#Post-Labor

[realcleverscience]

AI

As someone who follows AI news a lot, I really wish the general public was aware of what's going on with it.

AIs are improving at a dramatic rate, I'd say basically doubling in ability every 6 months (possibly even exponential growth by now). If you base your idea of what AI can do based on a tool you used last year, then you are wildly out of date.

Hell, if you base your idea of AI on the tools out right now, you're still out of date - because in 6 months the field will have advanced dramatically.

Again, this sounds crazy but that's because we're not used to this kind of growth. But consider this: Some people have estimated that the latest AI tools could potentially do 1-9% of economically useful tasks. (e.g. it can write emails for you, saving you time. Or it can summarize spreadsheets. whatever.) Let's assume AI can currently do just 1% of tasks. Clearly no-one is in danger of losing their job from just 1%. But if AI is doubling its abilities every 6 months, that means in a year it'll do (1x2x2 =) 4%. In two years from now (4x2x2=) 16%. In three years (16*2*2=) 64%. In four years, 100%. Now, I think there are still challenges to reaching 100%. (E.g. AIs still have master robotics; better 'real world' modeling, and more) But I think we could definitely hit at least 50% with our current trajectory. This could mean that everyone doubles their output, or it could mean that companies maintain output but fire half the workers. Or some mix. But if even 10% of people lose their jobs, our economy is gonna be in crisis. If 50% lose their jobs, it will be a nightmare. (The US great depression of the 1920s saw around 24% unemployment; the US already has 4% unemployment). In addition, even minor growth in unemployment can seriously stress our social safety nets (which are already being damaged by the current administration in the us). So let alone 5, 10, 20 percentage point gains.

And if AI keeps its pace of improvement, that basically means that within a year, the situation should get twice as severe. Forever. AIs will never get worse at performing. They will continue to learn and improve at ever faster rates while human roles will shrink by ever faster rates.

in short: AIs are getting very good, very quickly. The job market is going to get turned on its head. There are a lot of major changes just around the corner. AI is here. AGI is nearly here. ASI is on the horizon.

Buckle Up.

p.s. Even if you hate AI, you cannot stop it. Also, there are lots of reasons to love AI. It could help us achieve a world of plenty for all, excellent health, etc. But, that depends on society. If we keep our current system, it will be a nightmare. But if we reconfigure, this could be the greatest gift to humanity at large. Pps. I know a lot of people are concerned about ai companies controlling ai. i want you all to know that there is a ton of open-source programming for AI happening. The capitalist angle here isn't really the ai as much as the data and data centers. and even then, the data is becoming less important (e.g. we can now create artificial data), so it's really about the people who own the server farms and chip manufacturing (as well as the supply chains). Anyways, my point here is that we shouldn't oppose AI. We should recruit AI to our cause. i.e. we need new economics for an age where machines do most of the work.

[politijohn]

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[outer-space-youtube]

Learn to Use AI?

Julia shows us how to be ready for a Post-Labor Society. Basically you should learn how to use AI Agents to advance your abilities, be it your EQ or extraordinary quarks. The one thing you need is not to be afraid to learn how to use ANI. Use app.vectorshift.ai to learn how to create custom pipelines with a “free try” pipeline that lets you use to find how to, before buying in to gain access to…

[violetheart77]

that time of year again

[renthony]

I know people love "Waffle House Index" jokes, but please remember that Waffle House workers have talked about the company's blatant disregard for their safety. Waffle House SHOULD be closed when a storm is coming, just like everything else non-essential. Waffle House refusing to close until the last minute is a genuine labor rights issue.

This article from last year talks a little about the ways Waffle House workers have tried to organize to protect themselves from the company. Waffle House being open in a dangerous storm means that the workers can't evacuate or prioritize their own safety. And that's really, really fucked.

[hashtagloveloses]

NEW UNION JUST DROPPED

LET'S GOOOOOOO

[maigetheplatypus57]

Do you think Evbo learned how to do those jumps and thought "oh this is so sick what's the best way I can show off my parkour skills"

[felassan]

SAG AFTRA news update:

"SAG-AFTRA Members Who Work on Video Games Go on Strike July 25th A.I. Protections Remain the Sticking Point SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director & Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, acting under the authority delegated by the SAG-AFTRA National Board, and with the unanimous advice and counsel of the Interactive Media Agreement Negotiating Committee, called a strike of the Interactive Media Agreement, effective July 26 at 12:01 a.m. Today’s vote to strike comes after more than a year and a half of negotiations without a deal. The convenience bargaining group with whom SAG-AFTRA is negotiating includes Activision Productions Inc., Blindlight LLC, Disney Character Voices Inc., Electronic Arts Productions Inc., Formosa Interactive LLC, Insomniac Games Inc., Llama Productions LLC, Take 2 Productions Inc., VoiceWorks Productions Inc., and WB Games Inc. Any game looking to employ SAG-AFTRA talent to perform covered work must sign on to the new Tiered-Budget Independent Interactive Media Agreement, the Interim Interactive Media Agreement or the Interim Interactive Localization Agreement. These agreements offer critical A.I. protections for members. Negotiations began in October 2022 and on Sept. 24, 2023, SAG-AFTRA members approved a video game strike authorization with a 98.32% yes vote. Although agreements have been reached on many issues important to SAG-AFTRA members, the employers refuse to plainly affirm, in clear and enforceable language, that they will protect all performers covered by this contract in their A.I. language. “We’re not going to consent to a contract that allows companies to abuse A.I. to the detriment of our members. Enough is enough. When these companies get serious about offering an agreement our members can live — and work — with, we will be here, ready to negotiate,” stated SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher.   “The video game industry generates billions of dollars in profit annually. The driving force behind that success is the creative people who design and create those games. That includes the SAG-AFTRA members who bring memorable and beloved game characters to life, and they deserve and demand the same fundamental protections as performers in film, television, streaming, and music: fair compensation and the right of informed consent for the A.I. use of their faces, voices, and bodies. Frankly, it’s stunning that these video game studios haven’t learned anything from the lessons of last year - that our members can and will stand up and demand fair and equitable treatment with respect to A.I., and the public supports us in that,” said Crabtree-Ireland. “Eighteen months of negotiations have shown us that our employers are not interested in fair, reasonable A.I. protections, but rather flagrant exploitation. We refuse this paradigm – we will not leave any of our members behind, nor will we wait for sufficient protection any longer. We look forward to collaborating with teams on our Interim and Independent contracts, which provide A.I. transparency, consent and compensation to all performers, and to continuing to negotiate in good faith with this bargaining group when they are ready to join us in the world we all deserve." said Interactive Media Agreement Negotiating Committee Chair Sarah Elmaleh.  For more information and to search whether a video game is struck, please visit sagaftra.org/videogamestrike."

[source]

[captainjonnitkessler]

Do you guys notice how when Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers union, started planning a general strike, he did it by a) targeting his messaging towards unions with the ability to safely and effectively strike in large numbers, b) laid out a clear, actionable plan for those unions to follow (setting contracts to all expire at the same time, since many unions cannot strike while under contract), c) is using union contracts to set clear, actionable demands that can be met in order to gauge success and provide an end goal, and d) started organizing FOUR YEARS before the proposed strike date to give people the chance to plan accordingly, because it takes a really freaking long time to get tens of millions of people organized?

You notice how he didn't do it by slapping a message on Twitter saying 'hey nobody go to work on Monday, that'll really show 'em'?

[chichitoitsu]

Go for It, Nakamura! is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by- wait, wait.

Delectatio Morosa is a Conclave visual novel which takes place after the conclave has long finished - but that doesn't make things any easier for Cardinal Lawrence, whose duty as a dean is never done. Manage your time and familiar faces as you try to ensure the success of the approaching All Saints' celebration.

Flirt with senior citizens! Fumble the pope! You can do it all in Delectatio Morosa, FREE TO PLAY and downloadable here! Follow @conclavevisualnovel for updates!

[realcleverscience]

The End (of work) is Nigh!

It takes human a long time to become workers, especially trained professionals. We're looking at 20-30 years to accumulate the necessary knowledge, wisdom, and skills.

Meanwhile, AI's abilities are growing incredibly quickly.

I don't know how to do a 1:1 comparison, but it seems like AIs are roughly doubling their abilities every 6 months or so. This is one reason why many in the field believe we are close to AGI (Artificial General Intelligence), and then it'll be just a matter of months till we start to hit ASI (Artificial Super Intelligence).

No-one knows for certain how long this will take. It could be this year; it could be 10 years. But it's quickly on the way.

And most significantly, I personally don't think it'll take 20-30 years to reach AGI, which means that anyone being born today is, seemingly, unlikely to have any jobs to do when they're 25 in the year 2050, as the AIs should pretty much have everything covered by then.

Again, I'm not a prophet. I don't know this for certain, but it certainly seems to be where we're heading, and I find it a fascinating thought.

[politijohn]

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[stardew-bajablast]

if you haven’t at least tried sewing or crocheting or knitting your own clothes, you really should. even if it’s just one time and you never do it again, i really think everyone should do it at least once

learning how to crochet was what finally made me grasp the abject horror of the fast fashion industry and realize just how laborious and time consuming it is. i have to take a few days off a week so my back/wrists don’t get sore — and i get to do this as a leisure activity in the comfort of my own home, rather than in a sweatshop. it takes dozens of hours to produce a single item. there is just something about trying it yourself that makes you realize just how little the people making our clothes are being paid for retailers to be able to sell clothes at such obscenely low prices.

i understood in the abstract that people were earning literal slave wages to make my clothes, but that concept wasn’t real to me in a way i could understand until i spent 14 hours making something that i myself wouldn’t have even been willing to pay more than $10-20 for if i saw it in a store.

i have not bought any new clothes since learning how to crochet. every time i see clothes at a store (especially obviously handmade items like crochet), and i look at the price tag i feel genuinely sick to my stomach.

i’m not saying everyone needs to make their own clothes in order to be against fast fashion, but what i am saying is if hearing about the conditions and wages secondhand has not been enough to make you stop buying it, if you find yourself becoming desensitized to the suffering of the people who make your things, you should try making something yourself.

you need to see firsthand how physically and mentally demanding it can be and imagine how much worse it would be if you were forced to sit in a sweatshop for 16 hours a day doing it nonstop, earning pennies an hour to do so. you need to spend weeks laboring over something only for it to turn out looking like shit so you realize just how much wisdom and technical skill goes into these supposedly “unskilled” and undervalued jobs. if the abstract concept isn’t enough to get through to you, then you need to get hands on.

[clareguilty]

There should be a way to borrow the motivation and confidence authors get from fanfic comments before they actually post the fic why hasn't science figured this one out yet

[waitineedaname]

now that i've finished tgcf i can make memes about all three books! i was tempted to put binghe at the absolute center because he could easily go into any quadrant at different points in his life, and both lwj and hua cheng could swing jock, but i think the most important thing is that wei wuxian is all four at once. somehow.