Death of the Internet

LinkedIn is generally a cesspool of corporate speak and sales pitch slaps. It’s also the place a majority of employed people actually voice their opinons outside of watercooler chats, cubicle visits, or intercommunicated cyber babble.

Everyone is on LinkedIn to further their career, gain insight from industry leaders, or find their next gig.

It’s a complicated and often craptacular space to inhabit.

But there’s one thing that probably frustrates me more than anything on the platform – the constant announcements of death of clearly “live” things.

You know the type.

“Rotissiere chicken is dead! We all know slow cooked chicken is the best thing since sliced bread.”

Obviously, it’s easier to say something is dead rather than just admit things are changing. But when the thing that’s dying is still useful, still important, it kind of makes the whole death knell moot, doesn’t it? It’s giving the Boy Who Cried Wolf but for tech or strategy.

And right now, AI is killing everything. Supposedly.

In my opinion though, the only thing AI is truly killing right now is the environment (anyone up for water wars soon?) and peoples willingness to learn the why’s of things they want to automate. AI when used in the hands of experts, and even hobbyists, can generate great results. AI in the hands of neophytes or ham-fisted execs leads to poor results and burnout for everyone around them.

That’s not to say that AI isn’t bringing about some amazing things. It’s solving decades old mathematic conjectures and probably helping scientists solve problems that have plagued their fields.

I guess when its all boiled down to its base, I’m not against AI or tech changing, I’m more against the gurus and too vocal experts saying things dead, dying, or on the cusp of extinction. It’s disengenous and harmful for the people that are more susceptible to outside influence. Experts have to do better with positioning themselves in ways that doesn’t feel like exploitation of their expertise.

Maybe that’s just hopefully thinking in an age where it’s easy to sell smoke and mirrors.