I’d be thrilled if streaming ceased to exist…but at least Netflix provides the service it claims to and isn’t being literally forced on people in a vain attempt to make it profitable.
Replies
No one is forcing the use of AI on you. And many of us would not be thrilled if whichever modern inventions you happen to dislike were to cease to exist.
aug 1, 2025, 9:49 pm • 0 0 • view
Do you work in an office? The problem isn't people playing around with AI on their home computers. It's people rushing to shove it into real infrastructure that people rely on, all while feeding it data that the AI evangelists don't really have the right to use.
aug 1, 2025, 11:05 pm • 2 0 • view
There do seem to be some legitimate technical uses, but not nearly as many as the hype merchants seem to be pushing. So when they say they want to build giant nuclear power plants just to power data centers, I think they're getting ahead of themselves.
aug 1, 2025, 11:05 pm • 2 0 • view
I do work in an office; my perception is that LLMs (and associated tools) are getting more capable and useful fast. But my point isn't that I think these investments will pay off—they may not. My point is that it is perverse to want them not to.
aug 2, 2025, 12:32 am • 1 0 • view
If they get good enough to replace a lot of workers, it's bad one way. If they don't get that good but companies replace workers anyway, it's even worse. And if the workers spend all their time correcting the AI output rather than doing creative work, that's bad a third way.
aug 2, 2025, 12:51 am • 2 0 • view
Like I said, I do think there are technical applications where AI makes sense. And tightly controlled output on limited subject matter might make sense, although I'm not sure what that gets you over using templates. But the hype guys are aiming for a scale of use that makes no sense to me.
aug 2, 2025, 12:51 am • 0 0 • view
Ideally some of the projects get cancelled as reality starts to bite, so that the resources aren't consumed before things come down to earth. But I do think they need to come down to earth, and some of the biggest hype guys have been obnoxious enough that I want them to land hard.
aug 2, 2025, 12:51 am • 0 0 • view
Well, then you're hoping both that the benefits of AI don't come to pass and we have a major economic downturn in which a lot of people get hurt. I very much hope you don't get your wish.
aug 2, 2025, 12:53 am • 0 0 • view
Deepfakes, political hoaxes, misinformation, undermining the value of human labor and creativity in the public, making every digital painting now suspect of forgery instead of a wondrous work of art, easy kidnapping ransom scams– any more "benefits" and we might not make it through the night.
aug 2, 2025, 1:49 am • 2 0 • view
Wow, you're a pessimist. I'm sorry for you. (And I don't know why you'd think less of human labor or creativity just because machines can partially replicate some of it. Yikes.)
aug 2, 2025, 2:42 am • 0 0 • view
I'd prefer it if some of the people trying to hype big data centers said, maybe not, let's invest in something better. I'm becoming more and more socialist because I think a lot of the ultra-rich people in charge of deciding how to deploy capital are not making good decisions.
aug 2, 2025, 12:59 am • 1 0 • view
What do you mean by "better"? They're not doing it as a charitable endeavor.
aug 2, 2025, 1:01 am • 0 0 • view
So, you'd rather we went back to physical media, where it requires factories to manufacturer the media and the packaging, and then the packaging and media get thrown out and are made of hard plastic that lasts centuries in landfills?
aug 2, 2025, 4:17 pm • 1 0 • view
Nothing’s perfect. But my issues with streaming go beyond environmental issues and into how it has affected culture…and I can’t boil all of that down into a reasonable number of skeets.
aug 2, 2025, 4:21 pm • 2 0 • view
Fair enough.
aug 2, 2025, 4:23 pm • 0 0 • view
Yeah, this is just Luddism rather than any kind of reasoned environmentalism.
aug 2, 2025, 5:10 pm • 0 0 • view