HilliTech's Newsletter: Number go up
Everything is suddenly even more expensive after years of slowly becoming more costly. The economy is built on the AI lie, and even that industry says it'll be out of business in about a year if billions don't start flowing in.
But, uh, everything's perfectly all right now. We're fine. We're all fine here, now, thank you. How are you?
Here are some stories I want to share this week:
Wesley Hilliard
Joseph Cox
Kate Cox
Nicole Carpenter
Luke Plunkett
That AI apocalypse can't come soon enough
The poorly named "artificial intelligence" that's more accurately described as a large language model or fancy autocomplete may actually succeed in killing us all.
No, not because it will become sentient and decide the human race is a virus that needs to be eliminated. Nor is it due to AI launching all the nukes at once because world governments tied AI to defense systems (though, don't take that off the table).
The extinction of humanity will simply come because of our collective stupidity. People with too much money invested in a technology its creators described as what will lead to machine sentience and the betterment (0r end) of humanity.
The technology itself is fine. It can speed up otherwise mundane tasks and help humans that already know what they're doing do the thing better, faster, and more accurately. That is, as long as you account for hallucinations.
However, it isn't smart, sentient, capable of becoming sentient, nor human in any way. It can't think, it can't reason, and it isn't "learning" anything. It's just technology.
The fact that these companies and their CEOs convinced a bunch of investors otherwise isn't all that surprising. I mean, these are the same morons that swore NFTs and crypto would be the future.
The problem this time stems from how it has affected the global market. As we learned with COVID, supply chain stability for computer parts is important. If one thing goes wrong, the trickle-down effect is immediate and substantial.
A bunch of companies decided to buy up all of the storage and memory chips for the foreseeable future so they can build out AI server farms. The problem is, many of those purchases were made on the promise of near-continuous growth at an explosive rate.
As consumer sentiment sours against AI and its usefulness proves limited to very specific situations, these AI companies are realizing that they're in trouble. They've promised and spent more than they could ever possibly deliver.
The computers were supposed to be sentient by now. Humanity was supposed to be living luxuriously on the backs of the machine labor force (as long as you were already rich of course).
What happens when you build up a global economy on billions in false promises and impossible technology?
The bubble pops, and we'll all be so much better off when it does. I'm so ready for the term "AI" to fall to the background and we can get back to calling it a feature.
We're All Trying To Find The Guy Who Did This
Microsoft has been a terrible company for a long time. I've happily not used any of its products for years, though I am disappointed that they own Minecraft. Luckily, that can be played without giving them more money.
Anyway, the company that is partially responsible for the chip shortage hell causing price hikes across gaming and tech continues to shrug. They seem unable to acknowledge they're the ones that created the situation that made Xbox more expensive, even after nearly destroying the brand by eliminating the need for a dedicated console.
To make matters worse, the investment and "number go up" mindset that has pervaded major corporations like Sony has ruined the game industry. Sony bought Bungie, which was exciting at the time, only to dump it later after years of having no real commitment to a Destiny 3 while pumping out content for the already finished game.
The whole thing is just madness.
I really hope that this trend of consolidation in the industry can end, and soon. We shouldn't be facing higher-priced consoles and gaming computers while simultaneously seeing studios shuttered and employees laid off.
I hope that the current surge of popularity for indie games can continue, as long as it doesn't lead to another buying spree from Microsoft and Sony.
For now, if money is tight, keep in mind that there has never been a better time to revisit your backlog. I know I wouldn't mind dipping back into Skyrim yet again. And yes, it's already purchased, so no money going that direction either.
I didn't want this newsletter to be so bleak this week, but to be honest, I'm not sure what else there is to discuss at this point. I hope everyone has an excellent end to their Pride Month this weekend, and stays cool out there.
