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glitchsoc - Link to source

Dmytri

not sure there is a smackdown of any kind here, but if you have good data on people losing their job because ai is doing that same job instead of them, I'm interested in that too. I have reasons to believe that that is not sustainably happening at scale, but that doesn't mean it's not happening at all.
This entry was edited (3 weeks ago)
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mastodon - Link to source

wb x64

@jnl in my case, the speculation about AI ("it's going to replace programmers!") caused mass layoffs a few springs ago, and I was part of that. Whether AI is actually accomplishing anything like I used to do is doubtful, more like entire industries and departments were declared nonprofitable and the economy was strip mined to reorient around whatever is currently seeing cash flow, which is an increasingly smaller number of industries, products, and services
@JNL
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glitchsoc - Link to source

Dmytri

@jnl smackdows, pissing contests, word-salad, not sure what you're reading here, but this is a thread about economics. And I don't mean that AI is failing to do those jobs, I mean that AI adopting firms are not reducing their head-count at scale, but that jobs are being lost because they are simply not being created or vanishing as a result of investment shifts.
@JNL
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wb x64

@jnl we're essentially saying the same thing, I think the other piece is that some people in those less fortunate businesses end up trying to do more with less, i.e. there may be less incentive to hire a junior developer or writer to take care of busywork when AI can supposedly do it for you. So the "taken job" is a little less visible because with all the shakeup it also maybe didn't exist in the first place and a bunch of businesses pivoted hard rather than "use AI to do someone's job"
@JNL
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mastodon - Link to source

wb x64

@jnl I'm not sure about more jobs in the end, it would take long term analysis to figure that out. For example surely there aren't more weavers now than before the automated loom, and I doubt there are even more people employed in the weaving industry or the loom design manufacturing maintenance and operation industry now. If there are more people employed today, it may be that they're textile call center workers, pool cleaners, and baristas?
@JNL
in reply to Dmytri

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Nicole Parsons

The AI bubble is designed to withhold funding from a utterly necessary switch to renewable energy, like solar & wind.
abcnews.go.com/US/wind-power-u…

wired.com/story/trump-energy-i…

bloomberg.com/news/articles/20…

cnn.com/2025/12/22/climate/tru…

There's several reasons why the fossil fuel industry is flogging AI so relentlessly.
theguardian.com/us-news/2025/j…

Election interference. State surveillance. Wage suppression. Anti-unionism. Expansion of fossil fueled energy hogs like data centers.

desmog.com/2025/12/11/the-koch…

1/


Trump unveils $70bn AI and energy plan at summit with oil and tech bigwigs

Pittsburgh event angers climate groups as Trump ties AI expansion to oil and gas, sidelining renewable energy
Dharna Noor (The Guardian)
in reply to Dmytri

mastodon - Link to source

Jeff Grigg

Computer RAM is generally useful outside of crypto and Generative AI.

But GPUs …
- burn out quickly
- are outdated quickly
- are not really useful for most other kinds of computer processing

So, assuming that the bubble bursts, most of this "capitol" that they're "investing" in will be … pretty much worthless.

That's why "capitol intensive business model" is misleading for Generative AI. True, but misleading.

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7heo

We actually already have the solution to the problem.

What we need is currency, to get the good and services we need and want, right?

Except they're too busy concentrating that currency by using exploitation and finance capitalism. And we can't fight it because our governments are complicit.

This, I believe, is the actual (and intended) proper use for cryptocurency.

We need to issue locally valid, locally owned cryptocurrencies, to allow local commerce outside of the reach of parasites.

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7heo

I was actually expecting such an answer.

The issue with cryptocurrencies is that bitcoin was never meant to be used as is, it was a PoC, and not ready for production. People have not thought it out, and used it immediately, first for fun, and then as a finance vehicle.

Now, we have an entire "industry" betting on cryptocurrencies as if it was wall street on crack and meth, and it is literally burning our planet for internet points... 😭

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7heo

But if we go back to the roots, and see it for what it actually is: a decentralized ledger, that can be made both compliant and private, as is the case with zcash, it can literally free us from our actual struggle against late stage capitalism.

For this, of course, we need to free ourselves of the "cryto bad" dogma, and check why it failed in its current form, and how it can be used for good.

As for "AI", let's talk about it once it actually exists, yes?

This entry was edited (3 weeks ago)
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7heo

So I'm gonna need a little bit to read your text properly. I skimmed through half, and while interesting, a lot of background knowledge is required for properly understanding it, and I do not possess all of that knowledge yet.

I certainly will have comments, remarks, and possibly criticisms about your text, but I'm really looking forward to understanding it properly and discussing it with you, would you be so inclined.

For now, tho, merry belated winter solstice! 🥳

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