bulk of it is at the service of the people in
charge and are net negatives to the bulk of
humanity
Do we underrate the impact of YouTube and LLM videos when it comes to mundane household know-how?
In the last year alone they have combined to help me with dozens upon dozens of upon dozens of things, from changing the air filter in my car to waterproofing a canopy. It has been an extremely challenging year for me for personal reasons and there's so much stuff that would have gone undone without this combo.
Asking ChatGPT why synthetic motor oil lasts longer than regular oil is perhaps not a "sexy" application of the technology, especially when concerned with weightier matters like whether or not LLMs will achieve AGI and/or replace software engineers. But this has indeed been life-enhancing.
Yes, LLMs need double-checking to ensure they're not hallucinating. And yes we've been able to use tech to "learn how to do things" ever since search engines were invented or perhaps even back to the days of newsgroups and BBSs. But it's so much more effective than its ever been IME.
(YouTube technically predates GMaps, but Google purchased YT a year after GMaps, and while Google's stewardship has not been perfect, their decision to allow literally unbounded growth has allowed so much niche information to take root there)
I have also personally found Apple's AirTags to be life-enhancing as fuck. They are, of course, enabled by the sort of always-connected networked life that brings a lot of other ills. But it is also invaluable to me from both a practical standpoint and a state-of-mind standpoint to not have to worry where my important shit is.
I mean yeah that's cool, motor oils, memes and all that. Meanwhile we destroyed ~70% of life on earth in the last 50 years. But cool, I'm glad you figured out this very deep metaphysical quest every human being has to complete in their life to attain a higher plane of existence: which motor oil should I use!?
I'll tell that to the kids with deformed necks and backs who scroll tiktok in groups for 2-3 hours a day in the bench in front of my building, I'm sure it'll enhance their lives
This was a surprising and confusing reply. It feels almost, but not quite entirely, disconnected from what I wrote.
What I did: Pointed out a few bits of technology that have had a positive impact on my life.
What I did not do: At no point did I mention TikTok. Or motor oil. I also did not make any kind of larger statements like, "all technology is good" or "most technology is good" or even express an optimistic view about technology in general. In fact I kind of share your overarching pessimism regarding technology. However, I must again point out that my post ventured into no such territory.
Here's what I think happened.
You skimmed my post. Quickly, and you skipped most of the words and didn't really understand anything. This is probably why you're talking about "motor oil" when I mentioned air filters. This happened not because you are stupid but because you scanned it quickly perhaps while your mind was on something else. The smattering of words that did register with you looked like some kind of glib techno-optimism in the face of a burning world, and you became irritated enough to write that utter non-sequitir.
But anyway, yeah. I probably agree with ya on the overall state of things.
In the last year alone they have combined to help me with dozens upon dozens of upon dozens of things, from changing the air filter in my car to waterproofing a canopy. It has been an extremely challenging year for me for personal reasons and there's so much stuff that would have gone undone without this combo.
Asking ChatGPT why synthetic motor oil lasts longer than regular oil is perhaps not a "sexy" application of the technology, especially when concerned with weightier matters like whether or not LLMs will achieve AGI and/or replace software engineers. But this has indeed been life-enhancing.
Yes, LLMs need double-checking to ensure they're not hallucinating. And yes we've been able to use tech to "learn how to do things" ever since search engines were invented or perhaps even back to the days of newsgroups and BBSs. But it's so much more effective than its ever been IME.
(YouTube technically predates GMaps, but Google purchased YT a year after GMaps, and while Google's stewardship has not been perfect, their decision to allow literally unbounded growth has allowed so much niche information to take root there)
I have also personally found Apple's AirTags to be life-enhancing as fuck. They are, of course, enabled by the sort of always-connected networked life that brings a lot of other ills. But it is also invaluable to me from both a practical standpoint and a state-of-mind standpoint to not have to worry where my important shit is.