The internet does not want readers. It wants livestock

(grumpywelshman.com)

41 points | by toofy 2 days ago ago

17 comments

  • app13 2 days ago ago

    I will be totally honest, it is hard for me to want to engage with content that is clearly written by AI.

  • b3lvedere 18 hours ago ago

    Thanks Gareth.

    Machines and processes like the internet barely want things. People and companies who abuse it want things, which has eventually the same effect on other people and companies.

  • sdicker 2 days ago ago

    Thanks Gareth - we all want and need attention, some more than others. But yes, it would be nice if good manners could be folded in more often.

  • skyberrys 2 days ago ago

    Is Gareth the cat in the picture at the top? Is the cat writing the blog post? I agree with the sentiment of the article but it doesn't have a solution. Everyone has to hustle to make it work.

    • RetroTechie a day ago ago

      Hey, this gave me pause:

      <meta name="description" content="AI Generated. Black cat laptop on kitchen table. Window with view of misty Welsh mountains and Blodwyn the sheep in the background

      So.. AI generated cat? Blodwyn also, or is (s)he a real sheep? But then I stumbled onto this page:

      https://grumpywelshman.com/ancient-welsh-hydration-protocolt...

      Compare the pics. Same-looking window, same view, different table/kitchen.

      So I'd guess the 'sheep' is just a small element of AI-generated pic. With that element looking like a sheep. But why would it be called Blodwyn then? Did it ever exist as a real sheep? Did author know a sheep called Blodwyn @ some point? Was there a real sheep named Blodwyn whose photo wound up in AI model's training data?

      There's a mystery unfolding right there lol...

      ("About" page has some clues though)

  • vivzkestrel 2 days ago ago

    - you are also a part of the problem are you not?

    - you are writing a post on your blog and sharing it on HN?

    - what is your objective? traffic? email? newsletter signups? eventually sell some course to them?

    - it is always easy to point fingers at someone with a bigger budget

    • trkarlb 2 days ago ago

      The horror that an individual dares to have an opinion as opposed to corporations or councils.

      • vivzkestrel a day ago ago

        corporations are made up of individuals

        • Gud 21 hours ago ago

          The “individuals”, though, are reduced to performing a business function within the corporation.

    • popalchemist 2 days ago ago

      The writings of an individual human and the writings of an advertising/propaganda machine come from different places and achieve different results.

      Did you literally never stop to think about that, or are you deliberately shaming individual thought in a bad faith manner?

      • vivzkestrel a day ago ago

        - i am just pointing out the hypocrisy

        - people cry corporations bad all day but what is a corporation?

        - it is made up of individuals

        - funny nobody ever takes individual responsibility for anything but wants corporate responsibility

  • throwaway81523 a day ago ago

    Sadly, this looks like AI slop. Maybe it means the AI's are getting the idea though. Next thing though, is that they will find ways to weaponize it.

  • toofy 2 days ago ago

    found on the always amazing bubbles.town

    gareth sounds like my kind of guy lol.

    • xerox13ster 2 days ago ago

      Yeah I want to meet Gareth. I’m that person in day to day life. I can’t make it a day without going on one of these rants.

  • hash0 2 days ago ago

    "He's not wrong. He's rarely wrong, which is the annoying thing about Gareth."

  • mdrzn 2 days ago ago

    [flagged]