The future is here–it's just one degree off from where we need it to be | Hacker News Reader

The future is here–it's just one degree off from where we need it to be

syntheticauth.ai

1 pointzerolayers5 comments

This disconnect between technological promise and everyday reality affects millions of users daily, yet it's rarely discussed in the breathless coverage of the latest AI breakthroughs or smart home innovations. Perhaps it's time we started measuring progress not by what's possible in controlled demonstrations, but by what actually works when we need it most.

Everyday reality doesn't get those mountains of investment money. Fantasy and hype does.

You're probably right. Just wish they've put 20% of the resources toward making things actually work as advertised instead of adding more layers to the existing pile just because it's the trendy thing to do.

AI is coming, with all its demands on hardware and software to accommodate it, even "securely remote", famous last words, and I never asked for it, nor do I need it. There's a certain human satisfaction in laying out tasks and checking them off.

And solving problems, challenging the brain, like practicing piano, compared to just listening. Keep this old mind very sharp (pun unintended)

Many of the examples given, of AI, and technology in general, are simple tasks, made extremely complex, flakey and dangerous, that people used to do. Think: getting a ride, shopping.

Call me when AI can replace some damaged door molding and install new replacement window blinds.

In my misspent youth, I would supplement my education by buying used copies of Scientific American at a bookstore on Huntington Ave. in Boston. One article stuck in my mind. Joey, "A Mechanical Boy" [0] Original source [1]. PDF.

Apparently autistic, Joey mechanized his entire life until he recovered. I learned to mechanize just what was needed.

> One last detail and this fragment of Joey's story has been told. When Joey was 12, he made a Boat for our Memorial Day parade. It carried the slogan: "Feelings are more important than anything under the sun." Feelings, Joey had learned, are what make for humanity; their absence, for a mechanical existence. With this knowledge Joey entered the human condition.

I vaguely remember the clerk who kindly asked if I was going to buy that stack of magazines or was just making a mess. A human moment.

[0] https://blogs.uoregon.edu/autismhistoryproject/archive/bruno...

[1] https://bpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/blogs.uoregon.edu/dist/d/16656...

Yeah, I do find myself more these days reminiscing about some of the inconveniences we experienced when younger in a positive light now. But more importantly I see people jumping on the latest trend and then 10-15 years later trying to find a cure to the exact thing they willingly adopted. A most recent example that comes to mind is smartphones and kids. After parents jumped on the hype train and gave their kids a phone, they're now re-evaluating that decision and seeing some of the negative impact it has had. So yeah, AI is here and it sure has benefits and will be useful in a lot of ways, but let's direct it properly and tread lightly.

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