Very good read. As I'm taking some classes in the neuropsychology of learning, his first part on how knowledge changes you is spot on. Sometimes the change is tiny, sometimes the change is significant, but it is always on you that it happens.
The technopoly, as the author puts it, was a long way coming, first with patents ensuring that the patent owner got the benefits (which often wasn't the actual discoverer) and later with near eternal copyright thanks mainly to Disney. When computer companies managed to make peeking at their code a crime, society as a whole lost.
If you have two economies of equal size and productivity, one has a massive financial sector and billionaires while the other does not, the financialised economy will have less left over to invest in research, education, infrastructure, and healthcare. Over time, it will inevitably fall behind the country with a smaller financial sector because it’s the other things that drive the economy and productivity, not stock market growth.
I can imagine the shareholders going feral, explaining how they create jobs.
Another thing, regarding the USA stranglehold on tech, Brazil was in a very peculiar situation in that regard in the 80s and up to '92. It had a suffocating protectionism, which fully prohibited people from importing computers and videogames, in order to incentivize the local industry. The computer tech was roughly 5 years behind USA and Europe of the time, the first local NES clones were built around '88, if I'm not mistaken. Of course, game cartridges and software diskettes and tapes had to be imported, usually as contraband and often as pirated copies. Come 1992, the recently elected government takes down all the protectionism in a single swoop. It went from full to zero in a day, there was no gradual relief of the protections. The following influx of much, much more advanced computers crashed the local computer economy. We still pirated nearly every software, tho.
Joe doesn’t have any more money to spend on video games Companies have no more profit, because people don’t have income, so people can’t spend on their AI produced products
Funny thing, a Scottish fellow named Adam Smith figured that an economy where people don't have money to spend ends up stagnated and/or fucked over. Somewhat ironically, that is the piece that is most often overlooked by today's liberal economists (the kinds that are in favor or less regulation and taxes)
Most rich assholes like the idea of lording over a bunch of dirty peasants, of feeling superior to the unwashed masses, having them offer themselves into slavery out of "free will"
Reminds me of a Veritasium video I saw last week about molecular polymorphism. They spent a good 6 minutes talking about the different forms of crystallization of chocolate and how to solidify it back into form V - the shiny one we usually see after unwrapping it.
Partially related: I remember some months ago, down here in Brazil, UberEats and iFood drivers were getting restless about the complete lack of any rights when working with the apps - no rest time, no charging stations, low pay, all while being told that you're "being your own boss, working when you want to!". They usually formed whatsapp groups to complain about that.
In an almost inexplicable twist, the majority that wanted more rights also wanted the govt to stay the fuck away and were against a law that was meant to regulate working for apps. Said law included many of the rights they wanted.
Many govt agencies around the world pay for Office 365 or similars. Where I work (govt health), some higher ups demand pro-level M$ office accounts. Those ain't cheap.
I suspect the vast majority of USA govt (state and federal), plus many European govts, pay a fortune for Office
"What do you mean this 4 hour meeting could be summed up in a single, 100 word paragraph without losing any important context or decision?????" - higher ups seeing the summarized transcript, probably
Anyone with half a working brain in computer tech would know that, if you really need something to be kept on, but checked regularly, it becomes a fucking server that you connect to using different equipment. But that's too high tech for vibe-whatevers.
"I think people think I'm whatever the equivalent of an iPad kid is for a middle-aged woman," one AI user said.
Ackshually, we think you're an absolute fucking idiot.
Aabout tree fiddy