68 Comments
Mar 22, 2023Liked by Michael Estrin

Okay, the photos made me laugh. 😂

Kudos for the proper Tabasco gift.

Don't eat the food on the floor, zero seconds, zero.

Adam Smith and his damned invisible hand. Sock puppet. Straw fingers.

AI isn't coming for anyone's job. The people who become proficient and clever at using AI are coming for lots of jobs.

AI won't kill us all, that'll be someone on an IT support desk who hits the wrong button. The last words spoken will be: "oh, oops".

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I've often thought that the last words before the apocalypse would be something along the lines of "oops."

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Putting myself in the IT support desk attendant's shoes, I'm thinking "oops" might be a little too "G" rated.

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Great fucking point!

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Years ago I read Midnight at Chernobyl. I think the last fateful expression was "just open the valve".

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How was that book? It’s on my TBR.

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Mar 22, 2023Liked by Michael Estrin

I like to think that IT support know when they've stuffed up, even if they don't tell anyone, so the "oh" is the nanosecond of recognition and final confession, then the "oops". 😁

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That makes sense. I always imagine someone like myself, a complete Luddite, hitting the wrong switch and hearing an announcement that the world is ending, and then me (or someone like me) saying oops, which really doesn't rise to the moment, but nevertheless feels like the kind of thing I'd say when I mess up.

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Mar 22, 2023Liked by Michael Estrin

Given the propensity of humans to sink to the occasion, I think oops would be an honest and heart felt ending.

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Well said!

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LOVE Birdhouse In Your Soul, did NOT know those were the words. I thought it was oven, not outlet.

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Love that song too. Until I Googled it I had all sorts of interpretations of the lyrics.

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Sometimes it's better not to know.

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Very true! Some lyrics are very disturbing.

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The only really important question to ask ChatGPT is “are you Hot For Teacher?”

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That could get awkward fast. I like it!

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Well, of course, Chad GPT is programmed to be boring, and as I confirmed just now, it doesn’t, or refuses to get the more interesting levels of the question.

It seems to me that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to program in some degree of affection for “teacher,” that is, us.

Plus, it’s a great song.

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Yeah, it could get really weird if the AI had the hots for us. But damn, the AI is missing the beauty of Van Halen.

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Traveling back in time to short fraudulent companies is just the type of story prompt I can work with.

Also, maybe ask GPT-4 to write a Back to the Future sequel using that as a prompt.

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Have you considered the possibility that we're living in a simulation that is a poorly written ChatGTP reboot of Back to the Future? See the Biff storyline from 2017 to 2021.

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Of all the nonsense ideas out there I really dig the possibility we're in a simulation. Sometimes life feels a little too on the nose to truly be random. The Biff storyline from BttF2 is my favorite part of the series, though admittedly I'm not a huge fan and have only seen the movies a few times each.

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I agree, the simulation idea is probably the best nonsense out there. One thing I love about it is that it simultaneously lets the believer off the hook for everything because this is a sim, but also it ask the believer to accept an incredibly arrogant premise, which is that some smarter power would bother to conjure up you.

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So true.

Related: I've been putzing around on TikTok out of curiousity. If an AI created a simulated world, then dumped a product like TikTok into that simulated world to increase compliance, that'd be a monster flex.

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The weirdest part of that flex is that Twitter had Vine years before TikTok. In other words, the AI sim lord had the future in the palm of its digital hand, but it fucked up by making Twitter management a clown car.

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But Vine wasn't a weapon of mass destruction perpetuated by the Chinese government! Never doubt the AI overlord. Its playing eight-dimensional chess.

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Mar 23, 2023·edited Mar 23, 2023Liked by Michael Estrin

The five second rule is a myth, so I just eat food off of anywhere. My invisible hand is reaching out to slap Adam Smith. Dead. If I told you that a flower bloomed in a dark room, would you trust it?

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I really admire the way you used that invisible hand to brush away the 5-second rule myth and the other invisible hand to pick up food from anywhere. You are living right, Keith, even if you’re dead inside.

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Mar 23, 2023Liked by Michael Estrin

The unseen bitch slap

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😂😂😂

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Five seconds ... six seconds ... ten, I guess, if it’s not porous. Adam Smith was just the messenger. But, that’s not to say he might not have also been an asshole. Those things don’t have to be mutually exclusive. I’m dead inside. Who put the “ram” in the ram-a-lama-ding-dong?

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Good answers, Tim! May your inside come back to life, but not in a zombie sort of way. I dunno. That’s not something I can probably help with. But I did get an answer about the ram, if that helps. Look for it next Wednesday!

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Aw. You got my snacklebox in there. Niiice.

1. We have a dog, so nothing stays on the floor longer than 5 nanoseconds.

4. Could I have this dance for the rest of my life? Would you be my partner every night? I want you to chat up ChatGTP is what I'm saying.

5. Valuing your time after two years of free content for all makes total sense to me. I recently started clocking my "work" hours, because I want to know how much time I actually spend, writing, creating content, r&d, etc. By the way, we're networking right now. ⏱️🤔

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I've been thinking about this. When it comes to a snacklebox, it's never my snacklebox, or your snacklebox, it's *our* snacklebox because snacks always go better with friends, right?

Also, yes, this is networking. What you do is, calculate your hourly rate, then figure out how much it costs you to network, then deduct that from your taxes. The IRS loves this. It's not in the tax code. It's sorta like ordering off a secret menu that pays you!

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I think "The Snacklebox" would be a great name for a covert gentleman's club. It could cozy up next to "secret pole dancing studio". Think of the casual business dealings!!

I was too scared to write anything off on my taxes this year. I just logged in as the unemployed spouse. Next year, though. I'm ordering one of everything off the IRS a la carte menu. Thanks for the tip!

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Great (not Good) Luck on the journey Michael. Your writing is fun and mixed in just right with topical, political, and opinion. I never know what I might get when I tune in. I can appreciate how much repetition has sharpened your Newslettter. It is bright and consistent. 90% of life, as they say, is showing up.

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Thank you, Mark! I really appreciate your kind words & I 100% agree that 90% of life is showing up. Not sure how the percentages all shake out, but I'm always glad to see you show up in the comments.

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Hmmm I always thought it was a 3 second rule? You’ve had a whole extra 2 seconds to salvage food your entire life! 🙃

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Think of all the delicious food I’ve salvaged with that extra two seconds. 😁

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If you're thinking of making the ChatGPT things a regularly occuring segment, may I suggest the name "Hypothetical Picnic"?

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I like the suggestion, Andrew, thanks! Still not sure how long I’m gonna run with the AI stuff. I find it funny and fascinating and for now it seems like AI is on trend, but the thing about bright shiny objects is that they just keep coming.

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I like the out sourcing your input/ideas. It's good to have folks on the look out for material. Can't be omni-present or omniscient unless that NDA is a bigger bombshell than you let on.

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haha you "substacker" pros are ALL about the $

(not that theres Anything Wrong with that lol)

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if i'm all about the money, i've really been dropping the ball my entire life.

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good man if i could i'd subsidiSe the ENTIRE lot of you but i hit the wall with the 4 paid subs i got now and $500 a month s.s. but yay for being an ornery a.f. self employed right?

keep on keepin on yup

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From what I see on your profile you make good choices with your money. Especially Kareem.

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So much good here. First and foremost, wishing you a solid Q2.

Speaking of, please refrain from further besmirchment of my brother from another’s druthers, Jeff beztos. My blood simple so to speak. He’s frail. And Q2s are notoriously hard for him (“how long till cyber Monday,” he wails)

Listening to TMBG. What album do I start w? I listened as a kid but it was just the songs I downloaded on Kazaa

Congrats on this update to your paid offering. Everyone should pay for this, including me. I think I’m paid already but if not I’ll go paid NOW

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I knew you were a Druther Brother, Alex. I just knew it.

Downloading TMBG on Kazaa is the most millennial sentence I've ever read. Truth be told, I don't know where to start with that band. But I do enjoy TMBG radio on Spotify. Any TMBG fans in the situation normie community that can help a Druther Brother out?

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Mar 22, 2023Liked by Michael Estrin

I do frequently play that song and appreciate learning what the outlet is a metaphorical representation of. Having ChatGPT explain song lyrics to you may be its best use yet!

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I like playing around with song lyrics because the text is all there for ChatGTP to access, plus there's plenty of music criticism to augment its knowledge base. But at the end of the day, song lyrics are poetry, and poems move with an emotional logic that seems like it'll always be just outside the AI's grasp.

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honestly stuff like "did elon musk buy the internet and accidentally unplug it" is the one bit of dna one could clone your brain from....its a smart knowing funny one

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If I'm getting cloned, I'm talking to my lawyer first. There's gotta be some way to charge a licensing fee, right?

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lol i was born in 1956 nuff said

dad was a marine and a teacher/coach

ya u got tha vibe

tell the girls im 40 tho

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