Ask Lemmy

No.

Convenience is king.

Analog tech is inherently slower, more expensive, etc.

This is like asking if farming by hand is better than farming using machinery.

The only reason people think this is way is because they didn't live through analog tech, for them it is retro or nostalgia and they romanticize it because when they do use it, there are no downsides.

Just like the people who think farming by hand is better than farming with machinery are people who don't farm, or they are those investment banking types who 'retired' to go start a farm in upstate NY for fun and pretend it's a viable commercial enterprise.

we, as a civilization

No, LOL.

Only 1 out of ~200 countries (and maybe 2 or 3 others who follow them all too much, but not all hope is lost for them). And even the few ones from there who are still able to think somewhat straight, they also suffer from severe hybris, for example of thinking they were the whole civilization.

how much is it going to affect companies?

Again, I would separate: the current AI providing companies vs all the rest.

All the rest can easily and quickly turn to the free models. New operating companies for them, and self-operating solutions, are already in the making.

The current AI providing companies' economic black hole is not identical to the world's use of current ultra-expensive AI.

When AI crashes it will make computing prices plummet...

All the factories making AI shit, will switch back to consumer grade.

Like, I don't even understand you post, you say it'll fail then go on a rant about it working?

Unless "to some degree" is doing an extreme amount of heavy lifting here, I don't expect so.

In general, it's a lot easier to build complex systems when error doesn't propagate through the system, and that happens with analog systems.

With a digital system, a given component has precisely-defined behavior. 1+1=2. And if you manufacture many instances of that component, they all can have the same, precisely-defined behavior.

With an analog system, there are tiny errors that accumulate. 1+1=2.0001, say. Then that tiny error gets passed on to the next component, and maybe the error there magnifies this error.

That doesn't matter much for some simple systems, but it becomes really problematic for complex ones.

Most complex systems we make are made out of simpler parts. Being able to cut that error out of the picture when specifying the behavior of a component or reasoning about it in the context of a larger system is helpful.

And in general, we want to be able to build complex systems.

Digital systems do force quantitization, and that is a limitation on precision. There will probably always be limited use of the occasional analog component, like, oh, a lens, say. Situations where you don't have a chain of many analog components.

But I don't think that we will return to a point where people made simple devices with few components, because the ability to make complex systems is very powerful. And complexity and analog systems don't play well together.

We might be forced to.

Its not about the tech, it how you use it. I'm nomadic, off grid, and pretty tech minimalist. My 5 year old smart phone just has comaps, revanced, Lemmy, signal and a few other basic tools. My PCs stay as airgapped as possible and I'm ready to hunker down and emulate the last 40 years of video games offline. I haven't kept up with llms but I'd like to get a decent lower power, highly optimized open source model to run locally once they're at the best they'll get before being banned. I just want essentially a offline search engine summary. If its critical I'll get online but a offline local llm is really useful for me to change little 3 hour ADHD adventures into just a few questions.

Ngl I only read the post title cuz I have a headache and should prob stop looking at my phone, but I have to say that I really miss buttons. Like, clicky buttons that depress when you push them and sometimes even make a nice little sound. Also knobs. Nice turny knobs, maybe the ones that do that little click every 5 degrees rotated. Yeah.

Nope.

As someone that lived through the analog to digital transition, please please please never hope to go back. There have been incredible gains in data storage, sharing, and analysis that have benefitted humanity in ways that are impossible to describe.

AI companies are not all that is digital technology. We had a quarter of a century with a solid digital infrastructure before they came along.

I’ve reached a point where I am willing to forego internet and even computers.

they posted on the internet...

But seriously, what are you even talking about? Dozen of individuals might log out of social media, some might move out and try living in a forest or something. As a society we're not going to abandon modern communication tools, modern medicine and modern financial tools. Some people are mad at AI, no one is mad at computers to the point of going analog.

I’m stepping backwards. But most people I see around me are chugging along and accepting.

Please tell me I'm not the only one that still has a simple wristwatch.

I know this isn't exactly what you are talking about, but read the update portion of that post. I have been listening to music on cassettes for about a week now, and during those moments (circa 30 minutes per session) I feel so fucking free, because I don't have to touch my phone. 🥰📼🎶

Fuck, I wish. I can fix analog stuff on my own and keep analog equipment running basically indefinitely.

To some degree but not in the way you're imagining.

I share your hope of a catastrophic crash for AI and a dramatic loss of consumer sentiment. However, in the worst case we're talking about a 10 or more year "great depression" in which industries stall and so on. There's not going to be an "internet doesn't work" type crash.

I wouldn't be surprised if a large portion of the children of today (gen alpha ?) eschew technology to the same extent that millennials embraced it.

i am currently on the process on going back to CDs for music, technically still digital, but offline. Keeps me away from the Internet, also i think 16 bit 44.1kHz is the sweet spot, Sony/Philips had it right 45 years ago, and since i mostly listen old music, plenty for me in the used market

I think the vast majority of people will revert to a more analog standard. If you check out self hosting, the digital space is alive and well. I'm doing my damnedest to keep people connected and away from toxic algorithm social media. I've had very few takers.

I set up a Friendica instance, I share my Jellyfin and Audiobookshelf libraries with as many people as possible. I am living my best digital life right now. But for most people, they can't seem to pull themselves away from the instant gratification that modern social spaces offer. If people reduced their dependence and would put up with the discomfort of change and maybe a little less convenience, they could continue on in a healthier digital space. But, humans being humans, they won't and they'll cast off digital stuff and dive deep into analog instead of adapting to open and non-commercial digital options.

Theres an interesting article on Collapse OS that I reference quite a bit.

https://collapseos.org/why.html

Personally I think the answer is a big NO. Because theres just so much tech out there.

BUT we may see little collapses all over in our lifetime. The latest computer cost going up is just one. I remember not being able to get certain items from time to time because of something globally happening. Its always a good thing to come up with alternatives just in case. Because in my lifetime ive had issues with getting:

1. Electricity out for more than a week (California brownout/power failures)
2. Water (main pipe blew out in apartments, no water for a couple of days)
3. Food (many, many, many recalls)
4. Pandemic
5. Strange weather (ash falling from the sky, toxic chemical air for a bit, etc...)

Its good to have a grab and go bag. Its good to have a plan. Its NOT good to see the above list and think: This is the new norm. It shouldn't be. It probably wont be.

Analog technology is great and we should always have alternatives.

Individuals might but not to the extent that it would make any difference. AI isn't going anywhere. Even if the bubble bursts, many if not most of those companies would still survive and keep developing better models. The problem is not that they don't have a product but that they're overvalued - that will probably get re-adjusted at some point.

If you mean as a society probably not but if you mean subsets of people I think it will grow

If the great AI companies tank (I can only hope) and the services they provide - whatever those may be - faill, how much is it going to affect companies?

It depends on how far along all this bullshit is when the fall comes.

Right now, the companies that are selling AI to everyone, if it all comes crashing down...fuck em. They released this cancer and they can deal with the consequences (Anthopic, OpenAI, Google, Meta, etc...)

But the companies that fell for it and actually purchased their product, they'll simply purge the A.I. out of their systems, rehire a bunch of developers, and get on with their lives. And that's really for the same reason that A.I. will crash in the first place:

it's not necessary in order to successfully run a business.

It never has been. We've all been doing just fine for decades, and we'll get along just fine again once all the shit-peddlers go belly up.

I'm dreaming of fully open, fully modular (comparatively) low-tech computers in the MHz and 50 nm structures range each country has a few fabs around. We could do that, if we don't carry 50 years of computing history around and don't emulate things for (misplaced) compatibility that ought to be robust, in hardware.

So, basically yes.

I'm totally down, but most humans aren't and dont have the mental capacity or understanding of how life worked then. Even those who grew up without internet have largely fried their brains with smartphones.

There will be pockets of non tech tribes probably like those desert tribes that exist just making art and doing drugs. But yeah theres no way people can give up tech, and they dont know how to in the first place, the world basically requires it.