Post #3744815

2026-07-11 17:33 UTC

i am constantly baffled by the lack of curiosity demonstrated by retro hardware enthusiasts who use llms to make their stuff. it's like... i thought we were here to understand how computers work from a historical and material perspective, in order to build a future for computation that empowers communities over corporate interests, and to redeem the knowledge bottled up in retro hardware design to enrich the commons. but no i guess you're here for the frisson of "lookie old thing does new thing"

Replies (2)

@aparrish@friend.camp 2026-07-11 17:44

i mean i get the appeal of that frisson, and nostalgia's appeal—who doesn't want to sit down in front of an altair or a tandy or a 386DX or a playstation or a windows ce netbook in footie pajamas and relive the world before it got so dang gosh complicated. and i get that there's clout and vpn sponsorship money to be had (for the youtubers). but the bar for contributing something to the world with this hobby—or at least not actively making it worse—is so so low

Open ##3757718
@CursedSilicon@social.treehouse.systems 2026-07-11 21:13

@aparrish@friend.camp I mentioned it the other day but I was recently absolutely *crushed* to see a large retro YouTube creator that partially inspired me to start making my own works openly and proudly admit to using the slop bot to "do the work for him" If you're making videos in this space, your audience is there *for you*. They want to share in your joy, your knowledge, your passion for the things you're doing. You're the Bob Ross painting happy little Macs for 30 minutes every week When you outsource it to the slop machine though? You're no longer "the artist". You're a taskmaster, you're a manager. You're a bored narrator. You're not driving the story, you're crudely interpreting it in front of an audience after some algebra made a "good enough" facsimile of what was in your own minds eye. You made a faustian transaction with "the machine" and are trying to dress it up as art after the fact

Open ##3760625