2026-08-24
I finally read this article about “Maximalism” that I’ve had in my bookmarks. I largely agree with it, the approach a lot of linux users/suckless fans/“digital minimalists” take to tech isn’t really “minimalist” in the traditional sense. Arguably someone who uses a web browser for everything, and has all their data in Apple or Google’s ecosystem is being more “minimalist” as they use a smaller set of tools and services.
The point about using old tech is good as well. I’ve been using a 4th gen i3 PC for the last 2 months, I still have a 4th gen Kindle that works fine, and I use an iPhone 8. I also use a Raspberry Pi as a media server and a old office desktop as a TV PC. It would technically be more “minimalist” to buy an iPhone 17 and MacBook and just use that, but it’s less deliberate and gives you less control over your setup.
I really have mixed feelings on AI. Recently internet science guy Hank Green got into some drama over apparent AI use for research. I thought the reaction was a bit overblown, assuming he’s telling the truth and the AI use was just to find sources etc, I would view that the same as someone using Wikipedia or just Google. I understand where the backlash comes from though as there is so much AI content on YouTube that is total slop.
Also I read Luke Smith’s new article about AI and while I think he’s a bit overly concerned about “The Narrative” (which I understand, he’s just a lot more institution-sceptic than I am), he does make valid points. His point about search engines being useless is true now as it was 3 years ago. I suffix basically every search with “reddit” or “stackoverflow”, in a desperate attempt to find something written by a human, something written for the sake of answering a question, not for the sake of SEO optimisation and ad revenue.
I’ve started adding “before:2022” to YouTube searches as a way to filter out AI videos. There is so much content on YouTube that you should be able to find something good released prior to the AI explosion. I’m also using RSS feeds exclusively now for subscriptions. I have around 50 channels (gaming, music shows, horror-tubers, science etc) in my RSS feed, so I see every new video they make.
I have noticed the uncanny feeling from social media as well. Reddit is the only social media site I regularly use and I often see comments or even whole posts that sound like they are generated by an LLM. It’s possible some people just type like LLMs I suppose, and maybe I only notice it now I’m looking for it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a significant number of people literally just offload the act of replying to a comment to an LLM. We’ve seen this with content creators as well. There was a young conservative Daily Wire guy who was using AI for everything, and there have been more examples of this I’ve seen.
Regarding The Narrative ™ point, it’s true that AI is just going to regurgitate whatever the mainstream press/Wikipedia/academic institutions say. I would argue that’s okay as those things are generally true (meaning, indexing your opinions to those things is probably the most reliable way to be correct, second to actually doing proper research into everything). Those institutions are wrong sometimes, but I would challenge anyone to name a set of institutions who are correct a higher percentage of the time. If you are going to built a technology which just regurgitates secondary sources then Wikipedia, academic papers and MSM articles are probably the least flawed set of inputs to that system.
The point about people relying on AI too much will obviously vary per-person, but it did make me stop and think about if I’m too reliant on it. I mainly use AI for tech-support stuff, Linux configuration etc. I always try to Google for stuff before asking an AI, but I likely don’t search as much as I would otherwise. I also never ask for help on forums anymore, I suppose I considered it a bit rude to both other people with a question an LLM might be able to solve. I’m going to change this. For a month I want to try having an “AI day” in the week, so that I can only use AI on say a Friday evening. That was I have more incentive to search for answers or ask other people, and if I get really stuck it will just have to wait until next Friday evening.
Also the Vuelta was interesting today wasn’t it? Glad Pog took the initiative to shut it down
Also W Matthew Brennan