fwiw, the same is true for humans. Which is why there's a whole lot of process and red tape around that button. We know how to manage risk. We can choose to do that for LLM usage, too.
If instead we believe in fantasies of a single all-knowing machine god that is 100% correct at all times, then... we really just have ourselves to blame. Might as well just have spammed that button by hand.
"The people who are leading the AI revolution, 'the tech titans', many of them are thinking in a way which is really alien to most of the people on the planet. People sometimes think 'Oh, these tech titans, they want money. They want power.' They want something far more ambitious than money or power. They want to change the course of the evolution of life and even of the evolution of the cosmos. In the minds of some of them, sometime in the future, millions, billions of years in the future, when they write the history of the universe, it will be like: 'Okay, the Big Bang - 14 billions years ago, 10 billion years later - the emergence of life on earth, the only life we know about so far in the universe, 4 billion years later - Elon Musk and the beginning of AI'. This is the timeline they have.”
Arweave network is like Bitcoin, but for data: A permanent and decentralized web inside an open ledger. [0]
The InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) is a decentralized protocol, hypermedia, and peer-to-peer (P2P) network for distributed file storage and sharing. The shadow libraries Anna's Archive and Library Genesis host books via IPFS. [1]
At least for me it was the realization that I didn't really know why I was doing what I was doing.
I wanted to change the world and make it better, and it felt good to pursue a career with a high salary and prestige, but after years of working in software I was not seeing my work actually make the world better. In fact it was making me feel sick, tired, and depressed.
There was a short period of time in the 2000s when it did feel like tech was beginning to transform peoples lives and society for the better, but after the algorithms and rougher edges of our collective human nature took it over, it all seems to have drastically changed course.
What did you do about it? I am asking with sincere interest.
I quit my SWE job more than a year ago and have been trying out a solo/indie thing for a few months. It has been hard, as it really forces me to face how much I really suck at things, but the motivation and the joy of learning are slowly coming back.
I am wondering if indie webdev might become a thing, given how it is going in the game development space, how enshittification is slowly becoming a mainstream term, and how the industry seem to lean right now in terms of jobs.
After leaving my job at a FAANG, I did consulting for a large company for the first two years, working for 20 hours a week. I focused on my mental health which I'd self-neglected for years, by seeking therapy. I also went along the same route as the author, reconnecting spiritually and improving my diet by teaching myself how to cook. I was pretty much eating out every day before this.
At the same time, I began reducing my living costs. I sold my townhome and rented a room in a siblings house. I was able to bring my total core expenses down to around $25k-$30k/year.
Last year I started a nonprofit related to art (fieldsofcolor.org). I found a lot of joy and meaning in this endeavor. We recently received 501(c)(3) exemption, and I am planning to begin fundraising soon. I hope to someday make my living doing this. If not, my lifestyle is frugal enough I can manage via small consulting gigs here and there, or through a side job.
There's a story about Diocletian, the emperor who guided Rome through one of the most turbulent periods of its history, and later voluntarily abdicated and retired to his villa. When they begged him back to resolve some conflicts that had arisen he stated:
"If you could see the cabbages I have planted here with my own hands, you surely would never have thought to request this."
Forced obsolescence due to the iOS 26 bloat triggers a forced upgrade cycle.
More iPhone sales! Some VP up there is popping champagne after getting the genius idea to disguise it as a security feature and force it down people's throats.
Some of these problems likely arise from the fact that they're probably already stretched thin working on the next "Liquid Glass". Radars which are not P1 or P2 essentially get punted to the bottom of the PQ, and many of these often end up being age old bugs i.e. not a regression i.e. not a priority.
Recently I tried sync'ing a 10 minute video from my iPhone to my Mac through iCloud. I gave up after waiting for more than 30 minutes and just used Google Drive because airdrop for some reason is just completely broken.
Do you use Little Snitch? Sometimes it used to interfere with Airdrop based on my rules, but I can't remember specifics. Definitely a custom rule I set up though
There was a period when I put space between myself and my main friends which resulted in loneliness, but I found this created a new space to connect with my siblings who were really interesting and had grown in ways I hadn't noticed.
Also, as Charlie Munger always said: "Invert! Invert! Invert!". Try doing the opposite of what you normally do. This requires of course paying attention to what you normally do (or don't do). Instead of waiting for others to reach out to you, for example, you might instead approach them.
Be okay with the fear of rejection. When we are kids we make friends so easily because we haven’t yet learned to protect ourselves from rejection.
An interesting exercise I had to do recently as part of a teambuilding exercise: offer a hug to 5 random strangers. I promise this will teach you something about yourself, and about others.
Not always a good recommendation. A huge reason I was isolated before university was because of excessive control from my family. I'd personally say sports or other common outdoor activities like hiking are a great way to meet people. No strings attached and much more natural than randomly hugging strangers.
Im interested to learn more about this team building exercise. What do you mean by hug random strangers? Like on the street? I've never heard of such an exercise before.
This exercise was part of a 3-day weekend team-building workshop which was part of a voluntary work thing.
This particular exercise was assigned as "homework" by the coaching staff: "You will give a hug to a minimum of 5 people who you don't know before returning to tomorrow's session (no children)".
I think the goal was to 1) Step outside your comfort zone 2) Learn to take rejection less personally 3) Learn something about trust
I did my "homework" by going to Chipotle (some people put up a sign at the hotel lobby with the text "free hugs") and asking the cash register attendant and people inside. I remember going to this older lady who seemed like she had just gotten off a looong shift. She looked up and gave me the warmest smile and said "oh this is excellent! Is this part of church or something?" I got the biggest hug ever and it felt amazing. I had a similar experience with the other four hugs.
