Living the Good Life - mortgage free and living in line with our values

EssexHebridean

I feel rather similar about the AI stuff Vix - although there is also the perspective that I don't think we're likely to be able to turn that particular ship around now, so with the surveys etc there is the view that at least having input might just help make it better - and if we are going to be stuck with it anyway, at least ensuring it is as good as possible seems logical. It's a tricky one though isn't it. 

edinburgher

I think we all have our red lines when it comes to principles, it can be very enriching hearing about what others are and why.  

I was going to go off on a wee tangent about some of the differences and contradictions that I come across on MFW (particularly when it comes to money), but it would have seemed like I was having an unhelpful dig at some of my peers, I'm sure we all have something we could rather be better/purer at when it comes to living a more ethical life. I don't feel that TMV was having a go at me, I'll make that completely clear

In terms of AI specifically, I used to feel very similar about careers where "creative destruction" was accepted as the norm, I can remember having a very spirited disagreement with Monevator or similar about the growth in Oober-type businesses some years ago. I'm not sure how I feel now... 

On the one hand, I have empathy for the poor sods who will be forced out of jobs they may enjoy by shiny but imperfect technology that is good enough to avoid paying a human. On the other hand, I think that AI is massively overrated at the moment and that plenty of jobs will remain. It all feels a bit .com boom. I recently used AI to help reduce down the contents of a job application and to help me come up with interview examples. It was ok with this if given strict prompts and reminders, I basically treated it as a pair of listening ears that couldn't stop listening no matter how bored it was (Mrs E must be so grateful) Even if I'm wrong and it does us all out of a job, that becomes a societal problem and governments will be forced to step in with appropriate taxation to fund universal basic income for us dunderhead meatbags. I can't see that happening in my lifetime? 

In related news, I really dislike AI, I am sick to death of the slop it churns out. At the same time, if they want to keep paying me to review AI content, I'll happily save up for the biggest taser I can find when the robots come for us Dear internet/actual police, I own (and have no intention of owning) anything more dangerous than a rolling pin  I did a wee bit of reading yesterday to see how I could prevent AI results from making their way into my internet searches. Adding "-ai " followed by your search term seems to work quite well.  

EssexHebridean

Ed, I'm inclined to feel aligned with that viewpoint as well. Right now it feels that so many people are treating AI as some sort of god-on-a-pedestal that can do no wrong, and that in itself is causing issues all over - but equally it doesn't seem likely that situation will prevail long term, unless AI gets an awful lot better than it is right now! I suspect those of us who are maintaining the sort of balanced view you are setting out above will end up proving to be correct, but I can certainly see how anyone whose living could end up being sacrificed to the bots would be feeling awful defensive about it too! 

I have at least finally got around to submitting the ID for Prolific, so this conversation might end up being of practical value before all that long, too! 

themadvix

Feeling too rough to respond properly and we’re away tomorrow, but will respond properly when we’re back - some great thoughts from all! And Greenbee, no, I’ve not seen Idiocracy - might have to have a watch!
 Glad you didn’t take it as criticism Ed, certainly wasn’t intended that way. And yes, I’m aware that there are things that could make me a hypocrite (a Tesla, anyone?) And that I use AI plenty (hey Siri - although frankly what’s intelligent about her, I’m not sure) - totally accept that we all have blind spots/things we can only do/take so far. 😊

 Anyway, back later in the week, hopefully feeling less rough!

rtandon27

Enjoy your time away & feel better soon!

beanielou

Feel better soon. 

QueenJess

Well I think @edinburgher has it all covered, so not much more to add! I am also sick of the AI hype - yes there are cases where it is helpful, but not to the extent people seem to think. When people use it in a search engine and think they can come up with the same answer as a human for my job, I just roll my eyes as you really need experience plus human for what I do. It never has the right answer as I deal with too complex scenarios to ask a simple question.

Aside from possible work uses (that actually I have not adopted as not found a good use case yet), I avoid it like the plague in my personal life. I need a convincing case to use it and not found one. I use DuckDuckGo as a search engine and you can permanently turn off AI in the settings.