“Ms. Yuri Gagarin” is annihilating me

Duncan Idaho and his best buddy Roger Wisconsin go on a wacky adventure in Dune: Worm Enough For Ya, this summer on CBS

I’ve seen all the movies and the old miniseries, as well as read the first book. And IMO the book is really good and worth reading. I found all the adaptations pretty dull.

Anyways, I didn’t really intend to make this a big thread, I just wanted to make a joke about NFTs. I dunno, “all my AIpes gone,” whatever.

Also to clarify, I’m not saying AI would be worth all the terrible aspects if it produced better results. I’d still be against it because poisoning entire communities is bad. But the fact that results are so mediocre really drives home how stupid this technology is.

I think a lot about something I saw someone say once, in that robots were supposed to do the menial tasks to free us up to make art. Instead, we’re telling the robots to make art while we still have to do all the menial tasks. We fucked up.

And when I talk about higher cost, I want to be clear that I’m including the human cost in there. AI data centers steal clean water from communities, the power generation they demand poisons the air, they’re trained on stolen work, and they take people’s jobs.

Technology for technology’s sake is not an inherent good, and using just because it’s there doesn’t make you virtuous.

Actually there’s a great movie on this subject that explains this better than I ever could.

I’m not anti-technology. I love cool tech. I think the data science and machine learning that underlies AI is very neat. But as always, it’s how it’s applied and used. And the way AI is currently being used is to poison the planet, eat natural resources, and produce worse results than not using it.

A smart fridge uses expensive technology to replicate something that already does the job better and cheaper without the risks. And that’s also true of AI.

It’s technology in search of a purpose. The best case scenarios are replicating things that already exist, and doing them worse at higher cost.

Sure, I could buy a smart fridge that lets me put a shopping list right on it (and also display ads directly in my home while sending all my data back to be sold to some shady data broker). Or I could use a whiteboard.

It’s not about resisting technology, it’s about resisting BAD technology.

I don’t have any IoT devices in my house. It’s not because I’m a luddite. It’s because they’re huge security risks and don’t offer any significant benefit. My washing machine wouldn’t wash clothes better if it was online.

It just flabbergasts me that so many people see some horrific ghoul saying the worst things imaginable and then go, “I need to force this upon everyone.”

Basically what I’m saying is that for the most part the veterans of this game that I’ve teamed with have largely been chill as hell and more than willing to help me get my footing, which is sort of the opposite of what I was expecting for a game like this.

Streamer: [pinging the boss bounty for the two new players] “take this gift, my children, for I have already claimed enough for a lifetime.”

A max prestige streamer seeing my brand new account: “I will bring this child to the promised land. [gets 1 billion headshot kills]”

Me and grandma having a heart-to-heart

youtu.be/EhBRf2zGoGE?...

Hello… grandson. Have you… seen… your cousins… lately?