Ashwin Nanjappa 🐘Jun 7
Daniel Jalkut
My take on AI is, essentially, everybody who’s against it is too against it and everybody who’s for it is too for it.
May 26 at 5:52amIvory for iOS
Show threadMattMay 26
@danielpunkass and that definitely has nothing to do with polarizing takes awarding attention.
Show threadSamuel SmithMay 30
@mattdarveniza @danielpunkass a type of sampling bias, perhaps? Those that are for/against are the most vocal. Those with nuanced opinions might be keeping them to themselves.
Show threadCollin DonnellMay 26
@danielpunkass I think it’s useful but also kind of wish LLMs didn’t exist?
Show threadBeggar MidasMay 26
@danielpunkass It does seem to elicit a totally disproportional level of irrational response, doesn't it? Ironic.
Show threadJacenMay 26
@danielpunkass im “too against” boiling oceans. Centirst logic. Go figure.
Show threadmax oaklandJun 7
@thejacenallen that’s what I was thinking!
Show threadran makMay 26
@danielpunkass you're definitely being too in the middle!
Show threadCedar Fen Farm Cedar Fen FarmMay 26

@danielpunkass

AI is a term no longer useful. It has become political and meaningless in a the hands of marketers and a public that have no idea what digital algorithms are and are't capable of. Garbage in, garbage out. These are human built tools. Intelligence in this case is a complete misnomer.

Show threadJonathan JoelsonMay 28
@danielpunkass It’s like that bit “everyone who drives slower than me is an idiot and everyone who driver faster than me is a maniac”.
Show threadCarolynMay 30
@danielpunkass Do you want a data centre in your back yard?
Show threadDaniel JalkutMay 30
@CStamp What precisely does that have to do with my post?
Show threadCarolynMay 30
@danielpunkass It could affect the balance.
Show threadDaniel JalkutMay 30
@CStamp I still don't think I understand exactly, but yes, whether businesses land in one's backyard does affect the pro/con. This has been true of everything preceding from dog care lots to nuclear reactors.
Show threadDmitry TantsurMay 31
@CStamp @danielpunkass nobody wants a railway in their backyard either (a very real problem haunting Germany nowadays).
Show threadMx. Aria StewartMay 30
@danielpunkass YEP THIS
Show threadalfianMay 30
@danielpunkass It's impossible to be neutral towards LLMs. It feels like magic. I was unimpressed until 2026 rolled around and now I truly think it will change the nature of software engineering.
Show threadnoodleMay 31
@danielpunkass So the reductionists and contrarians are wrong?
Show threadDave Rahardja value 71May 31

@danielpunkass That’s probably because there is a multi-trillion dollar grift that’s taking education and jobs and the global economy down with it, using this technology.

If it weren’t for the job- and economy-destroying grift, I don’t think people (like me) would be so strongly against it. The tech is cool. But it is being sold as a tool to addict people, ruin democracies, create new forms of rent-extraction, and undermine the very economic basis of society, while simultaneously worsening the global climate crisis, all so that 20 people can become centibillionaires through massive wealth transfer, and that’s Very Not Cool.

Hope that’s not too against it.

Show threadMatthew BoothMay 31
@danielpunkass I think that's true amongst the loudest people. I believe my position is nuanced, and probably not as rare as the noise suggests.
Show threadTim AllenJun 1
@mattb @danielpunkass Sounds like one of those irregular verbs. He is an extremist. You are a little intemperate. I have a well-informed nuanced point of view.
Show threadVanni Di Ponzano ⁂🚴 ❤️ ☕ 🍎May 31

@danielpunkass

are you arguing with the Pope?

Show threadMark DominusMay 31
@danielpunkass Which are you?
Show threadadrienJun 2

@danielpunkass Everybody who’s against it is seeing the huge catastrophic downsides. Everybody who’s for it is seeing the potential. Things are complicated, surprise! My take is that most of the downsides have nothing to do with the technology and everything to do with our current politics and capitalism.

But if “AI” is the pointy end of the current politics and capitalism spear that humanity sticks in ourselves in the eye with, I’ll be in the against side.

Show threadadrienJun 2
@danielpunkass Before the revolution starts, though, i have some really cool projects I want have an LLM code for me that I couldn’t make myself.
Show threadmax oaklandJun 7
@adriencater yes you could
Show threadDrew Saur, ProgCIOJun 6
@danielpunkass and @gruber you've reawakened my beast: https://theprogressivecio.com/generative-ai-is-amazing-and-boring-settle-down/
Generative AI Is Amazing…and Boring. Settle Down. – The Progressive CIO

Show threadmax oaklandJun 7
@danielpunkass that seems like a pretty “enlightened centrist” take which isn’t really a good thing. It comes across as saying “everyone who cares more than me is stupid”
Show threadDaniel JalkutJun 7
@maxoakland I can see that. FWIW I wasn’t trying to malign anybody. More of a thought exercise. I myself am probably too for it.