Remember when every piece of Window$ software back in the day tried to get you to add their browser bar to your web browser? I really thought that would be the peak of how awful browser add-ons could get. Guess I wasn’t dreaming big enough to imagine a boondoggle as utterly useless as an LLM integrated into a browser. I mean, I hated Clippy at the time, but never imagined anyone (even a marketing clown) would try to jam him into a web browser, and have him remember everything you did online so he could chat with you about it.
What an amazing idea to try to push users from reading articles to reading bullshit hallucinations of summaries of articles. AI really feels like the thing that’s pushing us to become the humans from Wall-E faster than any other invention right now.
2006: “Install our browser toolbar! It offers a marginally useful feature, and it definitely doesn’t slow down your browser or send all your personal data to an evil corporate overlord! Promise!”
2026: “Install our browser AI addon! It offers a completely useless feature, and it absolutely slows down your browser and sends all your personal data to an evil corporate overlord! Promise!”
Agreed. I think of Wall-E often and think its vision of the future is more accurate, but Idiocracy makes for a more descriptive term to summarize it. And suddenly, I feel like I’m rehashing HS English class: “Does 1984 or Brave New World summarize society more accurately?” The premise being that in 1984, the government deliberately sought to shrink reality, whereas in “Brave New World,” individuals opted-in.
My perspective is that oligarchical wannabes are essentially giving people what they think those people want, but they’re clearly not following the ideas through to their logical conclusions. Like, AI in schools… OK… Why? Because thinking is too hard? Don’t be silly – that’s what brains do reflexively. And like, when did hard stuff get such a bad rap? IMHO, so-called friction is good, probably fundamental. This notion that everything should be all upside all the time is probably not even possible, much less desirable.
Remember when every piece of Window$ software back in the day tried to get you to add their browser bar to your web browser? I really thought that would be the peak of how awful browser add-ons could get. Guess I wasn’t dreaming big enough to imagine a boondoggle as utterly useless as an LLM integrated into a browser. I mean, I hated Clippy at the time, but never imagined anyone (even a marketing clown) would try to jam him into a web browser, and have him remember everything you did online so he could chat with you about it.
What an amazing idea to try to push users from reading articles to reading bullshit hallucinations of summaries of articles. AI really feels like the thing that’s pushing us to become the humans from Wall-E faster than any other invention right now.
2006: “Install our browser toolbar! It offers a marginally useful feature, and it definitely doesn’t slow down your browser or send all your personal data to an evil corporate overlord! Promise!”
2026: “Install our browser AI addon! It offers a completely useless feature, and it absolutely slows down your browser and sends all your personal data to an evil corporate overlord! Promise!”
Man. I so do not miss toolbars.
This used to be a filter to tell which of your friends and/or family were tech literate.
Agreed. I think of Wall-E often and think its vision of the future is more accurate, but Idiocracy makes for a more descriptive term to summarize it. And suddenly, I feel like I’m rehashing HS English class: “Does 1984 or Brave New World summarize society more accurately?” The premise being that in 1984, the government deliberately sought to shrink reality, whereas in “Brave New World,” individuals opted-in.
My perspective is that oligarchical wannabes are essentially giving people what they think those people want, but they’re clearly not following the ideas through to their logical conclusions. Like, AI in schools… OK… Why? Because thinking is too hard? Don’t be silly – that’s what brains do reflexively. And like, when did hard stuff get such a bad rap? IMHO, so-called friction is good, probably fundamental. This notion that everything should be all upside all the time is probably not even possible, much less desirable.
Oh, the horrors.
Bonzibuddy.