https://killedbygoogle.com/
The google graveyard. Why would anyone buy into any non-core part of their ecosystem?
The google graveyard. Why would anyone buy into any non-core part of their ecosystem?
I have a bad habit of drafting and redrafting posts long past the point that it's beneficial to do so, and in the process I end up cutting a lot of good ideas that probably should have stayed in.
The big thing that I didn't mention before that I should have is that we need to be very careful not to throw out something that's good because it can be used for evil. It is inarguable that there's a massive disconnect between the productivity of the common worker and the wages of the common worker. There is a graph that whatifalthist on YouTube routinely shows that shows the disconnect between wages and productivity that shows that despite being more productive than ever before, the common worker is getting wages that are not commensurate with that. So it's inarguable that the common man is getting screwed and inappropriate amounts of wealth and power are going to a tiny number of people.
That being said, that is the evil but the fact that something can result in evil doesn't make it inherently evil, especially when that same thing can and has resulted in some of the greatest good in history.
Proper capitalism is almost communistic. People only make money when things are working properly when they do something or provide something that other people want more than they want that money themselves. That's the only way to make a profit in such a situation is to help others.
A few of the wealthiest people on the face of the planet actually did get to their position at least initially by doing that. Jeff bezos for example really was instrumental in changing the world for a lot of people around the world. There's a lot of stuff that simply wasn't available to purchase at any price in a lot of areas, and suddenly with the help of Amazon it's a very reasonable price and two days shipping away.
On the other hand, there is an old saying that you can become a millionaire through honest hard work and innovation, but you can't become a billionaire. A lot of the people who became Rich beyond imagination were relying on systems that aren't fundamentally fair. The rules for a megacorp and a rules for startup, not to mention the rules for startup that isn't part of the blessed caste out of silicon valley are all quite different. I won't get into it because this post is already getting too long, but that unequal treatment is dangerous, and results in winners and losers being picked separately from merit. You end up with a sort of modern feudalism, with all powerful deities at the top, and abused serfs at the bottom, and God help you if you aren't even in the system.
The big thing that I didn't mention before that I should have is that we need to be very careful not to throw out something that's good because it can be used for evil. It is inarguable that there's a massive disconnect between the productivity of the common worker and the wages of the common worker. There is a graph that whatifalthist on YouTube routinely shows that shows the disconnect between wages and productivity that shows that despite being more productive than ever before, the common worker is getting wages that are not commensurate with that. So it's inarguable that the common man is getting screwed and inappropriate amounts of wealth and power are going to a tiny number of people.
That being said, that is the evil but the fact that something can result in evil doesn't make it inherently evil, especially when that same thing can and has resulted in some of the greatest good in history.
Proper capitalism is almost communistic. People only make money when things are working properly when they do something or provide something that other people want more than they want that money themselves. That's the only way to make a profit in such a situation is to help others.
A few of the wealthiest people on the face of the planet actually did get to their position at least initially by doing that. Jeff bezos for example really was instrumental in changing the world for a lot of people around the world. There's a lot of stuff that simply wasn't available to purchase at any price in a lot of areas, and suddenly with the help of Amazon it's a very reasonable price and two days shipping away.
On the other hand, there is an old saying that you can become a millionaire through honest hard work and innovation, but you can't become a billionaire. A lot of the people who became Rich beyond imagination were relying on systems that aren't fundamentally fair. The rules for a megacorp and a rules for startup, not to mention the rules for startup that isn't part of the blessed caste out of silicon valley are all quite different. I won't get into it because this post is already getting too long, but that unequal treatment is dangerous, and results in winners and losers being picked separately from merit. You end up with a sort of modern feudalism, with all powerful deities at the top, and abused serfs at the bottom, and God help you if you aren't even in the system.
Our society is one of the safest in the history of the world, and also one of the most paranoid in the history of the world. It's intuitive, but at the same time seems like a paradox: Why would we worry so much more when the risk of something happening is so much less?
I think it comes down to those incredible predictive brains we have. We have the world that is that we react to, then we have the world we predict that we can react to ahead of time. For those predictions to be acted upon, we need to consider the future more strongly than the present, or we'll just act on the present reducing the benefit of our predictive brains. As for how this happens, if we predict all the pain that a bad outcome would have, we can predict all that pain in a second, whereas if we experience that pain, it will be drawn out over a period of time.
That's how we end up with our overdeveloped sense of empathy as well. We care think about all the bad feelings of someone being mean to us in an instant instead of it being actually felt over a period of time.
The fact that we don't actually get hurt only makes things worse, because we continue to build and build and build how bad pain must be in our minds, anticipating a slap that will never come and becoming more terrified of it every moment. Meanwhile, 100 years ago kids dying was commonplace yet people just had more kids and were significantly less risk averse with each one.
It's almost like a reverse skinner box, the low random chance of pain causing us to go crazy like the low random chance of pleasure does.
I think it comes down to those incredible predictive brains we have. We have the world that is that we react to, then we have the world we predict that we can react to ahead of time. For those predictions to be acted upon, we need to consider the future more strongly than the present, or we'll just act on the present reducing the benefit of our predictive brains. As for how this happens, if we predict all the pain that a bad outcome would have, we can predict all that pain in a second, whereas if we experience that pain, it will be drawn out over a period of time.
That's how we end up with our overdeveloped sense of empathy as well. We care think about all the bad feelings of someone being mean to us in an instant instead of it being actually felt over a period of time.
The fact that we don't actually get hurt only makes things worse, because we continue to build and build and build how bad pain must be in our minds, anticipating a slap that will never come and becoming more terrified of it every moment. Meanwhile, 100 years ago kids dying was commonplace yet people just had more kids and were significantly less risk averse with each one.
It's almost like a reverse skinner box, the low random chance of pain causing us to go crazy like the low random chance of pleasure does.
🤔
So you're saying that by taking exlax I can improve my mental health?
I'm willing to give it a shot!
[6 months later]
Huh, it worked.
So you're saying that by taking exlax I can improve my mental health?
I'm willing to give it a shot!
[6 months later]
Huh, it worked.
Something seriously fucked when a military that spends more than the next 20 combined runs out of bullets for a tiny war like this one.
Never say never.
There are cases where it's happened, but admittedly it's super rare.
There are cases where it's happened, but admittedly it's super rare.
If you expect everything I post is 100% serious, then you're going to be deeply disappointed.
Did you know that God didn't actually DDOS my servers?
Did you know that God didn't actually DDOS my servers?
Not really. Especially given the post I made about 5 minutes ago about beliefs and testable predictions.
One of the key things about science is that you can use observations to produce testable predictions that help you validate your beliefs.
It seems to me that while I'm being vilified for my current beliefs, they produced a large number of testable predictions that turned out to be true and I correctly acted upon, and if I believed what won't get me vilified, then my testable predictions would have turned out wrong and I would have made different decisions that would have been markedly worse.
It seems to me that while I'm being vilified for my current beliefs, they produced a large number of testable predictions that turned out to be true and I correctly acted upon, and if I believed what won't get me vilified, then my testable predictions would have turned out wrong and I would have made different decisions that would have been markedly worse.
We'll have to disagree. I don't think there's any comparison between the exponential progress of the past and the incremental progress of today.
Like I said, I've seen a lot of the promises made, and the reality isn't nearly as exciting as the pitch.
Demos really well, but good demos are irrelevant. Eventually rubber meets road, and eventually someone needs to do something.
Like I said, I've seen a lot of the promises made, and the reality isn't nearly as exciting as the pitch.
Demos really well, but good demos are irrelevant. Eventually rubber meets road, and eventually someone needs to do something.
Pretty small advances compared to the past. Especially considering that a lot of the Artificial Intelligent is more artificial than intelligent.
I've been involved with some projects in this regard. The strings become immediately obvious the moment rubber meets road and someone actually has to do something.
I've been involved with some projects in this regard. The strings become immediately obvious the moment rubber meets road and someone actually has to do something.
Interestingly, I see the opposite. Technological progress has been dramatically stagnating for a while. Moore's law is long dead and most of the stuff we're seeing is just incremental improvements on existing concepts.
You might be too young to know what being in computers and technology used to look like. 10 years would change everything. Now 10 years isn't even a blip.
You might be too young to know what being in computers and technology used to look like. 10 years would change everything. Now 10 years isn't even a blip.
It can reduce certain parts of the need for labor in specific circumstances, but in a lot of ways you're just moving the pile of resources from one pile to the other. I've seen it first hand. Sounds so nice on paper, but eventually rubber meets road and somebody actually needs to do something.
A lot of impossible things are reasonable to imagine. The devil is in the details, and so in the imagination the details are abstracted away so you don't need to deal with them.
A lot of impossible things are reasonable to imagine. The devil is in the details, and so in the imagination the details are abstracted away so you don't need to deal with them.