Agree with most of the article, yet part that was actually worth commenting on slightly:
Bill Wolf - "Being born on 4/20 is unprofessional."
"Upon reviewing your application materials, we found that the information provided in regards to your birthdate on LinkedIn, specifically 4/20, seems inconsistent with the professional standards we uphold within our organization. While we appreciate individuality, we also prioritize a professional and mature approach in all aspects of our work environment."
I think it definitely has been like this for a long time now at least. The most obvious example that comes to mind is Facebook. They harvested millions of users data and used it for political manipulation (Cambridge Analytica) without users consent. I suppose now its more out in the open with the recent verdicts on allowing these companies to scrape the entirety of the web stealing millions of IP's to use for their models, among other things.
Except this generation's elite are mostly divorced from history and tradition and lack a sense of noblesse oblige. The worlds moving fast enough for things to be different this time - or so the thinking goes.
Yes, but in the past decades the elites have accumulated wealth and resources at rates we haven't seen probably since before the French Revolution, depening on the metric you could also call it unprecedented.
Additionally many of todays elites have a social-darwinistic view where everybody that is not on top actively deserves to suffer and perish.
And this unfortunately falls together with the moment where AI reduces the number of real people ultrarich people need to control a population to a historic minimum. It is going to get much worse, before it is going to get better.
Probably a correct observation. Nobody is protected against believing excuses that conviniently ease the cognitive dissonance. That includes you and me. But the difference is of course that we are not hoarding resources in a world that would need them and have such a negative impact on others.
> diluting tech’s understanding of “ethical” and “empathy” into meaninglessness
That's the overarching motive not only in tech, but in culture and business as well. It was a long ride and even caught the lefties, anarchists, anybody on the outer rim, really, while turning the right wing and any kind of extremists into the opposite: people with meaning and order as ethics and empathy for people who want these ethics. It's so strange and twisted sometimes but if you look at tech and AI, the picture, via analogies, becomes clear.
I think the idea is that people's written word, and artistic endeavors, and code, and everything else one could post online, is eventually scraped by AI whereby that AI is sold back to the producer of the original content.
Information always found a way or people found it, but if you shape the user for the experience, then
a) selective ignorance, via engineering, turns into a feature rather than an individual neural necessity that was turning into a vestigial tail and
b) elected ignorance morphs our democratic evolution into a fascist, Nazi singularity, aka brave new world.
But the road is not the end. It would be fine if they picked a spot on the globe or the universe and did it there but the road is ugly as hell and they have to surpress and control any other, individual models that might spread.
Defactors, no matter how hardened, functional and advantageous for the species, colony, life and evolution, cannot be tolerated on the path to a fascist, Nazi singularity. That's bad news but ...
Agree with most of the article, yet part that was actually worth commenting on slightly:
Bill Wolf - "Being born on 4/20 is unprofessional."
"Upon reviewing your application materials, we found that the information provided in regards to your birthdate on LinkedIn, specifically 4/20, seems inconsistent with the professional standards we uphold within our organization. While we appreciate individuality, we also prioritize a professional and mature approach in all aspects of our work environment."
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/wolfbill_being-born-on-420-is...
That's ridiculous.
It's clearly his parents who were being unprofessional, by conceiving him on 7/20.
Sending emails on 13:37 is frowned upon..
Yet another reason to go for ISO 8601 date formats
[dead]
> We’re in the age of no consent. A time where everyday people have to follow the rules, but AI companies and AI toolmen do not.
I wonder if this is how it always was, with elites and non elites, except now it’s all just in the open.
I think it definitely has been like this for a long time now at least. The most obvious example that comes to mind is Facebook. They harvested millions of users data and used it for political manipulation (Cambridge Analytica) without users consent. I suppose now its more out in the open with the recent verdicts on allowing these companies to scrape the entirety of the web stealing millions of IP's to use for their models, among other things.
Except this generation's elite are mostly divorced from history and tradition and lack a sense of noblesse oblige. The worlds moving fast enough for things to be different this time - or so the thinking goes.
>lack a sense of noblesse oblige
The super wealthy of today have zero class and it really shows.
All ass, zero class?
Yes, but in the past decades the elites have accumulated wealth and resources at rates we haven't seen probably since before the French Revolution, depening on the metric you could also call it unprecedented.
Additionally many of todays elites have a social-darwinistic view where everybody that is not on top actively deserves to suffer and perish.
And this unfortunately falls together with the moment where AI reduces the number of real people ultrarich people need to control a population to a historic minimum. It is going to get much worse, before it is going to get better.
The social darwinistic view is just a mental protection mechanism against responsibility. Its like calluses but for the careless.
Probably a correct observation. Nobody is protected against believing excuses that conviniently ease the cognitive dissonance. That includes you and me. But the difference is of course that we are not hoarding resources in a world that would need them and have such a negative impact on others.
The article is worth the attention.
> diluting tech’s understanding of “ethical” and “empathy” into meaninglessness
That's the overarching motive not only in tech, but in culture and business as well. It was a long ride and even caught the lefties, anarchists, anybody on the outer rim, really, while turning the right wing and any kind of extremists into the opposite: people with meaning and order as ethics and empathy for people who want these ethics. It's so strange and twisted sometimes but if you look at tech and AI, the picture, via analogies, becomes clear.
Interesting read.
Whatever happened to the mantra "Information wants to be free"
Having my own data leased back to me wasn't exactly what I had in mind
How is it being leased back to you?
I think the idea is that people's written word, and artistic endeavors, and code, and everything else one could post online, is eventually scraped by AI whereby that AI is sold back to the producer of the original content.
[flagged]
That is not at all what the article is about.
via analogy, "the people want to be free".
we mold users, now, not User Experiences.
Information always found a way or people found it, but if you shape the user for the experience, then
a) selective ignorance, via engineering, turns into a feature rather than an individual neural necessity that was turning into a vestigial tail and
b) elected ignorance morphs our democratic evolution into a fascist, Nazi singularity, aka brave new world.
But the road is not the end. It would be fine if they picked a spot on the globe or the universe and did it there but the road is ugly as hell and they have to surpress and control any other, individual models that might spread.
Defactors, no matter how hardened, functional and advantageous for the species, colony, life and evolution, cannot be tolerated on the path to a fascist, Nazi singularity. That's bad news but ...