The metaverse comparison hit hardest for me - I remember back in 2021 when everyone was convinced we'd all be living in VR by now. The "us vs them" dynamic you describe is spot on, especially watching the crypto maximalists vs no-coiners battles play out. It's honestly kinda scary how easily these patterns repeat themselves with each new tech wave. Really apreciate the self-awareness about using Claude to write this too!
I really enjoyed this, and makes me feel slightly better about using AI for my own work. And I am so curious what Claude said during your argument about the irony of using an LLM to write about techno-cults...
Apologies for the delay -- I was a bit distracted with ... some things. Anyway, as promised-- the full conversation is longer and has some additional blog post ideas I didn't want to share (yet) but I did grab the section where I talk about the irony of using Claude to write about this. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AjRoiBxjtlnrV8x8YsPeAXDfoKWvrDmn1iERYrVwL8o/edit?usp=sharing
I really liked this bit: "This is actually very similar to their position on privacy - they're not a privacy absolutist, they're critical of privacy nihilism and surveillance capitalism while still using some tech pragmatically."
This helps for realising that there is some nuance to AI use just like there is nuance to privacy/DP - it is not necessarily all or nothing, it depends on the purpose and context.
Yep. It goes back to the notion that tech is a tool. Not an oracle. Not a handmaiden of Satan. Not a bringer of utopias. It's a tool, and like any tool, there are good, positive uses (hammers can be used to build houses, hang pictures, and unstick nails) and negative uses (hammers can also be used to smash windows, destroy things, and hurt people).
Thank you. I had the same general feeling of unease as you when I made this connection.
The thing I can't nail down is if the hype merchants knew these tricks before they started , or if this just sprang up organically. Here, I'm specifically thinking of the Sam Altman's, SBF's, Elon Musk's, and Marc Andreesen's of the world, not necessarily every player.
I think it's good to acknowledge one's boundaries of expertise and cleverness. It was invaluable for me as a writer to have the back-and-forth conversations with Claude. What I didn't go into detail about is the full mechanism I used -- i used an MCP server to give Claude access to my Obsidian vault, so that Claude could supplement my writing with other notes I had (my vault is insanely large, includes my past blog posts, notes, and highlights, and I've been transposing my other physically written notes as well).
The metaverse comparison hit hardest for me - I remember back in 2021 when everyone was convinced we'd all be living in VR by now. The "us vs them" dynamic you describe is spot on, especially watching the crypto maximalists vs no-coiners battles play out. It's honestly kinda scary how easily these patterns repeat themselves with each new tech wave. Really apreciate the self-awareness about using Claude to write this too!
I really enjoyed this, and makes me feel slightly better about using AI for my own work. And I am so curious what Claude said during your argument about the irony of using an LLM to write about techno-cults...
Happy to share it with you if you're interested! It was a fascinating thread
Yes please!
Apologies for the delay -- I was a bit distracted with ... some things. Anyway, as promised-- the full conversation is longer and has some additional blog post ideas I didn't want to share (yet) but I did grab the section where I talk about the irony of using Claude to write about this. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AjRoiBxjtlnrV8x8YsPeAXDfoKWvrDmn1iERYrVwL8o/edit?usp=sharing
Thanks for sharing, really interesting!
I really liked this bit: "This is actually very similar to their position on privacy - they're not a privacy absolutist, they're critical of privacy nihilism and surveillance capitalism while still using some tech pragmatically."
This helps for realising that there is some nuance to AI use just like there is nuance to privacy/DP - it is not necessarily all or nothing, it depends on the purpose and context.
Yep. It goes back to the notion that tech is a tool. Not an oracle. Not a handmaiden of Satan. Not a bringer of utopias. It's a tool, and like any tool, there are good, positive uses (hammers can be used to build houses, hang pictures, and unstick nails) and negative uses (hammers can also be used to smash windows, destroy things, and hurt people).
I enjoyed seeing your scribbled notes. My notebook always looks the same!
I feel like handwritten notes is critical when reading. So much more is retained.
Thank you. I had the same general feeling of unease as you when I made this connection.
The thing I can't nail down is if the hype merchants knew these tricks before they started , or if this just sprang up organically. Here, I'm specifically thinking of the Sam Altman's, SBF's, Elon Musk's, and Marc Andreesen's of the world, not necessarily every player.
I think it's good to acknowledge one's boundaries of expertise and cleverness. It was invaluable for me as a writer to have the back-and-forth conversations with Claude. What I didn't go into detail about is the full mechanism I used -- i used an MCP server to give Claude access to my Obsidian vault, so that Claude could supplement my writing with other notes I had (my vault is insanely large, includes my past blog posts, notes, and highlights, and I've been transposing my other physically written notes as well).