It seems to me that this sums up pretty much exactly what today’s billionaire-driven cutthroat capitalism has indeed produced: a bleak world of repetitive sequels whose sole purpose is to make the rich ever richer. From the countless Spin-offs to once-beloved franchises like Star Wars and the like to remakes of every film and series from the past that was even remotely successful, to the same old days in the never-ending grind of work, all the way to the predictable end of most creativity caused by LLMs feeding off each other with the same old remixes.
Here you can truly see the devastating influence that U.S. ideology has worldwide: In other countries, there is even free education, but the logic of maintaining the status quo—in which innovation is only welcomed if it cements the existing order—has nonetheless become the inescapable system of the world order.
It’s almost like a return to the Dark Ages, when the elites brought the development of civilization to a standstill for centuries through their monopoly on knowledge, education, and even leisure—which is a prerequisite for idleness needed for being creative.
Given the way technology is being co-opted by the super-rich, LLMs seem to me to be the central tool for bringing progress to a standstill: They rob young people of any prospect for a professional future, creative individuals of their already precarious livelihoods, and inventors and volunteers of their ideas and their work—while the credit is falsely attributed to the “genius” of those billionaires who operate these systems and claim they somehow came up with it all on their own — when in fact they’re merely regurgitating what already exists, what they stole to lock it up behind their paywalled LLMs.
And perhaps the most disastrous aspect of all: Cloud-based LLMs create a knowledge monopoly in the hands of those corporations—numbering fewer than ten—which are the only ones capable of offering this technology because of the massive cost, thereby shifting the power of interpretation even further to the few unscrupulous owners of these giant corporations that know nothing but boundless greed on their own.
Overall, it seems to me that humanity is regressing, and absurdly, this is in large parts attributable to supposedly disruptive technology—except that the disruption largely consists of the world appearing more hopelessly lost than it has in decades.
I think, overall, this is also reflected in the fact that most people have lost the hope—which was widespread just twenty years ago—that technology could change the world for the better.
I feel bad for being so pessimistic, especially since that’s exactly what the super-rich want: for the situation to seem so hopelessly inevitable that it seems it could never be changed. But with all that going on, it’s really hard to see even a glimmer of hope anywhere.
In your words you also outline the glimmer of hope:
Billionaires aren’t genius or superhuman or at least creative.
They’re power is a consequence of social constructs like states, econonies etc. which all in the last resort exist due to the majoritys approval and willingsnes to participate.
Since capitalism isn’t a natural law it stops functioning if the majority abandons it… which will happen if shit gets bad enough. Revolutions throughout history habe overthrown economic and societal models numerous time due to the simple fact that all of this is just a temporary agreed upon by all of us.
Thanks for the encouraging words—I see it exactly the same way, but sometimes I’m a bit disheartened by how many people remain inactive or just don’t care in the slightest.
It’s probably just as you say: Apparently, a catastrophe will have to happen first before people shake off their apathy.
The only question for me is what form that catastrophe will take: Climate change, in any case, will be irreversible. And from the history of my home country, I also know just how high a price must be paid for people to realize that fascism is merely a tool used by the powerful to realize their megalomaniacal fantasies of power in a totalitarian state that nips all resistance in the bud.
It’s hard to believe, but even in Germany, those wretched Nazis are on the rise again. The last time, the stupidity of the population—which failed to prevent their seizure of power—led to one of the greatest catastrophes humanity has ever experienced: millions upon millions were murdered. And now many of my fellow citizens have forgotten this, or are repressing all the horror and inhumanity, because they refuse to acknowledge who the true enemies of the people really are.
I find that deeply shameful—especially because I come from Germany, a country where citizens should know better.
I find all of this frightening and extremely frustrating, but of course you’re absolutely right: we mustn’t lose hope, even if the monsters of this world are tightening their stranglehold significantly these days, precisely through technology.
In my more cynical moments, I’ve come to think that maybe every few generations we need an authoritarian state to burn through all the dictatorship fans on the front lines. My main problem is that I’m caught up in it myself.
When it comes to modern fascism, it strikes me that the ideological foundation is nowhere near as solid and well-established as it was in the 1930s. Trump and his ilk are so obviously out to line their own pockets that even extremely ignorant people would likely find it hard to ignore that in the long run. Especially since, due to their short-sighted greed, it’s likely to have negative effects on the daily lives of average citizens much more quickly.
As far as I can tell, even within the AfD’s core voter base, there is currently little fanaticism that could overshadow the reality of wars of aggression and immense military casualties… unlike in 1939; I sincerely hope I am correct in this assessment. However, “Führer” Höcke is receiving backing from billionaires and autocrats around the world, and today’s surveillance tools are more sophisticated than they were back then.
Let’s just hope that Putin and Trump collapse before things get as bad as they could here… since the right wing is the party of egoists and opportunists, they would likely tear themselves apart in a fight over dwindling resources if that were to happen.
It seems to me that this sums up pretty much exactly what today’s billionaire-driven cutthroat capitalism has indeed produced: a bleak world of repetitive sequels whose sole purpose is to make the rich ever richer. From the countless Spin-offs to once-beloved franchises like Star Wars and the like to remakes of every film and series from the past that was even remotely successful, to the same old days in the never-ending grind of work, all the way to the predictable end of most creativity caused by LLMs feeding off each other with the same old remixes.
Here you can truly see the devastating influence that U.S. ideology has worldwide: In other countries, there is even free education, but the logic of maintaining the status quo—in which innovation is only welcomed if it cements the existing order—has nonetheless become the inescapable system of the world order.
It’s almost like a return to the Dark Ages, when the elites brought the development of civilization to a standstill for centuries through their monopoly on knowledge, education, and even leisure—which is a prerequisite for idleness needed for being creative.
Given the way technology is being co-opted by the super-rich, LLMs seem to me to be the central tool for bringing progress to a standstill: They rob young people of any prospect for a professional future, creative individuals of their already precarious livelihoods, and inventors and volunteers of their ideas and their work—while the credit is falsely attributed to the “genius” of those billionaires who operate these systems and claim they somehow came up with it all on their own — when in fact they’re merely regurgitating what already exists, what they stole to lock it up behind their paywalled LLMs.
And perhaps the most disastrous aspect of all: Cloud-based LLMs create a knowledge monopoly in the hands of those corporations—numbering fewer than ten—which are the only ones capable of offering this technology because of the massive cost, thereby shifting the power of interpretation even further to the few unscrupulous owners of these giant corporations that know nothing but boundless greed on their own.
Overall, it seems to me that humanity is regressing, and absurdly, this is in large parts attributable to supposedly disruptive technology—except that the disruption largely consists of the world appearing more hopelessly lost than it has in decades.
I think, overall, this is also reflected in the fact that most people have lost the hope—which was widespread just twenty years ago—that technology could change the world for the better.
I feel bad for being so pessimistic, especially since that’s exactly what the super-rich want: for the situation to seem so hopelessly inevitable that it seems it could never be changed. But with all that going on, it’s really hard to see even a glimmer of hope anywhere.
In your words you also outline the glimmer of hope: Billionaires aren’t genius or superhuman or at least creative.
They’re power is a consequence of social constructs like states, econonies etc. which all in the last resort exist due to the majoritys approval and willingsnes to participate. Since capitalism isn’t a natural law it stops functioning if the majority abandons it… which will happen if shit gets bad enough. Revolutions throughout history habe overthrown economic and societal models numerous time due to the simple fact that all of this is just a temporary agreed upon by all of us.
Thanks for the encouraging words—I see it exactly the same way, but sometimes I’m a bit disheartened by how many people remain inactive or just don’t care in the slightest.
It’s probably just as you say: Apparently, a catastrophe will have to happen first before people shake off their apathy.
The only question for me is what form that catastrophe will take: Climate change, in any case, will be irreversible. And from the history of my home country, I also know just how high a price must be paid for people to realize that fascism is merely a tool used by the powerful to realize their megalomaniacal fantasies of power in a totalitarian state that nips all resistance in the bud.
It’s hard to believe, but even in Germany, those wretched Nazis are on the rise again. The last time, the stupidity of the population—which failed to prevent their seizure of power—led to one of the greatest catastrophes humanity has ever experienced: millions upon millions were murdered. And now many of my fellow citizens have forgotten this, or are repressing all the horror and inhumanity, because they refuse to acknowledge who the true enemies of the people really are.
I find that deeply shameful—especially because I come from Germany, a country where citizens should know better.
I find all of this frightening and extremely frustrating, but of course you’re absolutely right: we mustn’t lose hope, even if the monsters of this world are tightening their stranglehold significantly these days, precisely through technology.
In my more cynical moments, I’ve come to think that maybe every few generations we need an authoritarian state to burn through all the dictatorship fans on the front lines. My main problem is that I’m caught up in it myself.
When it comes to modern fascism, it strikes me that the ideological foundation is nowhere near as solid and well-established as it was in the 1930s. Trump and his ilk are so obviously out to line their own pockets that even extremely ignorant people would likely find it hard to ignore that in the long run. Especially since, due to their short-sighted greed, it’s likely to have negative effects on the daily lives of average citizens much more quickly.
As far as I can tell, even within the AfD’s core voter base, there is currently little fanaticism that could overshadow the reality of wars of aggression and immense military casualties… unlike in 1939; I sincerely hope I am correct in this assessment. However, “Führer” Höcke is receiving backing from billionaires and autocrats around the world, and today’s surveillance tools are more sophisticated than they were back then.
Let’s just hope that Putin and Trump collapse before things get as bad as they could here… since the right wing is the party of egoists and opportunists, they would likely tear themselves apart in a fight over dwindling resources if that were to happen.
Bet