technology and society

AMA with Ali Beiner. Wednesday 2/4 at 11:00 AM CT

Kainos host Alexander Beiner exploring cultural sensemaking around psychedelics, popular culture, philosophy, psychology, alternative economics, and spirituality.

AMA with Nate Soares. Wednesday 2/4 at 10am CT

Author of If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies answers questions about why superhuman AI would kill us all.

AMA with Nate Soares. Wednesday 2/4 at 10am CT

Author of If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies answers questions about why superhuman AI would kill us all.

What is something you admire about each candidate? Inspired by Brian's post

Hey Gang. Hey there! I am a children's book author, part time travel agent and sports nut. Hope everybody's hanging in there. 

Hey Gang. Hey there! I am a children's book author, part time travel agent and sports nut. Hope everybody's hanging in there. 

Please help me stay intellectually honest! I'm not a fan of generative AI in general, and LLM technology specifically. I think its capabilities are being drastically over-hyped. It's a perfect, sweaty example of a solution looking for a problem. I'm skeptical of many claims people are making wrt how it's helping them.

My experience is it's like having access to an idiot-savant intern. Awful at most tasks, but knows everything and can read incredibly quickly.

Publicly, I've taken on the mantle of a staunch critic of generative AI and a pro-human, pro-soul advocate.

And for the most part, I'm happy with that stance. I like it. It feels good to rail against something, and it feels good to contrast a thing that I hate against something I love. It throws the love into more relief.

Yet, I don't want to lose any babies in that bathwater, and I don't want to lose my intellectual honesty in the neurochemical rush of fighting for a cause. So I'd love to explore the best use cases of LLMs that you all are actually using, and actually finding beneficial, life improving, productivity increasing, all of that.

I'd love to hear your experience, and ideally, you'd to tell me how you're doing what you're doing with it in enough detail so that I can try it.

I'll start.

Absolutely most useful thing I've found for it so far, and it's not even close, is language learning.

I'm in a slow process of learning Japanese, and asking a chatbot to break down the grammar of a specific sentence is super useful. It's also great for generating content for flashcards. Say you have a set of characters, and you want some example words that use each particular character. It's so easy to generate stuff like that.

Outside of that, I use it in super basic ways (basically as google with one less step).

So please, give me your best use cases, things that you've not only been impressed by, in a "oh wow, that monkey can tap dance!" way, but that has actually improved the quality of your life.

Dating is over. 

discuss...

How Google and AI are Killing Travel Blogs Like Mine

I just finished reading this blog post by Amanda Williams, a travel blogger of 15 years, on the impact of Google's "helpful content" algo changes and AI on her ability to financial sustain herself.

And man- I might sound dumb here, but I totally had not connected the dots re: how AI will absolutely destroy ad revenue for creators-- specifically creators that produce written content. 

Ad placement is driven by site visitors, and AI totally bypasses the need for a site visit. Instead, it harvests the information from blogs like Amanda's and puts it in a neat list along with the content of 10 other bloggers so a person trying to find the top sites to visit in Paris never needs to even visit the site. 

This is a problem in that, bloggers like Amanda have to switch strategies-- she now needs a new means of making money to continue producing trustworthy travel content. That might be creating a substack with individual subscribers, creating courses, etc. But her content likely won't be publicly available in the future, non-harvestable by AI... and that's a problem too in that AI's knowledge sources are going to get worse and worse. 

Also, I just can't imagine that the 1:1 subscriber model won't be a losing game for soooo many great writers/creators. It's very different to be a person creating content that people are willing to pay for month over month, especially in niche fields like travel, instead of being paid by relevant brands through ads. 

What do y'all think?

Dating is over. 

discuss...

Dating is over. 

discuss...

Dating is over. 

discuss...

China's Economic Slowdown: Challenges, Debt, and an Uncertain Future. This excellent video explores China's economic challenges, particularly its slowing growth, increasing debt, and the risks associated with these trends. Despite expectations that China would become the world's dominant superpower due to its rapid economic rise, issues such as economic mismanagement, deflation, and high debt levels are creating significant problems. The country's debt crisis, fueled by heavy borrowing for infrastructure and real estate projects, is especially concerning, as it's tied to unsustainable growth expectations.

The housing market in China, reliant on speculative investment and inflated property prices, is a key driver of the country's economic issues. Additionally, China is facing increased internal unrest, particularly among younger workers, and a significant reliance on state-owned companies that have been over-leveraged.

While these problems are concerning, experts argue that an outright collapse of China's economy is unlikely due to its financial safeguards and global influence. However, China’s rise to dominance may have plateaued, and its future remains uncertain. The country's economic future will have significant implications for the global economy, but it's unclear whether it will stabilise, stagnate, or eventually surpass the U.S. economically.

Despite the severity of China's economic challenges, many experts believe that a total collapse is improbable. Rather, China's economic slowdown will likely lead to a period of stagnation and reform, with possible long-term adjustments to its economic structure. However, it's clear that the expectations surrounding China's dominance have not materialised, and its future is now filled with uncertainty.

IP is a boomer concept in the age of abundance. This is a hot take that really has me thinking. 

I generally feel negatively toward Kyle for a myriad of reasons, but this is a really interesting proposal. 

I’m still noodling on it. Thought I’d share so others can join me in the noodling.