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trilobyte commented on "AI-first" is the new Return To Office   anildash.com//2025/04/19/... · Posted by u/LorenDB
JimDabell · 8 months ago
> This is unusual — did your boss ever have to send you a memo demanding that you use a smartphone? Was there a performance review requiring you to use Slack? I'm actually old enough that I was at different workplaces when they started using spreadsheets and email and the web, and I can tell you, they absolutely didn't have to drive adoption by making people fill out paperwork about how they were definitely using the cool new technology.

I’ve been around long enough to see resistance to things like the Internet, version control, bug tracking systems, ORMs, automated tests, etc. Not every advancement is welcomed by everybody. An awful lot of people are very set in their ways and will refuse to change unless given a firm push.

For instance, if you weren’t around before version control became the norm, then you probably missed the legions of developers who said things like “Ugh, why do I have to use this stupid thing? It just slows me down and gets in my way! Why can’t I just focus on writing code?” Those developers had to be dragged into modern software development when they were certain it was a stupid waste of time.

AI can be extremely useful and there’s a lot of people out there who refuse to give it a proper try. Using AI well is a skill you need to learn and if you don’t see positive results on your first couple of attempts that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad, it just means you are a beginner. If you tried a new language and didn’t get very far at first, would you blame the language or recognise that you lack experience?

An awful lot of people are stuck in a rut where they tried an early model, got poor results to begin with, and refused to use it again. These people do need a firm, top-down push, or they will be left behind.

This has happened before, many times. Contrary to the article’s claims, sometimes top-down pushes have been necessary even for things we now consider near universally good and productive.

trilobyte · 8 months ago
I see you speak from experience. I feel like I'm watching the same cycle play out over and over again, which is that a new, transformative technology lands, people with a vested interest spend a lot of time denouncing it (your examples mostly land for me), the new technology gets over-hyped and fails to meet some bar and the haters all start crowing about how it's just B.S. and won't ever be useful, etc. etc.

Meanwhile, people are quietly poking around figuring out the boundaries of what the technology really can do and pushing it a little further along.

With the A.I. hype I've been keeping my message pretty consistent for all of the people who work for me: "There's a lot of promise, and there are likely a lot of changes that could come if things keep going the way they are with A.I., but even if the technology hits a wall right now that stops it from advancing things have already changed and it's important to embrace where we are and adapt".

trilobyte commented on Congress passes Take It Down act despite major flaws   eff.org/deeplinks/2025/04... · Posted by u/abtinf
hiatus · 8 months ago
So what? Is satire that can't immediately be identified as such no longer allowed? Since when does an expression have to be "clearly fiction" to be protected speech?
trilobyte · 8 months ago
What do you do if it ruins your life on the way to getting your day in court? If you get fired, your employer won't be forced to rehire you, and they are likely protected from any retaliation against you because they were acting in good faith. You aren't going to sue in civil court and get financial restitution from an underage kid or someone with no assets worth seizing. You still lose in either case.
trilobyte commented on Congress passes Take It Down act despite major flaws   eff.org/deeplinks/2025/04... · Posted by u/abtinf
hoseyor · 8 months ago
I fully agree, but this is not exactly a principled community and it is controlled and managed by interests that have censorious authoritarian tendencies when it comes to discussion of meaningful things like this.

The bill does have a nullifying logical flaw in it though for purposes of defense, but I also don’t think that enforcement is really the point of the law. It is very much more likely that feigned intimidation and acquiescence are the intended purpose, i.e., making the currently still painless violation of rights the easiest route for entities to follow.

It has been the MO to undermine, infiltrate, and subvert the fundamental laws in the USA that restrict the government and authoritarians from infringing on the inalienable, God given rights of the people for many decades now.

trilobyte · 8 months ago
Just the threat of a lawsuit will be enough to make most people give in. Hard to fight against deep pockets even when you are in the right.
trilobyte commented on Zelensky leaves White House after angry meeting   bbc.com/news/live/c625ex2... · Posted by u/yakkomajuri
duxup · 10 months ago
I worry that Russia is more than capable of throwing mass casualties into the fight for longer than Ukraine can.
trilobyte · 10 months ago
Most informed analysts say Russia has the opposite problem. They don't have any more meat for the grinder without tapping the middle and upper class of Russian citizens, which will have repercussions, potentially serious ones, for Putin.
trilobyte commented on "Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies" – Executive Order   whitehouse.gov/presidenti... · Posted by u/martialg
bluGill · 10 months ago
You can only donate $3500 to any politician. (legally, if you do something illegal and are not caught...). There are complex limits notice when you say something. (for a small city that limit will make them listen, but nothing national or even a large city)

What you can do is get out votes. People knocking on doors is still one of the largest drivers of votes so if you organize those systems they will listen to you.

trilobyte · 10 months ago
I donate to the party, and I donate at the individual limit. At that level they still care because people who donate at that level are connected with other people who donate at that level, and those people tend to reach out and coordinate. Periodically I get emails from other donors who ask me to reach out to such and such a person, a candidate or a party rep, and encourage that they take a look at X issue through a particular perspective.

I think more people would benefit from forming Super PACs and using that as leverage in pushing political change with parties.

trilobyte commented on Accelerating scientific breakthroughs with an AI co-scientist   research.google/blog/acce... · Posted by u/Jimmc414
tippytippytango · 10 months ago
Exactly, they want to automate the most rewarding part that we don’t need help with… plus I don’t believe they’ve solved the problem of LLMs generating trite ideas.
trilobyte · 10 months ago
Sounds like the message artists were giving when generative AI started blowing up.
trilobyte commented on "Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies" – Executive Order   whitehouse.gov/presidenti... · Posted by u/martialg
jaybrendansmith · 10 months ago
As Americans that believe in the Republic, what exactly are we supposed to do about this? Should we continue to implore congress to take action against this lawless behavior?
trilobyte · 10 months ago
Honestly, I donate enough money to politicians to make them stand up and take notice when I email or call them and share my thoughts, which leads me to the conclusion that people in the middle and lower class are going to need to find ways to pool money in such a way that they can change their party politics. It's not that all politicians are completely motivated by money, but IMO you unfortunately have to aim at the lowest common denominator.
trilobyte commented on Larry Ellison wants to put all America's data in AI, including DNA   theregister.com/2025/02/1... · Posted by u/Bender
autoexec · 10 months ago
Your DNA is just a rich mine of new data points about you that they can exploit and use against you. Maybe AI thinks you're more likely than most people to have medical issues and as a result companies now refuse to hire you. Maybe AI decides that your DNA makes you more susceptible to certain addictions or alcoholism and companies selling addictive products target you relentlessly as a result. Maybe your DNA makes AI think you're more prone to criminal activity and the police harass you endlessly until you either end up in prison or move away.

The conclusions AI reaches don't even have to be scientifically valid, they could be nothing more than hallucinations, but that doesn't mean that it won't have impacts on your life or place limitations on your opportunities.

trilobyte · 10 months ago
My problem with this is that people like Larry Ellison are more likely to want to use this against other people but would excuse themselves from any consequences.
trilobyte commented on JPMorgan CEO: "I don't care how many people sign that f—ing [WFH] Petition"   fortune.com/2025/02/13/ja... · Posted by u/Zaheer
duxup · 10 months ago
His call.

I will say this:

>I’ve been working seven days a goddamn week since COVID, and I come in, and—where is everybody else?

I remember when my employer was acquired from another company. Executives were on the 4th floor. After the acquisition they were gone and the 4th floor was open. I went up and found that the offices were palatial, private bathrooms, they had a bar, a lounge area... let alone all the personal assistants to do things for them. They had good parking spaces, lunch brought in for them, and so on.

I had a cube with a wall that they wouldn't fix, no window (I was about half a dozen cubes from a window in the middle of a room), no natural light, my cube was along a busy cube hallway where everyone looked into my cube as they walked down the hall.

So yeah it's different going in as an IC rather than executive, comparing them is hilariously narrow sighted.

Having said that after they left, the 4th floor was the best place to go to the bathroom. So I got that for a little while.

trilobyte · 10 months ago
This is fascinating to me, having been at a few companies with market caps north of $50B in the tech space. The senior exec's office space aren't fundamentally different from anyone else's. I wonder if it's an old-money vs. new-money industry thing.
trilobyte commented on The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE   wired.com/story/elon-musk... · Posted by u/medler
preters · a year ago
I am not a fan of Elon, but his companies are run very capital efficient. So why would "fraud and waste" skyrocket under him?
trilobyte · a year ago
That's a very valid argument. Both SpaceX and Tesla are quite capital efficient. Maybe another angle to consider is what's being optimized for? What outcomes would be considered successful for these federal agencies? That's probably going to tell us more about whether the austerity measures that seem likely result in more efficient use of resources to create successful outcomes.

One thing that seems worth think through more is whether the stated outcomes of those agencies is what's actually be optimized for, or whether those are suborned for personal gain by a few parties.

u/trilobyte

KarmaCake day218January 16, 2013View Original