On a more personal note and trying to keep exact circumstances vague and not name any names, but the IT corp I work at just had another wave of layoffs and our team got reduced from 5 to 4 people (and same for a neighbouring team that we are pretty close socially with, and more). Idk how they expect us to get anything done (I mean, I know, they want us to use more AI), especially with how much the mood has tanked. By any metric productivity this week is going to be close to 0% because everyone from affected teams has just mentally checked out.

So uhhhh anyone has any recommendations for what fields I could try to retrain to from IT? Preferably without going through uni again. I’m thinking locksmithing.

Just found this on sneerclub, this seems like a reasonable intro to the subject. Thanks!

Question: anyone has a link to a good primer on the rationalists and especially how that whole environment influences/interacts with the large AI companies like Anthropic?

I need something to bring some ppl I know up to speed on this bc when they ask me “wait, what do you mean when you say that Silicone Valley turned into an AI cult with orgies” I just stare into space overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task ahead of me.

Edit: thanks everyone for responses, I’ll get my friend started with Sex, AI, and the Apocalypse and then point him at rational wiki for any further questions.

Nah, humans are great at pattern-matching, even just being aware that some find 67 funny is enough for you to start spotting it. I started finding some amusement in it just due to exposure from younger coworkers.