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It’s the deskilling, stupid!
The thing is that if we can ALWAYS find some reasons why our lives are as they are, why do we have to feel crap and why it’s just sucking the life out of us. And hey, it IS valid, it IS true! And there’s also the AI threat that’s looming over us. Hey, a very “smart” machine, that’s a bit smarter than good ol’ Billy back in the day. Surely this machine can be smarter than a human! As the thing just parrots back whatever you say (just like Billy!) but does it smart enough that you won’t notice the difference. I don’t even think it’s the hallucinations, or the not X, but Y sentences, or even the load-bearing architectural jargon inside explanations (and here comes the but Y part!), but the thing that we’re being DESKILLED each and every day. When I am at work and don’t have to write a single god damn line of code, I was ecstatic, because I had finally found a way to work through my burnout, and also have the time to attend these fucking meetings. I felt CELEBRAL for the first time in my life. I can yak, and I am smart-looking with my glasses. I had finally made it.
I was also miserable here, because I hear all these young women at work talking about how they hate learning English can’t wait for AI to just do all the translations for them. I was appalled! I went on a 15-minute rant that learning languages aren’t for the company, but for yourself! Imagine a world where each time people asks you “How do you do” and you’ll pay 1000 yen for it, and the machine will say “Thanks, fine, and how are you?” We’re less than cattle at that point then!
GDC has this whole meme about how any talk eventually will have a graph that explains the importance of the “flow state”, where challenge and skill are in perfect unison. Too little challenge, and you’ll be bored, too much and you’ll be anxious. And people always ask: “How many times have you seen this graph? Add +1 to it.”
The thing is, that if we raise up the baseline anxiety high enough, the skill level must also catch up so you can feel like you are in control. But most people are not skilled at all! Hell, the new ideal society would be there wouldn’t be any skilled workers at all anymore. Just scared little lambs with a substance problem that wallow anxiety and self-pity, too scared to even peek who’s behind the curtain. Your neighbors will be come your enemies, you are living next to a dangerous country, your classmates will become your bullies, your managers are dumbasses who only exist to keep you underpaid and fired, you are surrounded, come out with your hands up.
That’s the big deal here: if you can’t be kept scared, then you can be kept angry, if not angry, then sad, but under no circumstances are you allowed to be COMFORTABLE, IN YOUR LANE, IN THE FLOW STATE. And what’s worst of all: if you are finally feeling comfortable, you will be surrounded by people being NOT comfortable, and they will tell you shit like “you’ve gone soft”, or ask you “why are you so fucking happy”. Like you’re doing something wrong!
The thing is that people who have once clawed their way into the position of power, their hearts will also be filled with the same anxiety. And believe me, all people have clawed their way into power. Remember: all these people started off as vulnerable little babies. “If not me, then somebody else”, “better be feared than loved” etc. The piss-soaked boys in jackboots stamping on the necks of people barely getting by. Somebody is always more hungry than you and that person will do anything to take what’s yours.
These are the horrible messages we’re being fed every single day. The whole polemic about this “You’ll own nothing, and you’ll be happy” is antithetical to what’s actually the goal. “You will sacrifice to own something, and you will fear that you’ll lose it.” is the message of our generation. The worst part is that you’ll end up owning SO MUCH SHIT that it’ll cause it’s own problems! Can’t catch a break at all huh!!
The cult-leader speaks!
I don’t wanna be like a drunkard at the HUB who would explain Japan to some bright-eyed FOB kid, and say how they’ll have a terrible time living here but never be able to go back. Bullshit!
First we gotta stop thinking in the extremes and in binary. Examples are like if it’s not good, then it’s bad, If it’s not on the right, then it’s left. But there’s a whole lot of space between good and bad, and a whole different path that doesn’t go left or right, but straight ahead.
The next would be stop hating on things, on people, on yourself. Stop consuming things that make you hate things, people, yourself. See these as guides and allies, not obstacles and enemies.
The third part would be that we shouldn’t avoid hate, fear and sadness either. Our dear little brains try to tell you something, and it’s a wonderful thing: your brain is PAYING ATTENTION and trying to keep you safe! Let it say its piece.
There are things that no machine or man that can never take away from you: yourself, your skills. And don’t wait until you are “good enough” to get to work. My biggest liberation this year came when I stopped waiting for the time that I was “good enough” to play the piano. My dear dudes: it’s actually very easy to play the piano. All you need to do is press the keys. It’s amazing!
That’s when I started writing again, and I started programming outside of work. There is NO BETTER TIME to actually be and become skilled than now. These AI grifters will tell you: “Hey, these machines will be MORE skilled at your work AND you’ll be proletarianizated.” You need to say “Molon labe!”
Finally, I think the most important part is here:
Be yourself and be free
I can’t stress this enough: we gotta be ourselves, and we have to be free. Being yourself: you follow your values, and you live them. Being free: the kind of freedom that can’t be denied, no shackle can bind, nor fear can subdue.
I THINK I WILL SING IT AGAIN: Be yourself and be free Read less