Post #4086615

2026-07-25 07:53 UTC

This proposed mindset seems to be a good explanation for many things I hear & read from AI guys. I still don't grasp how they can live with this mindset in the long term, though. I would not know how to construct a meaningful life on top of such depressing and hollow foundation. @lykso@tiny.tilde.website @MaddieM4@raphus.social @onepict@chaos.social

Replies (1)

@MaddieM4@raphus.social 2026-07-25 08:18

@duke_of_germany@mastodon.gamedev.place @lykso@tiny.tilde.website @onepict@chaos.social finding meaning at work doesn't seem to be a goal in these cases. I'm on record as being an optimistic nihilist - someone who celebrates meaning being personally constructed rather than universally declared, because it's an opportunity for personal liberty that nobody can take away from you, even if they lock you in prison. What I see from AI bros of all subgenres is a more conventional nihilism, at least applied to software as a creative art. A pervasive confidence that it's "not that deep, bro." Software is made of ends and means, and every person I've seen hold AI in non-contempt has either not cared about the means (Torvalds), not cared about the ends (Yegge, as far as I can read him), or in Lykso's example both. It's an easy response to the Bullshit Jobs problem. Is it a healthy one? My instinct is "probably not."

Open ##4086614