7 ms·

Depends on your point of view. Has the web been a net positive overall? If your criteria is "instant access to any information" or "catalyze more technological

by pandoro 2mo ago

Depends on your point of view. Has the web been a net positive overall? If your criteria is "instant access to any information" or "catalyze more technological progress" then positive, if your criteria is "young people's mental health" or "how easy it is to control the public's perception about a certain topic" then negative in my opinion. It's all relative.

Marha01 2mo ago
I judge it in the aggregate. Overall, we have higher standard of living than people 30 years ago.
- matkoniecz 2mo ago
  If you judge on aggregate then "Every great technology developed to date has been a net positive" is nonsense. You cannot judge aggregate positively and conclude that therefore each segment was positive.
  - Marha01 2mo ago
    > If you judge on aggregate then "Every great technology developed to date has been a net positive" is nonsense. It's not nonsense. If you think so, provide one great technology that has been a net negative.
    - Alwayshasbeeb 2mo ago
      That's quite easy. Fracking Social media infinite scrolling and targeted ads Short form videos (tik tok, YouTube shorts, instagram reels) Coming soon: Deep sea mining Some of these are not great technologies, you might say. Well if they're impactful enough to turn everyone I love into a phone zombie and make the political landscape violent and insane then that's enough.
      - Marha01 2mo ago
        Those are just specific applications of some technology, not comparable to AI in general.
    - matkoniecz 2mo ago
      > It's not nonsense. Yes, it is. You cannot go "overall progress was positive" and conclude "every change was positive". > provide one great technology that has been a net negative nuclear weapons + nuclear energy (luckily we had no nuclear war, but benefits here are not worth risks) AI in general and LLM specifically so far smartphones in general and social media specifically maybe internet overall, maybe computers overall biological weapons leaded gasoline (I know that you already excluded "social media" as "specific applications of some technology", I disagree with it)
      - Marha01 2mo ago
        >nuclear weapons + nuclear energy (luckily we had no nuclear war, but benefits here are not worth risks) >AI in general and LLM specifically so far >smartphones in general and social media specifically >maybe internet overall, maybe computers overall I disagree that these are net negatives.
        matkoniecz 2mo ago
        So we have "biological weapons" and "leaded gasoline" as accepted examples.
- QwenGlazer9000 2mo ago
  No. We do not. So many people are nostalgic about 30 years where you could afford basic things on minimum wage for a reason.
- yoz-y 2mo ago
  30 years ago was the 90’s, when just about everything peaked. The things I’d be truly missing from today 30 years ago, would be the advances in medicine really and the fact that we don’t have the ozone layer threat. Most other things have peaked back then. Rising kids was definitely easier, and healthier.
  - Marha01 2mo ago
    This is just nostalgia. Most things are objectively better today.

by pandoro 2mo ago

Marha01 2mo ago

I judge it in the aggregate. Overall, we have higher standard of living than people 30 years ago.

matkoniecz 2mo ago
If you judge on aggregate then "Every great technology developed to date has been a net positive" is nonsense. You cannot judge aggregate positively and conclude that therefore each segment was positive.
- Marha01 2mo ago
  > If you judge on aggregate then "Every great technology developed to date has been a net positive" is nonsense. It's not nonsense. If you think so, provide one great technology that has been a net negative.
  - Alwayshasbeeb 2mo ago
    That's quite easy. Fracking Social media infinite scrolling and targeted ads Short form videos (tik tok, YouTube shorts, instagram reels) Coming soon: Deep sea mining Some of these are not great technologies, you might say. Well if they're impactful enough to turn everyone I love into a phone zombie and make the political landscape violent and insane then that's enough.
    - Marha01 2mo ago
      Those are just specific applications of some technology, not comparable to AI in general.
  - matkoniecz 2mo ago
    > It's not nonsense. Yes, it is. You cannot go "overall progress was positive" and conclude "every change was positive". > provide one great technology that has been a net negative nuclear weapons + nuclear energy (luckily we had no nuclear war, but benefits here are not worth risks) AI in general and LLM specifically so far smartphones in general and social media specifically maybe internet overall, maybe computers overall biological weapons leaded gasoline (I know that you already excluded "social media" as "specific applications of some technology", I disagree with it)
    - Marha01 2mo ago
      >nuclear weapons + nuclear energy (luckily we had no nuclear war, but benefits here are not worth risks) >AI in general and LLM specifically so far >smartphones in general and social media specifically >maybe internet overall, maybe computers overall I disagree that these are net negatives.
      - matkoniecz 2mo ago
        So we have "biological weapons" and "leaded gasoline" as accepted examples.
QwenGlazer9000 2mo ago
No. We do not. So many people are nostalgic about 30 years where you could afford basic things on minimum wage for a reason.
yoz-y 2mo ago
30 years ago was the 90’s, when just about everything peaked. The things I’d be truly missing from today 30 years ago, would be the advances in medicine really and the fact that we don’t have the ozone layer threat. Most other things have peaked back then. Rising kids was definitely easier, and healthier.
- Marha01 2mo ago
  This is just nostalgia. Most things are objectively better today.