Ben Ramsey

I just had a realization (I’m sure this isn’t a new thought—just new to me):

The AI bubble is driven by capitalists who desperately fear the end of capitalism, and they are frantically trying to realize a capitalistic singularity, which is why everything is moving faster and faster towards something, but none of us know what.

Can you feel the acceleration? It’s palpable.

Mar 5 at 3:28pmWeb
Show threadgrmpyprogrammerMar 5
@ramsey What I also feel is a lot of “the AI leopards will never eat my face” energy from our peers
Show threadJon NiolaMar 5
@ramsey It's actually scary. This bubble is significantly larger than the 2008 housing bubble and when it pops it is going to be devastating.
Show threadDerick RethansMar 5
@jon @ramsey Which is why I am not so sure whether it will eventually actually pop.
Show threadJon NiolaMar 5
@derickr @ramsey I think it will have to. The sheer amount of money being poured in has zero chance of achieving an ROI that matches how much has been invested.
Show threadBen RamseyMar 5

@jon @derickr We’re in unknown territory.

By every company forcing their employees to use AI, they have to pay companies like OpenAI and Anthropic. If this coercion to use AI continues, then eventually (maybe) there will be an ROI.

In addition to paying for services, OpenAI’s and Anthropic’s (and others’) deals with their customers include investment along with a promise to use a certain amount of AI within their orgs.

Show threadPaul Hennell • DevMar 5

@ramsey it's said that several of the big tech guys rather subscribe to the theory that the world is a simulation/game and they're just dominating the scoreboard.

Which is terrifying, because if you think the world is a game, you think everyone else is a NPC... And treat them as such.

Show threadRoss WintleMar 5

@hennell @ramsey This is probably the best explanation I’ve heard for how these people behave. Money is a score in a game make more sense than anything else.

Terrifying though.

Show threadBen RamseyMar 5
@ross @hennell I do know a lot of them subscribe to the universe as a simulation belief. It’s popular among them.
Show threadRenke MeuweseMar 5
@ramsey very noticeable in the EU in how big US tech companies like Microsoft and AWS push their own LLMs as part of their service, clearly in a desperate attempt to enforce more lock-in. Some ppl misread that as "Microsoft scaling down their Copilot sales ambitions". Nah. They're just pushing their most addictive version.
Show threadBrammmMar 6
@ramsey Listening to a lot of Behind The Bastards podcast the last two years, especially the specials about all the big tech weirdos like Thiel and the creeps that inspire them (Curtis Yarvin etc), has taught me a lot about the machinations of these capitalists. But it hasn't become less scary. I just understand better now how fucked up it really is.