I know this is a bit of a deep cut, but it's really interesting to read this and think about it in the context of your "Entrepreneurs Are the New Labor" piece from years ago...
I find it pretty surprising how few people are using it to explore and play and create. And then the few who are doing it are much harder to find than you'd expect. In the run up to Web2.0/SaaS in the early 2000s most of those people were on forums and blogging and tweeting. I guess when the social layer is the substrate, the ones experimenting on the social layer end up easier to find...
Do you think this is a unique result of capital "winning" this particular cycle? Or does every cycle end up with hustlers oversupplied, hackers fully mercenary-ized or domesticated, and the playful/experimentation muscle atrophied across the board so that when the next wave hits, even the hackers have to relearn how to play?
I have felt this for a while. My guess is this has happened because the economic potential (and danger) of AI is extraordinary and has become too apparent too quickly, so the usual period of playfulness/delight has been drastically compressed. The rare delight seeker is like the street musician playing the guitar while missiles fly overhead. (The naysayers will probably claim that being able to remain playful reeks of privilege, and maybe that is partly true, but a lot more people have the ability to enjoy such a privilege but aren't doing so.)
“It’s the end of the world and I feel fineeeeeeee”
Is that a movie quote? Describes accelerationism well
REM song from the 90s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0GFRcFm-aY
Excellent sloptraption. Feeds me with confirmation bias.
I know this is a bit of a deep cut, but it's really interesting to read this and think about it in the context of your "Entrepreneurs Are the New Labor" piece from years ago...
I find it pretty surprising how few people are using it to explore and play and create. And then the few who are doing it are much harder to find than you'd expect. In the run up to Web2.0/SaaS in the early 2000s most of those people were on forums and blogging and tweeting. I guess when the social layer is the substrate, the ones experimenting on the social layer end up easier to find...
Do you think this is a unique result of capital "winning" this particular cycle? Or does every cycle end up with hustlers oversupplied, hackers fully mercenary-ized or domesticated, and the playful/experimentation muscle atrophied across the board so that when the next wave hits, even the hackers have to relearn how to play?
I have felt this for a while. My guess is this has happened because the economic potential (and danger) of AI is extraordinary and has become too apparent too quickly, so the usual period of playfulness/delight has been drastically compressed. The rare delight seeker is like the street musician playing the guitar while missiles fly overhead. (The naysayers will probably claim that being able to remain playful reeks of privilege, and maybe that is partly true, but a lot more people have the ability to enjoy such a privilege but aren't doing so.)
Cool to see you using GPT, would have expected Claude for some reason
I use all my Claude tokens for coding
ah right of course. should have been obvious lol
Have missed your sloptraptions missives. This one is particularly delightful!☺️