BIT-101

Anyone who follows me on line knows that I’m not the biggest fan of AI and where it is taking the world. I won’t make a huge rant about it, but I didn’t get in to programming to just describe what I want to code, have something code it, then point out the mistakes it made. Beyond that, there’s all the impacts on the world, the environment, the economy, workers, artists, other coders, and the kids who will grow up in this new world. That’s it. That’s my rant.

But recently, I have been wondering about my part in all this. I’ve been coding as a hobby for around 40 years and professionally for almost 30. I’ve always been excited about the next big thing. The new OS, new hardware, new devices. I remember a world WAY before everyone had a computer at home, much less an even more powerful computer in their pocket, or on their wrist. I remember a world before any normal person had access to the internet or even knew what it was. And I rejoiced in every new capability. I can have my own computer? Amazing! Doom? Real time 3D? Holy crap! I can render fractals on my own? Wow! I can download an album or any number of songs without having to buy physical media? Now I can stream that music? I can have a computer that I can carry around with me? Now I can have one that fits in my pocket? And I can use these things to talk to anyone anywhere in the world? WTF? I can create a page on this internet that anyone can see? I can write code and put it on my website, and have it to real time interactive physics simulations that anyone in the world can see as soon as I put it there? I can stream entire movies to any device? I can make my own movies and let other people stream them? Goddamn!

Every step, every new big thing I met with enthusiasm and excitement. I never really questioned where it was all leading. I guess I thought about it sometimes, but with rose colored glasses. It was just going to keep getting better and faster and higher resolution. I actually remember thinking that now that anyone in the world could talk to anyone else in the world instantaneously any time day or night, that war would inevitably die off. So naive.

Anyway, we finally got to something that I do not meet with enthusiasm and excitement. I meet it with concern and anxiety.

But I think… I think that this was always where it was leading. Faster, better, easier, more access to data, faster processing of that data. Less friction, more automation. There’s an app for that, and that, and yeah, that too. There’s no earning anything, no waiting, no saving up, not even any thinking about how to do anything. Just pay your monthly subscription and you have it all literally without lifting a finger. How is AI not the end game in this progression?

And I think I am complicit in this. I bought into it at every step along the way. I wrote about it, talked about it, shared the excitement about each little turn in the path. And now we are here and I don’t like where we’ve come. That doesn’t feel great.

In some ways, personally, I have an out. I’m in my 60s now. I can retire in the next few years. And leave this whole mess behind. But if I were still in my 30s or 40s now, I’d be having a serious crisis.

So for anyone younger, who is going to have to live with this for the next few decades, I’m sorry. We were so preoccupied with whether or not we could… etc.

Please do better than those who came before you.