Post

Gonna briefly do an AI take: it used to be possible to have interesting discussions about AI here, and it's got progressively less so. You can't just think AI is bad, or overhyped, you've also got to subscribe to a very particular worst-case scenario about *how* it's bad and how bad it is.

There's a particular view on its environmental damage, psychological damage, and that it's useless, and if you deviate from that here you just end up deluged in yet another debate about those things, instead of the discussion you were trying to have.

I think it's quite noticeable that several thoughtful and serious AI critics now post here much less than they used to. Some have gone back to X (or if they didn't leave, upped their posting there), while others just don't seem to post anywhere very often any more. It's a shame.

You see some academic or policy communities mourn that their discipline never really arrived on here. I think good AI criticism did arrive here, but has largely withered away/been driven off by one specific subset of criticism which I personally don't find particularly interesting or convincing.

Is it fair to call them 'AI critics' rather than sceptics, because I think it was the sceptics who met the critics/obstructionists here who arent really interested (as with lots of SM) in a good faith discussion?

I don't want to lose the word "critic" though, as a sometime book critic I think it's a handy word for someone who tries to critically assess a work/field/book/movie!

We had a pretty decent first 18 hours or so on this thread, which I'll count as a good run.

There are dozens of us, I tell you! Dozens!

When you respond to a post that's more than 48 hours old that went even semi-viral, there is almost zero chance your post says anything new that the OP hasn't seen *many* times by now. That's the nature of social media, I guess, but amazing how many people don't really grasp it (or choose not to)

I think this is a disgusted response to an intellectual and economic bubble. When tulip mania took over the Dutch Republic, the appropriate response was not measured discussion.

OK James, you put that data center in your backyard and then come talk to us OK seriously. Where is the nearest data center to where you live? How many more do you want in your area because if you’re not willing to support a data center in your backyard, you’re not supporting AI

I live about two miles away from a major data centre (as do most people who live in cities)

Oh and James guess what? Contrary to what you may believe not everyone lives in large cities. You might want to think about those people.

You ought to go live near a data centre permanently.