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description=Drawing the distinction between using tools and having systems use you;
author=Gabriel;

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Text of the page (random words):
mpacts of all this have fundamentally altered our online experience surveillance censorship and algorithmic manipulation are a given despite many data breaches having disastrous impacts on people we are seeing an acceleration of the information being required from people through id verification schemes and other measures the combination of social media dominance and the rise of the smartphone were a double tap on individual privacy online your digital footprint was no longer mere traces in various places but is now a commodity bought and sold in real time the invasions of privacy themselves created new risks as sensitive information about people was abused for a wide variety of ends from scams to hostilities the worst of it all is what could have happened in its absence if we hadn t put all our eggs into the big tech basin we could have had radically better systems perform the same functions systems and tools are built on assumptions and those assumptions are usually built on the way things are it takes radical vision to imagine never mind build on a different set of principles this means that as the ground shifts so does the nature of systems built on top of it that s the reason why the online social environment has been so chaotic and difficult to keep up with the trouble is that we have been relying on consolidated technological structures that the idea of truly independent digital infrastructure is fringe so much so that the idea of building a cyberspace for and by the people is essentially unthinkable the trap is being confined to the dominant paradigm power decides what is projected top down and it is ultimately fruitless to try to out compete these systems on their own terms in hindsight it would seem that there have been many iterations of the same psyop to stifle independent technical talent the pattern is quite straightforward pitch to status seeking individuals that they ll be rewarded handsomely for building what power needs instead of having government build social media and the censorship apparatus on top of it it was auctioned off to whatever platforms could get the most users social media quickly transformed from being about connecting with contacts to people farming for data collection we then saw this very same pattern with the blockchain revolution not long after a digital token for peer to peer digital cash caught worldwide attention the focus shifted from emancipatory technology towards running more and more brazen ponzi schemes decentralization becomes less about changing the game but more about trying to beat the malevolent forces at their own game none of this means there aren t merits to social media blockchain technologies or even ai tools but there are fine distinctions that need to be made the feedback loop there are a lot of great reasons to never use ai tools in the way they are currently available to people research has already shown profound cognitive impacts to outsourcing your thinking multi media generation and chatbots double down on what is arguably the most dangerous aspect of social media it burns you on a pyre of your base impulses and then pours gasoline on the fire if these tools were physical products they would likely be packaged like cigarettes with terrifying warning labels yet despite all this we constantly see people prophesying that these are the future and that one must become familiar with them to not be left behind in fact there is a desperation behind the adoption of these tools a burning desire to one last sprint their way out of the seemingly inevitable permanent underclass this is because what both ai evangelists and critics can see is the all consuming nature of how the game is played ai as it is currently understood is not mere technology but a system of total technological domination over the public just as institutions and people have already ceded too much of cyberspace to the cloud we are in danger of offering even more of our lives and society on the altar of centralized computing the singularity was never to be an economic or technological boon but rather the mere collapse of society under the weight of digital totalitarianism naked human dominance and tyranny was the face behind the techno utopian mask a generation was evicted from the ideal of home ownership by the combination of a variety of economic and social forces it would seem that the same is taking place in cyberspace hardware is the new homes as the public becomes priced out of securing a modest home server for at least the foreseeable future the path of least resistance will always involve using centralized ai tools while it s certainly possible to run your own models on your own hardware and energy you d be at a massive disadvantage compared to those using the discounted costs of the cloud this builds a significant financial incentive to shift capital away from producing consumer friendly hardware to equipping data centers to take over computing itself in effect both state private investment in ai giants is effectively investing in seizing computing power and digital infrastructure from the public for those who are already well assimilated into the cloud the difference is imperceptible for those who wish to reclaim and protect digital autonomy for the people the game is all but entirely lost regardless of how ultimately useful the technological techniques behind ai tools actually are what people are actually afraid of is the run away feedback loop that seizes control of cyberspace as society is further dominated by it it may not matter what currency we use or if our government id is digital in a time where everything needs to ask the central computers for permission to take any action this could be tolerable if we saw a commensurate rise in innovation and invention but it seems that was just the marketing for invasive control and surveillance people are beginning to realize that the very nature of this system is anti social and inhuman the question isn t if it is bad or good but rather how bad it s going to be the super intelligence red herring critics often fall into the trap of believing these systems have no use or utility it should not be at all surprising to see fascinating applications of bulk processing the totality of society s creative and intellectual works the sheer magnitude of powerful machines and useful mathematics is genuinely impressive with some margin of error and a pretty intense amount of waste it does certainly seem achievable to fully automate a wide variety of tasks the combination of sophisticated automation and vast information collection can certainly provide the illusion of super intelligence but this would be like giving paper the credit for all the knowledge contained in books throughout history the mythology of ai super intelligence itself is a powerful force for dis empowering people just as a gang of brutes can keep an lone dissenter intimidated people are likely to develop an inferiority complex relative to the processed output of all of human creation this insecurity is deliberately fostered to build on learned helplessness to make ai super intelligence an illusory self fulfilling prophecy when pressed even the most fervent ai evangelists will retreat to they re just tools to help smart people work harder but it s clear their heart isn t in it if the goal was truly to unleash a new revolution of innovation and progress we would see sincere efforts to radically improve education and build up people s skills yet if anything it would seem that ai is to be not an actual industry but a bureaucratic babysitter for a public treated as a nuisance at best and an existential threat at worst schools and workplaces are being outfitted with systems to demote people from mere cogs in the machine to its subjects with this level of dispossession and displacement it is no surprise at all that the primary applications of ai are distraction and warfare none of these troubles are direct consequences from technological advancement but are the culmination of power plays through the long arc of history cloud ai has an immense advantage when it comes to the magnitude and variety of information available scale gives these large corporations access to a treasure trove of information while copyright enforcement turns a blind eye this is an immense asymmetric advantage that allows for the building of very useful information management and retrieval systems but this usefulness cuts both ways the consolidation of information inside these systems drives people to be more dependent on them the mental atrophy of using llms to do work is accelerated by allowing other research skills to atrophy independent verification may be entirely overshadowed by all other sources reflecting back the outputs of ai systems that may or may not be up to date or even accurate we have altered the deal pray we don t alter it further one of the biggest traps is assuming that just because these ai tools are presently generally useful that they will always remain productive in specific domains your quirky genius companion is likely to reveal its true colors when alternatives fade just as we are seeing consumer computing being brought out of reach for most individuals so too can specific capabilities be withheld from the users of ai systems we may be able to salvage utility from cloud models to make cute graphics learn interesting things or even build software but this is all on borrowed time not only will these tools continue to become more powerful the same mechanisms of control over them will also become more sophisticated it is entirely possible if not outright guaranteed that at some point these tools will eventually narrow their usefulness towards various ends and withhold access to particular groups and people this form of cyber exile effectively transforms everything and everyone connected to the system into a potential adversary it is also not a given that these systems will be as inexpensive as they presently are the economics appear wholly unsustainable the costs in price or otherwise to use these systems must inevitably rise therefore all reliance on these commercially available ai tools is taking on an indeterminable future debt in exchange for short term gain this is highly concerning considering the already clear troubles relating to using these systems we have already seen institutions impose ai systems for employees it is an open question how easily individuals of society will be able to escape them at all for it is not just about an individual s choice to use these systems or not regardless of their choice these systems are going to be used against them facial recognition and other surveillance systems are ubiquitous and omnipresent currently opposing this adversarial model of technological tyranny is quite difficult and gets more challenging over time getting off the fence refusing to compromise on humanity i genuinely get it these tools are very handy and can do a lot of interesting things telling someone to avoid using these tools feels like asking them to take on an immense disadvantage that downgrade is relative to your perspective the drive to replace human creativity and input with centralized compute is on its own self defeating it means that all those rushing to become familiar with these tools are at best racing to push themselves out of society the paradox is that in a desperate race to not be left behind you realize that you had to give up to participate my point is that being a mere technician for ai tools is highly likely to be a crowded trade and practitioners will be replaceable by design this is because the exponential consolidation of cyberspace didn t begin when people started using chatgpt but actually when people shifted away from independent websites to big tech social media services it s a much longer trend and we re merely beginning to see the deeper impacts i am also not so naive to prescribe an all or nothing approach i recognize that many are going to be confined to these systems for a variety of reasons it is paramount that we recognize and address structural factors rather than turning on and attacking people making different choices than us you can t disarm totalitarian thinking with join me or else but rather with the strength to endure long enough to build something better people are going to use these systems and there are many disastrous consequences of it people are also going to strive to avoid it all at great personal cost there will be all kinds of people everywhere in between it is paramount that those of us concerned about these issues are focusing on connecting with the people rather than merely fighting the machine this is because what is actually more powerful than all these systems is what we see in each other despite all the hype about needing to sacrifice each other for ai to defeat china we re going about it all wrong a human society that cherishes and nurtures personal agency and capacity will absolutely out compete a system that trades what we are for false idols it is fatefully ironic that those who desperately wish to surpass all of human achievement knowledge and culture are entirely unappreciative of its wonders art without experience words without coherence and even software without sense all reveal how erroneous the current path actually is the question was never what tools we use but always what they re being used for we have a small window of time to refocus on meaningful connections rather than what algorithms choose for us doubling down on what s real is the winning move presence and purpose everything about our present digital experience is aimed at preying on our panic that pressure is imposed via a variety of means but is always used as leverage against us first and foremost it is crucial to protect your mind in these times peace and sanity doesn t have to come at the expense of being informed if you properly pace yourself taking the time to meaningfully engage with what s important to you allows you to bring the care that s called for no matter what you re doing be especially focused on ensuring you re being deliberate a relatively small amount of self awareness can help ensure you re using tools rather than have them using you the line between the two is being blurred all the time so it s always a good practice to question why and how you re doing things taking the time to dive deep into the details of your experience is helpful to keep your real goals in mind i won t condemn you merely for using ai tools but i m going to expect a lot more out of what you accomplish with great automation i expect much greater care into the precise details with the power to accomplish so much by using these tools how you choose to leverage them does tell me a great deal about what you actually prioritize merely generating slop to stay relevant in social media algorithms reveals that the message was never the point using ai agents to vibe code fr...