From the perspective of AI critics like myself, HN is awash in posts showing what folks have done with AI or boosting AI PR pieces, while critics often get flagged and our submissions shunted away from the front page. AI Boosters claim that all this CAPEX will create a Utopia where nobody has to work anymore, economies grow exponentially forever, and societal ills magically disappear through the power of AGI. On the other side, a lot of AI Doomers point out the perils of circular financing, CAPEX investments divorced from reality, underlying societal and civilizational issues that will hinder any potential positive revolution from/by AI, and corporate valuations with no basis other than hype.
Where commenters like yourself trip themselves up is a staunch refusal to be objective in your observations. Nobody is doubting the excitement of new technologies and their potential, including LLMs; we doubt the validity of the claims of their proponents that these magic boxes will somehow cure all diseases and accelerate human civilization into the galactic sphere through automated R&D and production. When Op-Eds, bloggers, and commenters raise these issues, they’re brow-beaten, insulted, flagged, and shunted away from the front page as fast as humanly possible lest others start asking similar questions. While FT’s Op-Eds aren’t exactly stellar to begin with, and this one is similarly milquetoast at first glance, the questions and concerns raised remain both valid and unaddressed by AI Boosters like yourselves. Specifics are constantly nitpicked in an effort to discredit entire arguments, rather than address the crux of the grievance in a respectable manner; boosters frequently come off like a sleazy Ambulance-Chasing Lawyer on TV discrediting witnesses through bad-faith tactics.
Rather than bloviate about the glory of machine gods or whine about haters, actually try listening to the points of your opponents and addressing them in a respectful and honest manner instead of trying to find the proverbial weak point in the block tower. You - and many others - continue to willfully miss the forest for the specific tree you dislike within it, and that’s why this particular era in tech continues to devolve into toxicity.
At the end of the day, there is no possible way short of actual lived outcome for either side to prove their point as objectively correct. Though when one side spends their time hiding and smearing critique from their opponents instead of discussing it in good faith, that does not bode well for their position.
Where commenters like yourself trip themselves up is a staunch refusal to be objective in your observations. Nobody is doubting the excitement of new technologies and their potential, including LLMs; we doubt the validity of the claims of their proponents that these magic boxes will somehow cure all diseases and accelerate human civilization into the galactic sphere through automated R&D and production. When Op-Eds, bloggers, and commenters raise these issues, they’re brow-beaten, insulted, flagged, and shunted away from the front page as fast as humanly possible lest others start asking similar questions. While FT’s Op-Eds aren’t exactly stellar to begin with, and this one is similarly milquetoast at first glance, the questions and concerns raised remain both valid and unaddressed by AI Boosters like yourselves. Specifics are constantly nitpicked in an effort to discredit entire arguments, rather than address the crux of the grievance in a respectable manner; boosters frequently come off like a sleazy Ambulance-Chasing Lawyer on TV discrediting witnesses through bad-faith tactics.
Rather than bloviate about the glory of machine gods or whine about haters, actually try listening to the points of your opponents and addressing them in a respectful and honest manner instead of trying to find the proverbial weak point in the block tower. You - and many others - continue to willfully miss the forest for the specific tree you dislike within it, and that’s why this particular era in tech continues to devolve into toxicity.
At the end of the day, there is no possible way short of actual lived outcome for either side to prove their point as objectively correct. Though when one side spends their time hiding and smearing critique from their opponents instead of discussing it in good faith, that does not bode well for their position.