Most don't listen I suppose, but I have spent a lot of time over the years delving into the affects of our behavior on our experience, as well as how it impacts on culture, community and how they affect us. It is a losing battle for the most part I assume, because lets face it, we are human and we are going to take the easiest and most convenient path available to us - even if it is going to impact us down the road.
For instance, one of the things is the work from home issue that many people don't think is a big deal, but at some point, I quite strongly believe that the majority who do this are going to miss out on opportunities (bot professional and personal) because of it. Down that road, they won't necessarily attribute this to their own behavior and instead, they will do what people do now, feel victimized by the world.
Another one is kids being raised with too many screens, too many tools, too much digital, not enough real world. The excuse is "this is the world today" but the cost is going to be in the development of fundamental mental and emotional skills that will hamper their ability to cope in the world, even though they consider themselves "digital natives" because, life is not experienced digitally, we aren't 1s and 0s, we are humans.
Then there are the other aspects, like woke culture where rather than learning how to emotionally cope with discomfort, the world is being constantly trying to be washed of variation, becoming more of the same. Random is being replaced with reliable, diversity with homogeneity, discomfort with convenience, responsibility with reliance. The culture blames everyone else for any negative experience, however slight, taking no accountability for their own behavior, or their own emotional response.
And, for the last example (there are many), I will touch on AI creations, where people feel that they are being creative by throwing prompts into a machine that spits out a result that is far better than the person could create themselves. The AI design is artful, the outputs, much less so. It isn't the creation of the prompter, it is the creation of the system coder, even though they will likely never see the result.
Just these four things open up a world of confusion and pain for the future, though most people will deny it, because they think they are smarter than the average bear and won't fall into the traps - which goes to show, they have already fallen.
The more "out of convenience" the world becomes, the more reliant and when we are increasingly getting locked into our homes, with a narrower circle of interaction, driven by algorithmic suggestions for what we consume and ultimately, how we behave, we are going to feel the restriction. But, we will avoid dealing with it for as long as possible because we are unskilled, it is uncomfortable to do so, and we don't feel that our experience is our responsibility. So, we will shout and scream into the avoid, begging authorities to do something to make our lives better.
They don't care.
If the "authorities" could automate everything so they didn't have to utilize humans at all, they would. And while this sounds like some utopia depending on who you ask, I see the reality quite different. It isn't going to be some renaissance of human creativity, because humans can't compete.
Just look at the complaints over the years about unrealistic body expectations because of models who may or may not have been photoshopped, or the diversity of the models in runway shows and acknowledge, now people have to compete with AI-generated models, who are going to be able to be anything and everything all the time. In the past people would mention someone as their "perfect person" but now, they are able to create their perfect person - You think you can compete?
We are making ourselves irrelevant, useless, and undesirable to even ourselves.
But as said, I don't think anyone really cares that much about the future - even their own. It is far too much trouble and since everyone else is doing it, might as well sink with the ship. Right?
While I definitely will keep writing about it, I believe that the majority of people are going to head in what I suspect is the wrong direction for some time to come. However, there is opportunity in this, because while they are heading one way, the investors in the future will make moves that the masses won't. They will invest into ownership, being the assets that will appreciate in value, which are those that are going to attract the masses, cost the masses. And, in so doing, they will not only own the assets, but own the direction in which the masses move, effectively owning the masses too.
Fast food makes you fat.
Media makes you stupid.
Automation makes you lazy.
Convenience becomes a prison.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
So, ah, it's hard to be convinced that automation makes you lazy because otherwise instead of building amazing things we'd still be spending all day washing our clothes, cooking dinner and walking into town to do anything.
I care so much about the future, both mine and people's generally... and sure, sometimes I think it might just be better for humanity to disappear because we're so bad at looking after our planet, but mostly I want the people I know to have happy lives and/or survive.
AI art will never invent anything new... it just mashes whatever is in its LLM together... humans are great at creating and inventing new things, and I think a lot of people are generally really excited to create new things.
I just can't imagine people will love AI Generated art all that much. Some of it is cool, but people want connection. Can you imagine watching an AI generated TV show? Like, who could be bothered? Knowing that it was created without any effort gives it zero value.
I definitely think cancel culture is a thing... but I'm not sure I'd call it woke culture. As far as I can tell, the people who want to halt progress, maintain the status quo and keep everything locked in as its always been call everything they don't like woke... and try to cancel it... but as far as I can tell just seem like they are whining... ie, Ben Shapiro crying about Barbie (although probably making hundreds of thousands of dollars from his videos as everyone else terrified of progress absolutely smashes that Like button so hard).
I think remote work is incredible. Everyone is so much more productive without the ridiculous distractions of office life. Sure boomers want everyone back in the office so they can walk around getting as much attention as possible, but I think its very clear that those companies that have embraced remote work are getting so efficient. I do think its harder for graduates and less-experienced people to learn remotely, that definitely sucks, but for everyone else who knows their job and loves being productive, it's the best thing ever. I have no problem not meeting people in the office, it means I can actually meet people who share any interest in the things I'm interested in.
Ooof, is my response longer than your post... yikes. Sorry.
Creatively lazy. Most people aren't creating much these days, but are consuming far more content. Also, the ability to visualize has probably decreased, because rather than reading books, we consume from "complete packages" where the images and sounds are added to the story line, so we don't have to imagine the sights and sounds.
And this is the biggest challenge perhaps. At a ground level, people are drawn into focusing on the global stage, so even as individual wellbeing decreases, people feel like they are making a difference.
Not really, but most won't know what is real or not. Even now, many young people aren't as good with reading facial expressions in real life, because they have been raised on screens. We become blind to our environment.
I think woke culture is about cancelling progression these days. Look at the movement for identity politics. Rather than progressing forward, we are going backward, dividing ourselves more based on arbitrary traits.
I think this is like penis size - self reported :D It also depends on what kinds of office, as well as what people consider their work. In my experience, those working in the office are more productive and, are involved with a wider selection of possibilities and processes. A 5-minute impromptu conversation over a coffee gets more done than a half hour remote meeting.
And, embedded in here is one of the other issues I find. An experienced person can be more productive, but they are also productive in their narrow area, only contacting and being contacted in relation to that. It is very hard to see or be selected for opportunities outside of that area, which can severely hamper career growth or skill development.
But, how many times have you had a good time, because of random?
Most people aren't creating much these days... compared to when? Are people not creating more now than in any other time in history, now that they potentially have the whole world as their audience? I guess to that same token, aren't people now learning more than ever now that information is able to be relayed so easily and quickly in a visual and audio format?
Hmmm, is that true? I don't have too much contact with littlies... I had no idea that they're not able to read facial expressions so well. Have you noticed this with your daughter? I'm honestly a little stunned with this.
True, identity politics is truly disastrous. People are literally voting against their best interests because their 'team' told them to. So many poorer people in America wanted to get rid of Obamacare even though they were absolutely hugely dependent on the ACA. How can there be any progress when anything progressive gets repealed the next 4 years. Again I'd argue that 'woke culture' is the wrong term, because the people voting against their own interests are the ones who call everything 'woke'. I'm not sure how arbitrary the traits are when one side of the identity politics is literally calling for the harm and death of minority groups.
Does your office not use Slack? I can get all the info I need with a 10 second Slack message without needing a 5 minute coffee convo. So efficient! Haha, I'm seeing the exact opposite... I'm being involved in so many more areas because we've made things so much more efficient. I've got two big presentations to groups this week that I've never presented to before because we've finally got the capacity to do more.
Sure! I've had some great times because of random... but I've also had thousands and thousands of instances where people just land at my desk, pull me out of the work I was doing, to either chat because they're bored or to fix their thing even though I was deep into something else.
I think the crux of the matter is, extroverts love being around people and will argue until they're blue in the face that everything in person is always better... and introverts do their best work on their own. The workforce has mostly been the domain of the extrovert, a place where the loudest excels and with remote work introverts are able to produce far more value than they ever have before.
Not really. Most are just consuming more. In the past, just to get through the normal day, people were creating something, whether it be cooking a meal or darning some socks.
There is a difference between knowing something and being able to apply it. People know what Google can provide, but like darning those socks, Google can't sew.
No, because she lives an analogue life for the most part. The kids that are raised on screens are largely consuming content designed for a screen, large expressions, lots of it animated, 3D, fake. They aren't spending as much time looking into people's faces, learning all the micro expressions, tones of voice, body language and timing.
The traits are arbitrary, the meaning applied to them is not. People are tards.
Does slack iterate ideas with you? Does it build the relationships needed to push an idea through the organization? I don't think so. It is just a database of information. The only value of knowledge is how it is applied and part of that is how it is able to be transferred through people. I am pretty good with information management - it is the business that I am in ;)
Not necessarily true. I work with hundreds of introverted nerds, technical consultants, coders etc - they thought they didn't need people around either, yet they have largely returned to the office about 50% of the time to be around people. It has been eye opening for them.
Looking at it at an individual level it is possible to say "this isn't for me" or "it works for me" but it is the large view that has impacts on us at scale, and in general, we are far more alike than different.
You know that Slack isn't a database right? There are other people on the other end of those Slack messages... people to bond with and exchange ideas with. Sometimes I'm exchanging ideas and planning and working through problems with people, sometimes we're just mucking around and chatting about whatever, sometimes its a group chat and sometimes its one on one. Sometimes I'm having four conversations at once and honestly, having a lot of fun with it.
I'm surprised you've had so many nerds come back into the office. We just haven't had that at all. I've been to the office about 3 times in the last 3 years, some people haven't been in at all, an absolute tiny fraction has been back in regularly. We've had people move interstate because they were no longer constrained by their commute and so have managed to improved their lives by getting bigger houses or being closer to family.
We're obviously not going to agree on the benefits of remote work, but I think we're both extremely curious to see the long term effects and the potential efficiencies and/or lack of creativity that results in companies either having a flexible workforce or forcing/encouraging people back into the office.
Here is a crappy article, but gives an idea.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/at-work/working-from-home-leads-to-declining-productivity-and-unhappiness-studies-find/news-story/512d3b26d3a9fd5aa101ce60f0bfaa79
If you have the time, there is the full source:
https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/media/research/staff_reports/sr1061.pdf?sc_lang=en
This study totally makes sense.... call center work is absolutely horrible. Of course people who have to do an absolutely horrible job do it less well if they're not under the watchful eye of supervisors and don't get the perks the in-office people get (cake, specifically).
I wouldn't form my whole opinion just on the plight of call center workers though, turn-over is massive because it's a terrible job to do.
I think for anyone that has a job where they really have to think about what they are doing and concentrate, then remote work offers absolutely massive benefits and productivity boosts.
I think we'll see in time though, which companies perform well because they've embraced remote work and which companies don't perform well.
Admin jobs benefit, but thought work that involves creativity can be stifled, especially when alignment within the organization is required. When people aren't interacting well enough, there is double work and different directions going on, with people getting attached to "their idea" without much objective murder boarding on it, or visibility on alternatives.
Some industries will benefit, many will not.
I actually met my wife at our work so I can't imagine where I would be if we had been remote back then. It would have been quite difficult!
Have you ever considered how many great relationships aren't started because people have their nose buried in their phone?
It's probably too many to comprehend!
Nowadays many kids are raising without even touching soil, a robotic lifestyle rather than natural one.
Unnatural children, create unnatural communities.
As long as I can compete. Today I won 500 HIVE against bots on one asset. I worked from home. I'll wait until the AI is able to win on the stock exchange :)
`Not a bad day of trading. :)
In the future, there will possibly be a profession called listener. In return for payment, the listener will listen to another listener by listening to what he or she says. We will go to the listener because, apart from the listener, there will be hardly anyone else left to listen to us. Today, we are increasingly losing the ability to listen.
That profession already exists - prostitutes say it is one of the most important parts of their job, supposedly. Intimacy is declining, because no one knows each other, they perform for strangers instead. We are humans and we connect with people and we want people to know us. But I agree and it is one of the posts that I will write more on at some point, to go with others around similar topics :)
These are most interesting concerns. But, there it is. There is always concerned people. Wise people who wonder about the consecuences of our so much desired fiddeling of things. On that matter is worth to remember the words from Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park.
"Life finds a way"
We all have seen the movies when life does not find a way. But humans are way too selfish to die. There's always a limit towards they can lean on.
Life might find the way, but death is inevitable. Every life ends, every civilization and every species. Some are hit by asteroids, some create asteroids and drop them on their own heads.
If AI takes control of a lot of jobs. There are going to be rise in the jobs of people who are consultant, and a form of a listener. Like you have problem with love, money, marriage, everything that would demand a listener. This would make things worst if you think from the satisfaction point of view.
There are already the needs for more listeners, and has been for years. It isn't just automation, it is culture too, where people shout into the void at strangers who don't know them at all.
Interesting, and I think true, look on life. The part about children not going out to play is something that I harp on constantly. Without avail though because they are not my children. People, mostly women, trying to look like the models they see is something else I don't get. Most models are way too skinny. I always point people towards Sophia Loren, Raquel Welch and Marilyn Monroe as examples of women who were beautiful but not sticks. I'm not a person that goes with the masses, just because it's the majority. With this way to convenient world of no information or misinformation, people tend to just follow along to fit in. I was never a believer in that.
Good story. I think I'll write a post of my own version of our current messed up world.
Skinny or not, I think people should aim for health. Unfortunately, there is some confusion as to what is healthy for us, even though the basics should be pretty much universal. The argument is more about convenience, where people don't want to do the work to change, because even acknowledging that it might be needed, is uncomfortable. It is like alcoholics needing to first admit they have a problem.
Writing is always a good way to reflect on experience :)
Excited to finally get the rest of my coins back into ownership. I have my taxes pending all kinds of bankruptcy nonsense in the US. Magic has treated me so well the 30 years of ownership, now looking to the future on Hive!
One of my favorite liquidity pools in crypto is the Voucher:Hive LP that pays out ~50% in SPS, which is great because I'm earning in a separate asset from the pair. It also gets me to swap into more Hive or the pair due to my lack of writing -- I used to be able to convert enough HBD to cover the vouchers but not so much when no brawl reports.
I feel like my LeoThreads are going into the void as well. SoG needs to step its game up! YEEEEERRRRRR!!!!!!
Should I be doing this?
If you think you'd like to be earning an extra source of revenue from holding vouchers instead of just selling them for their spot price every day, but of course you are now tied to more SPS. This assumes you are getting a good chunk of vouchers from SPS staking and node licenses. This is a great way to take advantage of more yield while locking up a bit of your $HIVE for a good APR from the SPS LP rewards. It is paying about 50% APR and I'm earning SPS, an asset that I'm not even staking in the voucher:hive pool.
This gives me an alternative use for the HIVE I generate from writing and lets me earn it in SPS. Admittedly I'm only growing my HP through the ~2-3% compounding feature in addition to the active use of the chain, but it allows me to keep the HIVE somewhat liquid in the LP rather than tied up as HBD for 20% yield.
I just staked my 4000 vouchers with some Hive. They aren't worth much, are they? :D I don't mind getting some more SPS though, for I seem to mistakenly believe it has more value than DEC.
Nope, not much. The vouchers have MOSTLY been all downhill since I started receiving them except for a few times they bumped when utility was added to guard promos and Riftwatchers. Currently, they can be redeemed for a $5 discount (up to 50% off) when buying a node license directly from SPL or used to replace 200 DEC (USD 0.20 value with DEC at peg) when using DEC to unlock soulbound cards. I'm hoping this second utility will drive demand above current declining prices, so I'm happy to hold in an LP with HIVE. Just remember the SPS earned from the hive LP needs to be claimed (and then staked if that's your thing), so I typically lump my fresh vouchers in the LP and claim my SPS rewards at the same time.
Cheers. I should have been doing this earlier, as I think @slobberchops does this too. I have all the node licenses I need for now - I don't think even one has sold in about 6 months, as the price of SPS is so low it is super expensive. Maybe one day it will be worth it :) I will just keep an eye on the pools now and claim and stake :)
I sell a % of vouchers and SPS daily. HIVE is the token I like best, the one I trust the most.