Papageier Feb 17

@tante It has always been the fate of the wise to see what is coming, and mostly be unable to change anything. No sense in giving up though.

levampyre Feb 17

@tante Feel ya. 😞

Hannah Steenbock Feb 17

And we laugh at the people who were burned in the great tulip craze and crash centuries ago...

It's the very same pattern.

sidereal Feb 18

@Firlefanz @tante I think the tulip thing was far more rational. People were actually making money for a time off of selling tulips and tulip futures. No AI has yet been shown to be profitable.

Hannah Steenbock Feb 18

That's a good point.

joshbuddy Feb 17

@tante I have this weird cycle where I keep trying AI for coding, it keeps disappointing me, the boosters keep telling me "no, this time its better". but i just can't find these promised productivity gains, except in very boring routing things.

its like the only thing that matters now is speed and craft and quality are completely meaningless ideas.

@joshbuddy @tante Yeah, every now and again I try it and it fails again. Recently I decided to try asking one of the big AI bots to grammar check something I had written, reasoning that simple text phrase analysis ought to be something it had a good chance of doing well. It was hopeless. Reported “errors” in text that literally didn’t exist in the article I’d given it.

Quincy ⁂Feb 17

Can't blame you. It's infinitely tiring.

Wearing out any opposition seems to be part of the plan :-(

Daniel Lakeland Feb 17

dot com
house flipping
tech boom of 2010-2020
crypto boom
nft boom
ai boom
fascist takeover of the US govt

each one with a crash or a major downside (surveillance capitalism) associated.

It's my whole adult life one giant series of scams.