In the end, the true mark of life is what we leave behind.
play for ambience
This could mean love; it could mean those who we impact the most. Other times, it could mean wonderous things...depending on how we lived our lives.
Untold riches, wild political power, unchecked movements, concerned only of ourselves--to some, the dream! For me, this would result in things too...easy.
The truth is...we do the things we do because they are hard; not in spite of it. The difficulty...the work...is what makes it worth it.
To consult an AI; for it to give you the answer...what do you learn from that? What skill have you gained?
This isn't to say all AI is just worthless filler, or that we can't use it to learn. But, dear reader, you know what humans do. Simple to a fault.
The one unending truth about modern humanity: the path of least resistance always wins.
Life isn't supposed to be easy, though, I suppose. It's not supposed to be much of anything. Do we dwell on that which is hard because it indicates we put more work in and as such, justifies our experience?
I'd posit yes. Where skill is acquired, there's reason to feel upset and frustrated when someone who didn't put in that work vibe codes a program that does what yours does, but half as well.
Recently, OpenAI CEO Sam Altmanmade the comment: “People talk about how much energy it takes to train an AI model – but it also takes a lot of energy to train a human...It takes about 20 years of life – and all the food you consume during that time – before you become smart."
I find this to be offensive to my sensibilities; it reduces the human experience to its' most basic points: inputs and outputs. To equate a human life...a person, growing from child to adult, to the mindless token exchanges behind the black box that ChatGPT is; seems so deeply out of touch.
My question around this quote has less to do with 'what is wrong with Sam Altman,' and more of 'what kinda of psychopath are we dealing with?'
But reader, you know why. You know why he acts this way. Those in power, want to remain in power. With power comes control, with control comes less resistance. Humans will always take the path of least resistance.
The problem is that Sam Altman doesn't care what he leaves behind. His path of least resistance is exploiting all of human knowledge, creating a party trick, and wowing people by it. Stealing creative works, the library of Alexandria, and small, independent, homegrown projects; twisting them into a...chat bot.
Sounds a lot less impressive when you phrase it like that. He had all of the resources in the world, literally all of human knowledge...and he came up with: a chat bot.
Digs aside; his path of least resistance means acquiring as much capital as possible, create a service that people rely on, and then ride off into the sunset. No real skills, except that of a conman.
The incredible news is that this isn't something people are taking laying down or just ignoring:
"So what's the point with the stream of consiousness, Zed?" I hear you say.
I suppose the small 'p' point; it's that Sam Altman, CEO's like him (Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai, etc) really aren't great for us on a wholistic sort of view of society. (shocking, new information to you, know!)
I suppose the big 'P' Point here...is the title.
In the end, the true mark of life is what we leave behind. Do you wish for your legacy to be riddled with supporting conmen swearing that the work they do benefits society because they've provided...a chat bot? At some point, convenience begets exploitation, begets suffering.
And in a very real way, some point, we will return to life that is more inconvenient; the messy afternoons filled with frustration over "that damn computer not working right, again," or "I know I put that damn remote somewhere," or "how the fuck did I do this before?"
In the end, no one is coming to rescue you.
In the end, no one is coming to save you.
If you wish to see change, the power is yours to change it.
It's those changes; the millions of microdecisions you choose to make that makes the most sense--on a primal level.
So what's it going to be? Convenience? or Humanity? Supporting conmen? or Learning a skill?
This means running your own services. This means rejecting convenience. This means learning, not relying on AI to provide the answers for you.
In the end, the true mark of life is what we leave behind.