AI and it's usefulness in everyday life?

[MossRoad]

As mentioned by someone, I dont think you want to get all philosophical with it, or ask it of rain turtles work. Ask it about rain turtles, and it's likely to suggest other folk magic to get it to rain, like nailing a snake skeleton to a tree...

If that was a first time post from a new member we'd delete it as spam.

 

[WinterDeere]

many of your productive dollars go, and will continue to go towards social rehabilitation.

Pick your battles.

Some people measure life in dollars.
Some people are "human doings" always being productive.
Some people are human beings, knowing that true wealth is realizing when you have enough.

As noted more than once, AI can unload tedious tasks from your plate, allowing you more time for "human" things.

 

[paulsharvey]

Comparing it to mobile phones in a negative kinda surprises me. You really think mobile phones are a net negative? I actually have trouble seeing how my current job was done before mobile phones... Then when the whole covid thing came out, we started using teams. What used to be 12 guys in a conference room, discussing plans, became, me sitting on the job, discussing the plans, while actually looking at the site conditions. While I'm sitting in the car onsite, I can mention something they missed, and engineer can adjust the plans, live, on screen, while getting feed back from others, and discuss it. It also changed an entire lost day, into a 2 hour or 45 minute thing.

 

[paulsharvey]

I will admit, I'm a bit leary of the AI speak replacement in real videos. Meaning, you see a video of someone saying something, you don't actually know if they said it or not. I'm not sure liable or defamation laws really cover that yet. It certain as world wide thing, does have negatives; but that doesn't mean you can't use it for productive use as well.

 

[CalG]

Comparing it to mobile phones in a negative kinda surprises me. You really think mobile phones are a net negative? I actually have trouble seeing how my current job was done before mobile phones... Then when the whole covid thing came out, we started using teams. What used to be 12 guys in a conference room, discussing plans, became, me sitting on the job, discussing the plans, while actually looking at the site conditions. While I'm sitting in the car onsite, I can mention something they missed, and engineer can adjust the plans, live, on screen, while getting feed back from others, and discuss it. It also changed an entire lost day, into a 2 hour or 45 minute thing.

I have done what you are doing.

My quality of life did not change one bit,
The company did not become more profitable.

My income did not increase beyond normal expectations due to experience.

As mentioned, ai is but a distraction.

LOOK! squirrel!

 

[Oaktree]

Mobile phones are one of the greatest inventions in history, allowing us to conduct business from wherever we are in the world. I cannot imagine running my business anywhere near as profitably and flexibly, without mobile phone technology. Hell, I took 3 business calls yesterday while doing some yard work, just one of many chores that'd have taken time away from that which I have available to spend with my family on the weekend, if I were chained to a desk phone all week.

The smartphone is a perfect example of technology being a double edged sword. While it enables you to conduct business, or otherwise be reachable anytime, anyplace, it's increasingly obligating you to do the same. Once upon a time, you came home from work and you were done for the day, weekend, etc. (unless you were one of a relative few who were on call after hours). Nowadays employers, customers, friends, family, whoever expect you to be reachable at any time, for any reason, no matter how trite. You've become a slave to a gadget.

 

[WinterDeere]

The smartphone is a perfect example of technology being a double edged sword. While it enables you to conduct business, or otherwise be reachable anytime, anyplace, it's increasingly obligating you to do the same. Once upon a time, you came home from work and you were done for the day, weekend, etc. (unless you were one of a relative few who were on call after hours). Nowadays employers, customers, friends, family, whoever expect you to be reachable at any time, for any reason, no matter how trite. You've become a slave to a gadget.

There's some merit to this, some do feel pressure to make themselves available anytime. I'm one of those, and even before smart phones, I was using web access to email to check and respond to things after-hours, while others were enjoying their time off. To this day, some of my co-workers just leave their phones by the front door when they arrive home, and don't respond to anything after-hours, while others of us have a whole second workday after-hours. It's a personal choice.

There's a perception that those who make themselves available after hours should advance through the company ranks more quickly than those who "leave it by the door", but at least in my experience, history has not borne this out. Guys who were managers at my former level were of both types, almost equally.

 

[paulsharvey]

There's some merit to this, some do feel pressure to make themselves available anytime. I'm one of those, and even before smart phones, I was using web access to email to check and respond to things after-hours, while others were enjoying their time off. To this day, some of my co-workers just leave their phones by the front door when they arrive home, and don't respond to anything after-hours, while others of us have a whole second workday after-hours. It's a personal choice.

There's a perception that those who make themselves available after hours should advance through the company ranks more quickly than those who "leave it by the door", but at least in my experience, history has not borne this out. Guys who were managers at my former level were of both types, almost equally.

We used to have company phones, now you using your personal phone is a requirement. So, you aren't going to just turn it off. With that, you can Choose to not answer it. Honestly, the lines between work and off have become more and more blurry. Covid made it worse. It became accepted that you would mix work and off at home, and with that, even when you were "off", you were still available. I dont mind it too much, on occasion, but it does get old. I work Mon-Fri, but some of the guys work Mon-Thurs, others Tues-Fri. So, it's not uncommon for a 4-10er to call after my 8 hour days is over. It's fine if it's important, but often it's really a "tomorrow problem".

Lunch... there is absolutely the expectation that you use your Lunch time to check emails, catch up on phone calls, ect. Thats obviously not an official policy, but its the expectation.

At the same time, many places of employment are more willing to let you be flexible with work hours. It's far less common for people to worry about you being there at exactly 7am.

 

[WinterDeere]

IMO, folks who think they deserve to go home and unplug from a job are living a dream world, where hungry guys in India and China aren't working twice as hard, trying to take their lunch. If you're a shift worker, that's fine. But for salaried employees, the days of working 9-5 and then forgetting about work all evening and weekend went away with pensions and stay-at-home housewives.

On the flip side, no one expects me to be at work or leave at any particular time. I generally start around 6am, and generally finish around 11:30pm, but there are several breaks in-between, and I have no problem popping out for an hour mid-day to attend a kid's school event or anything else that needs doing.

 

[BackRoad]

As mentioned, ai is but a distraction.

LOOK! squirrel!

Interested in your thoughts...You've mentioned it's a distraction a couple of times...in your view, what is it distracting us from?