There's Way More to Life than Being Productive
Artificial Intelligence is awful, and if you don't think so, maybe it's because you're locked into Late-Stage Capitalism's algorithmic plan to keep producing until the day you die.
If you love Artificial Intelligence, you probably like the whole “It makes my life so much easier” argument, the “What took me hours, now only takes me a few minutes.”
Friend, what are you doing with your time bought back? I assure you, the cost is not worth it in the end.
We live now in a society that says time is our biggest asset, because capitalism demands essentially all of it. We have side-hustles, monotized hobbies, and influencers selling mass-produced nonsense that we don’t actually have a need for. Well, friends, who exactly are the ones telling us that time is our biggest asset?
The ones who demand it.
I’m nauseated by over-productivity and perfection. I’m nauseated by AI-generated art (it’s theft).
I recently told my therapist that I don’t think that I’m hiring material because of AI. Late-stage capitalism keeps us grid-locked into prioritizing cash flow over people. My brain likes to swerve left, than right, than take a pit stop and read about composting best practices. It is not a five-paragraph essay designed for clarity and conciseness, it is not a black and white explanation of optimal solutions. I’m not a goddamn robot. I say what I think. I explore what feels best in the moment. I am messy, somewhat impulsive, and make questionable decisions (even to myself, at times). And I like to think that I’m a pretty happy person because of it.
I think people query ChatGPT because they’re burnt out, and everyone is dazzled by its productive allure. It spits out a solution that the brain can’t quickly come up. We’re impatient and demand solutions immediately, as though we’re allergic to thinking.
Here’s a fact for you:
ChatGPT uses so much energy that the USA is reversing its course on coal and gas useage to make up for it. For example, in Santa Clara, data centers used up 60% of the entire city’s electricity. (LA Times, August 2024)
ChatGPT uses 1-3 bottles of *actual* fresh water for cooling every query that you put into it. ChatGPT consumes 17,000 times more electricity than the average American home. Generative AI’s water usage is projected to hit 6.6 billion cubic meters by 2027. (UC Berkeley, September 2024)
There is an active Climate Crisis, and yes, GenAI has a big role.
We already know that the US government isn’t coming to save us as they squabble over supreme power and create mandates based on eugenics and antiquated, deeply harmful prejudice.
In my own world, I face varying degrees of internal crisis, as the idealism and peace that I have always yearned and advocated for feels so vastly far from our current reality. While naive, I know that in this nihilistic world that we find ourselves in, my sense of purpose requires that I hold onto it as closely to my heart as possible. I treat it like my goddamn job to live by my value system, and it can get to be too much, sometimes. It can be isolating, even.
To be the only one I know who is obsessive about plastic-usage.
To be the only one I know who uses shampoo bars, reusable everything, and boycotts literally every mega department store for [insert shitty practice here].
To shop local and seasonally and grow my own food takes work and the privilege of space, time, and money.
Look, I probably won’t convince you to stop querying AI. But don’t give your power away. In a world that demands perfection, be the one who isn’t afraid to misspell and make mistakes. It's what makes us human.