Jules
Peterin a class on using AI for data analysis and i genuinely don't want to work in information technology anymore. none of this shit works and everyone is required to use it anyway. it sounds like hell. i would literally rather flip burgers or whatever.
feels like the worst time to be alive if you are the kind of person who is passionate about learning to do things the right way.
Violet MadderYeah, it's bad and getting worse fast.
I can't even use normal search engines to look up news that I clearly remember from a few weeks ago. Everything useful is being buried under an avalanche of shit.
"AI" is a weapon, we are under attack, and more people need to recognize the threat for what it is.
Daughter of DiscordThere are news stories I remember - ones that back leftwing points of view - that are just gone now, it seems.
And articles about regular stuff are all written by AI and full of just wrong information.
dpflug@CosmickTrigger
It's time for (some of) us to become archivists. Keep copies and/or notes of anything we care about.
@violetmadder @peter
It's time for (some of) us to become archivists. Keep copies and/or notes of anything we care about.
@violetmadder @peter
Daedalean
mathew@dpflug @daedalean @CosmickTrigger @violetmadder @peter Carrington Event. Aurora borealis visible in Italy. Another one would take out the entire Internet and every AI data center.
@mathew @dpflug @daedalean @CosmickTrigger @peter
It will definitely make things Interesting.
Although I'm sure they've got some centers shielded and/or buried deep enough to get through it, the infrastructure in general will be pretty screwed up.
@violetmadder @dpflug @daedalean @CosmickTrigger @peter A major event would likely damage transformers and substations across the entire electrical grid, so we'd be without power for weeks, likely months in at least some areas.
Even fossil fuels would be a problem. Gasoline left sitting in large tanks goes bad after about a month and can be unusable after 3, and if all the trucks have melted alternators that'll be a problem, as will food. Gas supplies for heating rely on delicate electrical SCADA systems. And of course, all the solar panels would likely be fried.
Lloyds of London have studied this kind of thing:
https://assets.lloyds.com/assets/pdf-solar-storm-risk-to-the-north-american-electric-grid/1/pdf-Solar-Storm-Risk-to-the-North-American-Electric-Grid.pdf
@mathew @dpflug @daedalean @CosmickTrigger @peter
And there would be no controls or cooling on any nuclear reactors. (as far as I am aware NONE have actual passive shutdown safety yet) So there's that, too.
clarkiestar@clarkiestar @mathew @dpflug @daedalean @CosmickTrigger @peter
Yeah, the zombie shows always leave that part out...
@mathew
Ah. I considered that, but thought I had to have it wrong because it matters regardless.
@daedalean @CosmickTrigger @violetmadder @peter
Ah. I considered that, but thought I had to have it wrong because it matters regardless.
@daedalean @CosmickTrigger @violetmadder @peter
@dpflug @CosmickTrigger @peter
I know somebody who's been doing this as a major autistic fixation for years, with an eye to sharing his collection. I sure hope it CAN be shared widely, before all avenues of communication are too restricted.
Gryphon Myers@dpflug @CosmickTrigger @violetmadder @peter I am trying to keep receipts about all this fuckery https://aidirtylist.info anyone who hates AI and wants to help, I could use it 😅
@gryphonmyers
https://codeberg.org/small-hack/open-slopware is doing the same for open source.
@CosmickTrigger @violetmadder @peter
https://codeberg.org/small-hack/open-slopware is doing the same for open source.
@CosmickTrigger @violetmadder @peter
@CosmickTrigger
Just came across https://offpunk.net/, which archives as you browse. It's pretty nice, if you're a certain kind of person.
@violetmadder @peter
Just came across https://offpunk.net/, which archives as you browse. It's pretty nice, if you're a certain kind of person.
@violetmadder @peter
slotos
Glyph
The Doctor
Samer Farha@peter it’s pretty bleak.
Я⊛ḶḶ model ☭i couldn't take it any more. i quit tech six months ago and now i drive a city bus. best decision ever. i've never been happier or healthier.
Kirk@saltywizard @peter I'm seriously thinking about doing exactly this too.
How difficult was the bus driver training?
i found it to be very easy. the testing process for the cdl was very similar to the process for many of the qualifications i achieved in the navy, so it was 'familiar' to me. the others in my class struggled a touch more, not having had that experience, but in the end, everyone passed. i imagine it really comes down to the quality of your instructors.
despite having 'driven' large ships at sea, driving the bus for the first time was a bit intimidating. you take up the entire lane, there is very little wiggle room. but, after a month of practice, i feel quite confident behind the wheel.
it's a great job. i expect i'll enjoy doing it for a good while. someday, i'd like to try driving the lightrail.
@saltywizard @peter Thanks. That's good to hear.
Neil E. Hodges@peter @saltywizard I know a few other former tech workers who drive city buses now, from well before the rise of AI.
Gabriela Roßbach@saltywizard @peter My profession as a copywriter is being replaced by LLMs and now I work in a supermarket and have never been happier.
MinmiTheDino@peter i know it’s not worth much, but if you put up an interesting data analysis, I want to see it. And I want to hear how you thought about it and went about it.
There is so much data can tell us about our world and I still want to hear about it.
Afrois Alreadyin@peter yep. Even worse if you have children who are growing up into this world.
Bimbo
Ankh-Morpork Parks and Rec 🌱@peter All I can say as a 30-year tech participant, is I agree with you about the current state of things, and I believe there is still a foundation of principled work out there. Some people really want it and care about it; there's just a huge amount of noise overshadowing those people right now. I truly believe it's temporary, but I also sympathize with anyone moving to work outside the industry. I've had similar thoughts myself.
@coreysnipes I'm trying to get into the industry and now about to give up. my kid is 16 and wants to study computer engineering, I hope his timing is right.
Rupert V/@peter @coreysnipes
I think you're screwed. I've spoken to hiring managers whose first question is "how much do you spend on tokens per month?" There are people hiring for non-AI jobs, but they want experience from before these dark times.
An actual computer engineering degree may be valuable in the future, I certainly hope it will, we will need to engineer our way out of this pit, but it's not a great bet.
I think you're screwed. I've spoken to hiring managers whose first question is "how much do you spend on tokens per month?" There are people hiring for non-AI jobs, but they want experience from before these dark times.
An actual computer engineering degree may be valuable in the future, I certainly hope it will, we will need to engineer our way out of this pit, but it's not a great bet.
Nicolas Constant@peter If I may. AI isn't the first time we get some "magic tooling that is doing a lot of work and users that don't understand the basics" (see Angular students that aren't capable to center a div without a npm package). It didn't broke our field. It's just another "layer of abstraction".
Don't give up and keep learning, good developers are (and will be) still needed, and rare. And it seems you have the good mindset.
Strfnurfn
🦠Toxic Flange (Gurjeet)🔬⚱️🌚@peter @coreysnipes i’ve been telling this to my neighbours kid in univ, think of the computer and computer skills as a tool like a hammer or a box of tools, something you need to use to make something good and physical. so minor in comp sci, but add something that uses that too to it, medicine(science!), engineering (electrical, chemical) , law (patent laws, lawyers who know how computer works can really do some good in the world), heck even mathematics these days get inspiration and solutions from “solved” comp sci/networking path issues. So comp sci by itself these days is tough unless you’re exceptional , but having that tool to apply to some other work, that’s where it pays off, in my option as someone who has regrets with past life choices like just doing comp sci :)
Update 2:
Oh yeah and AI is never going to make the next great computer architecture, so become someone who can make the next ARM or RiSc or something new, a quantum chip , or clone brain matter as compute (no don’t do that, don’t make a slave race.. )
Update: Oh yeah i kinda wanna be a farmer now too and i know how tough and thankless that job is, but nevertheless..
Oberst Enzian@coreysnipes @peter Unless we take action this isn’t temporary. It will be the permanent state of affairs.
We must destroy AI and the criminal organizations that are creating it. And by AI I mean this LLM based stochastic parrot bullshit.
Dragomana@peter My feelings exactly as a translator who was trying to reorient her career toward IT. I feel like I arrive late to every field.
@dragomana heyyyyy exactly the same. 🤝
@peter It certainly feels like it.
David Cohen@peter @maxleibman Plumbing. People always need it and you can tell if it’s done right because there are no leaks.
Daniël Franke 
@peter To try to remain optimistic, I think this will have a backlash in the not-so-distant-future.
Goerp@peter
I recognize the feeling. I do think that we make progress by building on the work of others and we can't/don't need to have their knowledge.
But your post made me think some more and I (finally?) realise how this is different. How the AI produces the initial code that somehow you are supposed to maintain.
And everyone that has been tasked to maintain code of someone else knows how hard that can be. The previous person being ignorant or genius can be equally frustrating.
Badly-read literary snob@peter feels exactly like that but lets push back all, together
~n
mb21@peter Agree. Some of it will pass though. https://htmx.org/essays/yes-and/
🎹 Your Masto in April 🎹@peter I thought I was doing things the right way for a while:
Went to school, graduated high school, went to college, graduated college, found a job.
Then COVID happened and I had to start working contract/temp jobs.
Then I finally landed a permanent job.
Unfortunately my remaining parent died, and I couldn't keep up with the demands of the job, so I was terminated with little to no explanation.
Been a year since then, and I still can't find a job.
I had also been going to church, been participating like a "good little Christian".
Then we got new pastors who were sent from hell: they were trapped in a loveless marriage, they took their anger out on everyone around them, alienated many people from our church, including me for a time, and now my belief in a "God" has been shattered completely.
Ψ*Ψ
Erosdiscordia@peter Gods, I feel this.
TheStrangelet 
Douglas