"So long, my friends, and thanks for all the fish!" - Replaced by AI - Not your usual AI post.

[nice90sguy]

In the end, my personal life is on fire, and there is no place for unproductive hobbies anymore.

Hmm.. maybe you just mean you need to focus of work and money rt now, and until you get back on an even keel, you need to put all your energy into the practicalities of life. Understandable. I'm also not writing stories right now, because I need to spend a lot of time on practicalities.

But in my experience, "unproductive hobbies" like writing Lit stories have been an extermely beneficial activity when my emotional life has been in turmoil.

AI is disrupting a lot of people's lives right now (mine too). It's just another labour-saving (i.e. cost-saving) technology; like the spinning jenny, it will be adopted for economic reasons.

 

[Lifestyle66]

Somehow, this change did not meet the expectations of top execs. They wanted us to be an executioners, the task we refused unanimously.


In the shadows, they started an AI bot at the same time and used years worth of our documentation to train it. During the last month, they turned it on and asked it to give 3 versions of feedback parallel to what we did. Out of Result-Oriented: "Performance Blueprint," Brutal: "Unvarnished Truth," and Supportive: "Growth Catalyst," they liked the brutal version the best.

Unknowingly. we had helped that bot do something we would never ever have done on our own.

"So long, my friends, and thanks for all the fish!"

I didn't want to be the one to "rain on your parade". But since @OverconfidentSarcasm already said it, I'll point out the same thing.

Management was paying you all to do a job, and you all collectively decided to do the job YOUR WAY rather than the way those employing and paying you wanted. It seems your employers were not getting what they wanted for their money. So, your previous employers found a more cost-effective and compliant solution.

And the lesson is: When someone is paying you to do a job, do the job they are paying you to do.

This is also paraphrased as "The customer [person with the money] is always right!"

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

But in the short term, I will be taking a complete break from here. I am in for exciting times in real life."

These are often the times when some throw their all into sinful fantasy places like this. Focus on creativity and escape.

 

[onehitwanda]

Businesses have never failed to embrace technology when it saved them money. The OP's going through the same thing whaling captains went through after Spindletop, and the same thing longshoremen experienced after containerization.

I have a very strong suspicion that there is a watershed moment coming in the very close future, where companies discover that an AI is great up until it fails - at which point they've outsourced or retrenched anyone with the tribal knowledge to save the company.

 

[Voboy]

I have a very strong suspicion that there is a watershed moment coming in the very close future, where companies discover that an AI is great up until it fails - at which point they've outsourced or retrenched anyone with the tribal knowledge to save the company.

I very much agree. I hope it comes soon. The disruption will be greater the longer it takes.

 

[onehitwanda]

I very much agree. I hope it comes soon. The disruption will be greater the longer it takes.

I plan to put a deckchair up somewhere with a nice view, lay in a bottle or two of Veuve, and toast the particularly spectacular deflagrations.

 

[Voboy]

I plan to put a deckchair up somewhere with a nice view, lay in a bottle or two of Veuve, and toast the particularly spectacular deflagrations.

That's a healthier response than mine. I'm stockpiling ammo, just in case it gets messy.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

Couple this with outsourcing and I see a point in time where the execs here lose control of their companies, either to the machines, or to a foreign government take over.


To try to stay non-political, what if the Bots someday decide they don't need the execs? The Bots have been programmed to be autonomous decision makers, so why do they need suits making decisions for them?

 

[onehitwanda]

That's a healthier response than mine. I'm stockpiling ammo, just in case it gets messy.

I'm long-past any delusions of being able to effect stochastic change. Best I can hope for is gradual erosion.

 

[AwkwardMD]

This is also paraphrased as "The customer [person with the money] is always right!"

That is not the quote. That is what entitled people want you to think.

The real quote is "The customer is always right in matters of taste"

 

[Lifestyle66]

That is not the quote. That is what entitled people want you to think.

The real quote is "The customer is always right in matters of taste"

If you say so.

I always understood that to mean those who control the money will spend it where THEY choose!

 

[Kelliezgirl]

If you say so.

I always understood that to mean those who control the money will spend it where THEY choose!

You may be thinking of the Golden Rule:
He who has the gold makes the rules.

 

[Lifestyle66]

You may be thinking of the Golden Rule:
He who has the gold makes the rules.

Same thing.

When one person has control of the money that you want, you either do the work they want to pay for, or you steal it!

When I hire a contractor to build something for me, I'll agree to pay for materials. Then I'll make payments in increments until the job is done as I want and we agreed. In that way, they can pay the workers their wages.

But I won't pay the last 20% until it's complete to MY satisfaction! The contractor won't make a profit until I GET WHAT WE AGREED TO!

The same goes for employees. If they're not doing the work as needed by the contractor, they shouldn't be paid! But that's the contractor's problem and not mine!

It's my money, and I'll spend it as I choose!

 

[jsmiam]

Same thing.

When one person has control of the money that you want, you either do the work they want to pay for, or you steal it!

When I hire a contractor to build something for me, I'll agree to pay for materials. Then I'll make payments in increments until the job is done as I want and we agreed. In that way, they can pay the workers their wages.

But I won't pay the last 20% until it's complete to MY satisfaction! The contractor won't make a profit until I GET WHAT WE AGREED TO!

The same goes for employees. If they're not doing the work as needed by the contractor, they shouldn't be paid! But that's the contractor's problem and not mine!

It's my money, and I'll spend it as I choose!

I think this is a fair question to ask:

Yes or no, are you retired? (I believe it’s “yes”, based on things you’ve disclosed in the past, but I’m not quite sure).

 

[Lifestyle66]

I think this is a fair question to ask:

Yes or no, are you retired? (I believe it’s “yes”, based on things you’ve disclosed in the past, but I’m not quite sure).

Yes.

And I did some shitty jobs I didn't like or agree with to get a paycheck so I could support the wife and kids.

We all make choices!

 

[jsmiam]

@Lifestyle66 - I ask because of your strongly unsympathetic opinions on the subject.

The voices of people whose future and lives are at stake due to AI (and the stakes are higher and more stacked against them/us than at any time in history, I think) should certainly be louder than someone who may be immune from it.

Did technology or changes in where work got done ever obliterate your livelihood? And if so, were you a cheerleader over losing your livelihood, enthusiastically agreeing with and supporting the company or the economic forces that caused the obliterating?

What’s coming will make what happened to textiles, steel, and manufacturing in the 80s look like the good old days. because the bonanza will still go to the handful who own the tech. Not even the workers (I strongly suspect based on timing and current events that our OP was at Microsoft) at the company will benefit. Just the owners.

Good news for Rocket ships though. The people at Google, Facebook, and Apple don’t have their own rocket ship companies. Yet. Give them time.

 

[Lifestyle66]

@Lifestyle66 - I ask because of your strongly unsympathetic opinions on the subject.

The voices of people whose future and lives are at stake due to AI (and the stakes are higher and more stacked against them/us than at any time in history, I think) should certainly be louder than someone who may be immune from it.

Did technology or changes in where work got done ever obliterate your livelihood? And if so, were you a cheerleader over losing your livelihood, enthusiastically agreeing with and supporting the company or the economic forces that caused the obliterating?

What’s coming will make what happened to textiles, steel, and manufacturing in the 80s look like the good old days. because the bonanza will still go to the handful who own the tech. Not even the workers (I strongly suspect based on timing and current events that our OP was at Microsoft) at the company will benefit. Just the owners.

Good news for Rocket ships though. The people at Google, Facebook, and Apple don’t have their own rocket ship companies. Yet. Give them time.

I never waited to be obsolete!

I always looked to improve my skills and looked for a new job within months of starting my current job. And it didn't take student loans or college degrees to make myself more valuable. A book was all I needed, and time to read and take practice exams to earn tech certs. I became an MCSE through self-study and paying to take the tests.

And I didn't have a rich family to back me. When I graduated high school, I left home with twenty dollars and a few clothes, and never again depended on my parents to support me. In fact, years later, I was giving my father money when his steel mill went on an extended strike! The union made demands and drove the company into bankruptcy! So, I lose no sleep over those who fill entitled to a job and paycheck. I learned the hard way that I had to look out for myself and my family, regardless of the shitty work I had to endure! And after 42 years of relentless WORK, I don't owe anyone anything, and I can relax with what I have.

 

[filthytrancendence]

If you say so.

I always understood that to mean those who control the money will spend it where THEY choose!

This may come as a shock, but people with money can be wrong about things. And when you work for them, you're not exactly doing yourself any favors by indulging their ignorance and short shortsightedness for fear of your job. They're just as likely to endanger your job via hubris because you were too afraid to say something within your domain of expertise than they are to get rid of you for standing up to them. It's a no-win scenario for labor.

If you got by on being a yes-man, good for you. That's more luck than skill, I'm sorry to tell you. And wagging your finger at somebody else who had worse luck than you with that problem is not a good look.

 

[Lifestyle66]

This may come as a shock, but people with money can be wrong about things. And when you work for them, you're not exactly doing yourself any favors by indulging their ignorance and short shortsightedness for fear of your job. They're just as likely to endanger your job via hubris because you were too afraid to say something within your domain of expertise than they are to get rid of you for standing up to them. It's a no-win scenario for labor.

If you got by on being a yes-man, good for you. That's more luck than skill, I'm sorry to tell you. And wagging your finger at somebody else who had worse luck than you with that problem is not a good look.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but I HAVE quit jobs when dealing with complete morons!

I walked out of one job after sending out a scathing e-mail to the company owners on principal, because the owners promised a guy a job and he was moving his family, when they called him to withdraw the job offer! (They had underestimated their ability to pay his salary just two weeks earlier, and he had already quit his old job!) I was out of work for three weeks after that before I found my next job! But I had savings from previous work, and I was always looking at the job market and knew my risks!

You can make or at least influence your own luck, unless you become arrogant or complacent, depending too much on others!

 

[MrHereWriting]

Jokes aside, younger people literally cannot find there way to most places without a GPS because they've used it from day one. But I guess when we get to self driving cars that won't matter, but then they'll never learn how to drive.
As AI grows, human brains shrink and we didn't need any help with that.

There's a kid I work with that is amazed I can multiple numbers in my head. He'll come up to me randomly and say multiply this times this. I'll answer and he looks at his phone and he's like "Damn, how do you do that?"

Basic education is now seen as some type of freakshow skill.

This is where we are headed (at least the children of CEOs and Board Members, because no one is sharing the wealth with the common folk).

On a side note, I was invited by a lovely young lady to come watch this at her house and I got so into the movie, I was moved into the friendzone for a little while.

 

[filthytrancendence]

Sorry to burst your bubble, but I HAVE quit jobs when dealing with complete morons!

I walked out of one job after sending out a scathing e-mail to the company owners on principal, because the owners promised a guy a job and he was moving his family, when they called him to withdraw the job offer! (They had underestimated their ability to pay his salary just two weeks earlier, and he had already quit his old job!) I was out of work for three weeks after that before I found my next job! But I had savings from previous work, and I was always looking at the job market and knew my risks!

You can make or at least influence your own luck, unless you become arrogant or complacent, depending too much on others!

Oh no. My bubble.

Good for you? You seem very intent on regurgitating your resume here in a thread that used to be about somebody getting laid off. It's real weird how focused you are on making this about you.

 

[Lifestyle66]

Oh no. My bubble.

Good for you? You seem very intent on regurgitating your resume here in a thread that used to be about somebody getting laid off. It's real weird how focused you are on making this about you.

This was never about ME until YOU made it about ME.

My only point was the OP SAYING they collectively OPPOSED and refused to do what the management wanted and expected from their workers, and now they're surprised they're being replaced!

If you're going to do things like that, plan ahead and have a "Plan B"!

 

[filthytrancendence]

This was never about ME until YOU made it about ME.

I can't resist. Then I'm done.

I didn't want to be the one to "rain on your parade"

I'll point out the same thing

I always understood that to mean those who control the money will spend it where THEY choose!

When I hire a contractor to build something for me, I'll agree to pay for materials.

I won't pay the last 20% until it's complete to MY satisfaction!

I GET WHAT WE AGREED TO!

It's my money, and I'll spend it as I choose

I did some shitty jobs I didn't like or agree with

I never waited to be obsolete!

I always looked to improve my skills

I became an MCSE through self-study and paying to take the tests.

I didn't have a rich family to back me.

I graduated high school

I left home with twenty dollars and a few clothes

I was giving my father money when his steel mill went on an extended strike

I lose no sleep over those who fill entitled to a job and paycheck

I learned the hard way that I had to look out for myself

I had to endure

I don't owe anyone anything

I can relax with what I have

All before I said anything. I guess self-awareness isn't your strong suit, but hey, none of us are perfect.

 

[Lifestyle66]

I can't resist. Then I'm done.






















All before I said anything. I guess self-awareness isn't your strong suit, but hey, none of us are perfect.

And most of that came from a prompt by ANOTHER AH posters asking ME!

But you appear toi have limited reading skills.

 

[Voboy]

Yeah.

Sometimes, after reading threads on the internet, I'm not sure it's such a bad thing that we're getting sidelined.

But I think you're underestimating humanity a bit.

Again, nope. We can even take a thread designed to let us know about a colleague's misfortune and turn it into a dick-measuring contest. It's like we can't even control ourselves sometimes.

We have all the ability in the world, which is why it's so frustrating that we just piss it away.

Anyway, best of luck, OP. Best wishes.