I had a bedframe, but it broke.

Bare mattresses on the floor are just more practical after a certain point. There are only so many bedframes I can salvage from the dump.

Hey, how are they going to guarantee a natural gas crisis and ramp up of demand (aka, profit for the oil Barrons) without this demand bubble making it to all the political donor classes assets?

Seize the RAM of production?

They just took it for granted that the whole of humanity should benefit from automation, AI, and limitless energy / matter conversion. How silly.

(Let’s all just ignore the show’s inability to imagine a world without class, servants and land ownership in the post scarcity economy. As Picard somehow owns a vineyard with servants who work it in his absence)

If you’re a tyrant, they let you do it.

Even if they do, we can make our own battle field with blackjack and hookers.

Understandable.

How to utilize new tools for Society as a whole vs disciplined and intelligent individuals and groups are unfortunately different things. Also, the tech is very early, a great deal needs to be done to make it usable as “advertised” by the big tech hype bubble. However, the cutting edge of small local models is already where the large models were just a year ago, and getting more efficient on worse hardware. However, that is the wild wild West of LLMs, like the early Internet, it’s dangerous and confusing. It’s a cyber security nightmare, while LLMs are closing old wholes faster than ever, using LLMs is going to creat new risks.

I don’t have the answers to the larger social issues. All I can do is ensure I understand them myself and am prepared to use them.

The copyright and attribution issue is real, but it is a “1st world problem”. The accuracy of information is an engineering and computer science problem that will be solved or mitigated over time. The cyber security problem is actual more concerning to me the more I learn.

COVID is a good example, since I had a closer view of the reality than many others. I was an essential worker who was exposed early due the negligence of others brought about by the misinformation and mistrust spread early on before the vaccines were even an option to argue about. Even those working with the best of intent got things wrong, but most of what was put out by the real experts was correct, if incomplete and if anything overly cautious despite the narrative otherwise. We are effectively doomed if a real bio weapon is used now, the level of misinformation and resistance to reality is too high to stop it.

The regulation of LLMs is going to be a war of special interests. I don’t have much faith that uninformed dinosaurs will get it right with ears full of corporate money. It’s going to be a wild ride.

I have a small garden, know how to grow crops, and grow hydroponics as a hobby (I have off grid solar, battery back up, and could upscale operation if needed).

So I do get where you’re coming from.

I also have an offline information repository and off line local LLM that could help someone (with less skills than me) maintain/upscale or build a similar system, as well as provide many other skill sets I don’t have or am less competent in.

So the technology is useful to those who know how to use it.

(I have a strong science and medical skill set, and a hobby level skill set for network/computer science, electrical work, and gardening… So ymmv. Point being, I use all tools and skills available, and if something happens to me, the LLM is better than nothing for those that don’t, and can greatly accelerate learning new skills if used correctly, even a relatively stupid open weights model is like a super search engine that can translate language (and tech speak to normy).

I actually agree, I just feel it’s the same hyperbolic argument every time a new technology makes something else (situationally) obsolete.

Knowing how live off the land was once common. It can still be useful. It is even fun for some (to learn, if not do). Yet… Here we are with a vast majority of our population devoid of those skills. It will keep happening.

This is complicated by the fact that to gain advantage (or just maintain relevance) in a complex and changing society, you need to be learning the new skills that leverage new technology. Yet systems become more complex, specialized roles are needed, and we simply can’t learn it all.

Enter the database of all information and a technology capable of quickly searching and extracting information with relevant context. Learn to use it to your advantage, or don’t…

Do you tell yourself that as you get out your compass and paper maps on the way to a new city.

Land navigation is an important skill. You wouldn’t let such an important skill atrophy would you?

A talent agent sits at his desk. A group of four smurfs walk into his office: Papa, Smurfette two others, and a cat. But they aren’t human. They are three inches tall, skin bright blue, wearing identical white trousers and floppy white hats.

The agent blinks. “Alright, what’s the act?” The Papa steps forward, pulls a tiny wooden flute out of his pocket, and starts playing a bouncy, cheerful tune. “Watch this!” he shouts.

Suddenly, Smurfete jumps into the air, does a triple backflip, and lands perfectly on Papa’s shoulders. The two Smurfs start doing perfectly synchronized tap-dancing, their tiny white clogs clacking rhythmically on the agent’s desk. Azrael, starts juggling three glowing, magical smurfberries using only its nose.

Then, things get really extreme.

Papa Smurf stops playing the flute and starts aggressively smurfing right in the middle of the desk. He smurfs all over the place! He smurfs to the left, he smurfs to the right, and then he smurfs right into the Smurfette’s face. Smurfette looks shocked, but then she turns around and absolutely smurfs the other Smurfs! The Smurfs, not to be outdone, begin to smurf each other with total, reckless abandon.

It is absolute chaos. Smurf this, smurf that, smurfing up up up, and smurfing down down down. They are smurfing the curtains, they are smurfing the paperwork, and they even start smurfing the agent’s favorite coffee mug. The room is practically overflowing with pure, unadulterated smurfery. Gargamel would be absolutely horrified. It is the most intensely smurfed thing the agent has ever seen in his entire career.

Finally, they stop. They take a deep, synchronized bow. They wipe the remaining bits of smurf off their hats, smile warmly, and stand in a neat little line. The talent agent sits there, completely stunned, wiping a stray drop of blue smurf from his glasses. He clears his throat and whispers, “My goodness… that is… quite an act. What do you call yourselves?” The father smiles proudly, raises his hands to the sky, and says:

“The Aristosmurfs!”

I hear they will Smurf a Smurf right in the Smurf.