> Or were you only asking about digital tools? I haven't really made any of those. Making physical tools feels much more satisfying these days.
I made that realization last year and since then it's just been random project after random project each one requiring me to discover a new tool or method to do some aspect of the project "properly". I'll never be a plumber or electrician professionally but it's so rewarding to start from zero and learn something new that is tangible in the real world. That's the one AI use case I've walked away from feeling like I actually learned something.
> Is it just that there's a direct personal benefit with those devices, and people view the trade-off as being worth it?
I think that's mostly it. Basically since Flocks only use is for the systematic tracking of people for use by police and government agencies, it's a lot easier to get people to turn against it. There's just no upside to them that any individual would ever benefit from.
It's sad because if/when Flock dies the death of deserves, the software/infrastructure will likely just get sold off and reapplied to some other deployment scheme like Ring quietly forgoing the big Superbowl Ad.
Sadly, judging by the info I read on the website now, it seems to be focused on using AI assistance.
Not going to lie, it deeply worries me how quickly society is just accepting offloading what used to be meaningful human interactions to AI. I hate to imagine what a society looks like once the people in it solely rely on AI for navigating life.
Sorry for the bleak reply. I was genuinely excited to read about the service as you described it and would love to hear that the human assistance side of it still works even if the website only showcases the AI.
I see it less bleakly and in a more hopeful manner. For people who signed up to help, I guess it might've felt like a social thing. But I imagine most of the people who relied on the services were looking less for the social aspect and wanted more independence in life. There are probably loads of blind people who are very thankful that they're increasingly able to go outside and live fully functional lives thanks to having a phone and some AI stuff to let them do whatever they want without feeling like they're depending on someone for assistance.
I'm someone who absolutely hates generative AI, but AI that assists people in living happy lives outside is something I'm completely in favor of.
While not "fully" Netflix original (having been picked up by Netflix from Fox I think after season 2 or 3), Lucifer was a great series and without Netflix we would have never gotten an ending for it. They did right by that show in my book and it saddens me that since those days, the quality and care put into what they produce just fell off a cliff. It's honestly gross how much money was wasted on all this new junk designed to be algorithmically enticing so much so that even after you watch it and tell yourself it was garbage, you still find yourself going back and hoping this time will be different.
Entertainment media used to at the very least masquerade as Art. Unfortunately it seems the desire for money eventually ruins all good things.
Throwing out my recommendation for History of the Universe as well as its sibling channels. Honestly, the people behind these channels produce higher quality documentaries, both in substance and style, than 99% of the "professionally" created stuff I've watched in at least three last 5 years.
> The youtube channels are nowhere near the style and depth of documentaries like the ones above...
My friend, if you enjoy long format, deep diving documentaries written, produced and narrated without AI about Space, Physics, Human evolution or planet Earths history, then I insist you head over to the History of the Universe YouTube channel and start watching!
This specific video is probably my favorite (I'm a sucker for contemplating "time"and what it actually is) and was the one that got me hooked on their channel. They go way deeper into the details without becoming a formal lecture and it's genuinely captivating. https://youtu.be/ZSmNii0uOmw?si=3Jaty3XcMGlryhh2
Did exactly this with the Sennheiser BTD-700 Bluetooth dongle. Found someone had done the work to create a little C library for controlling the dongle and with that Claude had created a nice widget for KDE to control my headphones.
> I think that reality is basically made of habit.
This statement is not self explanatory and reeks of performative profoundness, care to elaborate?
> Habit is a bigger deal than you think.
Feels like we're just adding the element of mystery to the profoundness to imply you have a deeper understanding than someone else in an attempt to get out of defending your position.
I hope not, I genuinely would rather find out you do actually have the answer to all my issues!
I made that realization last year and since then it's just been random project after random project each one requiring me to discover a new tool or method to do some aspect of the project "properly". I'll never be a plumber or electrician professionally but it's so rewarding to start from zero and learn something new that is tangible in the real world. That's the one AI use case I've walked away from feeling like I actually learned something.
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