Ah Kyla does it again! Steps back and looks around and says “hey, relax people, you’re in your dumb doom-loop again.” Indeed, humans are creative and patient creatures, and though trial and error is a real thing, over time it seldom leads to trial and failure. Best line in the post: “Anyone who speaks in absolutes about anything lives in fragmented reality fueled by their own narcissism.” Go Kyla go!
On AI and jobs - I agree with your point on that we will need to focus on what we're good at (what makes us human). I do think the hype/worry over job loss is overblown - not because it won't occur, but because it will be gradual (I will be writing about it this week). As many comp-sci experts say, many of the features done by the recent bots have already been done to some extent. This is a gradual development. And over time, people entering the labor market (i.e. young people, including the ones not born yet) will make decisions based on how the economy is and will be. They will adapt and train themselves for other jobs. That's how jobs will disappear (just as we don't have chimney sweeps today). Technological change is gradual, and the shock from it, in my opinion, is longer but slower than say trade shocks - those have been shown to be far more impactful on labor markets.
Deep thoughts Ms Kyla and you continue to demonstrate a staggering breadth of interests, thoughts and insight. I have to paste and copy these so that someone at least reads them again!
The financial system has become this giant warped thing that inadvertently became the snake eating its tail. It’s not about building a better future, it’s about moving dollars around trying to scrape some semblance of premium.
Like a farmer tending her apple trees and her field of corn, a lichen is a melding of lives. Once individuality dissolves, the scorecard of victors and victims makes little sense. Is corn oppressed? Does the farmer’s dependence on corn make her a victim? These questions are premised on a separation that does not exist. The heartbeat of humans and the flowering of domesticated plants are one life. “Alone” is not an option
Complex systems theorists say that a combination of deregulated markets, commodity speculation, and food-to-fuel ethanol policies are the direct cause of the spike in food prices that led to the Arab Spring and the civil war in Syria.
Dear Ms Kyla, Your writings are so thought-provoking. I continue to love the anecdotal links within your beautiful treatise. Indeed we are coded for error and new trials. I think we have some big mistakes/about-faces and abrupt pirouettes in our near future with AI. Thanks for another wonderful letter.
Interesting correlation with the "right to repair" bill working its way through the House: complex systems used to manage crops need updates and repairs but there aren't enough certified repair facilities and/or techs in locations convenient to the equipment.
There used to be an idea that increased automation would lead to more leisure for former workers or perhaps other forms of productive "work", that automation would relieve us of digging ditches and shoveling manure. If that is not to be the case, what is the vision for displaced workers? Do they become "undeserving" when their skills are no longer relevant?
Hoping we can relax some of our old, tired, protestant work ethical notions around UBI.
Ah Kyla does it again! Steps back and looks around and says “hey, relax people, you’re in your dumb doom-loop again.” Indeed, humans are creative and patient creatures, and though trial and error is a real thing, over time it seldom leads to trial and failure. Best line in the post: “Anyone who speaks in absolutes about anything lives in fragmented reality fueled by their own narcissism.” Go Kyla go!
Thanks Hugh!
Love the bit about the Lichens. And thanks for linking to Popova’s article. Excellent read.
And thanks for the calling out the goofballs 🤣 —excellent.
"I think we will see new jobs and increased productivity from this."
Please let this be the case
On AI and jobs - I agree with your point on that we will need to focus on what we're good at (what makes us human). I do think the hype/worry over job loss is overblown - not because it won't occur, but because it will be gradual (I will be writing about it this week). As many comp-sci experts say, many of the features done by the recent bots have already been done to some extent. This is a gradual development. And over time, people entering the labor market (i.e. young people, including the ones not born yet) will make decisions based on how the economy is and will be. They will adapt and train themselves for other jobs. That's how jobs will disappear (just as we don't have chimney sweeps today). Technological change is gradual, and the shock from it, in my opinion, is longer but slower than say trade shocks - those have been shown to be far more impactful on labor markets.
Deep thoughts Ms Kyla and you continue to demonstrate a staggering breadth of interests, thoughts and insight. I have to paste and copy these so that someone at least reads them again!
The financial system has become this giant warped thing that inadvertently became the snake eating its tail. It’s not about building a better future, it’s about moving dollars around trying to scrape some semblance of premium.
Like a farmer tending her apple trees and her field of corn, a lichen is a melding of lives. Once individuality dissolves, the scorecard of victors and victims makes little sense. Is corn oppressed? Does the farmer’s dependence on corn make her a victim? These questions are premised on a separation that does not exist. The heartbeat of humans and the flowering of domesticated plants are one life. “Alone” is not an option
Complex systems theorists say that a combination of deregulated markets, commodity speculation, and food-to-fuel ethanol policies are the direct cause of the spike in food prices that led to the Arab Spring and the civil war in Syria.
Dear Ms Kyla, Your writings are so thought-provoking. I continue to love the anecdotal links within your beautiful treatise. Indeed we are coded for error and new trials. I think we have some big mistakes/about-faces and abrupt pirouettes in our near future with AI. Thanks for another wonderful letter.
Interesting correlation with the "right to repair" bill working its way through the House: complex systems used to manage crops need updates and repairs but there aren't enough certified repair facilities and/or techs in locations convenient to the equipment.
There used to be an idea that increased automation would lead to more leisure for former workers or perhaps other forms of productive "work", that automation would relieve us of digging ditches and shoveling manure. If that is not to be the case, what is the vision for displaced workers? Do they become "undeserving" when their skills are no longer relevant?
Hoping we can relax some of our old, tired, protestant work ethical notions around UBI.