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  • dataramadatarama@hachyderm.io
    Oct 15, 2026, 7:18 PM

    @glyph @dalias Now, humans are not tools and are not made for any particular purpose, so "useless" and "useful" are not really terms that make sense to apply to people. And much as I struggle with the now-near-constant intrusive thought of viewing myself as "soon useless" because LLMs are being deployed to do things that used to be meaningful parts of my work, it is not a term I would ever apply to anyone else. So obviously there's some cognitive and emotional distortion going on here, for reasons that are probably as much personal as anything else.

    But I do think the wish to be "useful" - in the sense of providing some kind of contribution to the well-being of the community, however small - is something that sticks deeper than culture - and therefore, also deeper than the constructs of wage labour and productivity.

    Personally, aside from *seriously* not liking the thought of no longer being able to meaningfully contribute - regardless of whether I was economically comfortable on an adequate UBI - I find a very strong motivation in doing a job well. I enjoy writing good code, I take a craftsman's pride in it. This is another reason why LLMs feel like a straight-up insult - and why I was already extremely frustrated with my trade before they showed up, because the entire incentive structure has long been arrayed against the struggle for quality.

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  • Jennifer Moore 😷unchartedworlds@scicomm.xyz
    Oct 16, 2026, 11:11 AM

    @datarama

    Interesting topic, thanks. Yeah, I too have the feeling it's "deeper than culture".

    My intuition, and I could be wrong, is that the wish to make a difference in the world is intrinsic to humans. I feel like quite a lot of vandalism (when not done for reasons of politics or resentment) is actually this impulse combined with "having nothing better to do".

    I'm not saying humans can't _ever_ enjoy feeling they can't have any effect on the world, because I think that can feel good as a temporary holiday, especially if you're over-functioning the rest of the time. Like if your only "time off" is when you physically can't do anything! But most people would find it highly unsatisfactory as a long-term state.

    I think for most people it's also a preference for the results to be helpful to other humans (or other entities), and the big variable is the scope of which humans. Most people doing killing and hurting have it put together in their heads that they're helping _their_ lot.

    I think there _can_ be people whose group is only themself. I'm not sure whether that's always from childhood abuse/neglect or whether some is genetic.

    Of course there is also a lot of culture involved around this territory: things like _what_ is considered useful at different times and places, how children are raised in relation to their own autonomy, whether it's considered important for everyone to have a role where they _can_ contribute, etc.

    @glyph @dalias

    #HumanNature

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