One huge point

The latest article by Charles Hugh Smith makes one HUGE point that I haven’t heard before. It resonates deeply.

The one huge point:

AI is winning because the people in charge of making decisions NO LONGER HAVE A QUALITY HUMAN PRODUCT TO COMPARE WITH. The deciders don’t know how shitty the new offshored or AI’d product is, because they have no experience of superior services and products.

I hadn’t thought of this before. It explains a whole bunch of frustrating discussions between generations. Younger folks simply can’t believe and won’t believe that a man with an ordinary 8-5 job could support a wife and kids, with enough spare time and money to travel and enjoy life. The whole concept is ALIEN to them. They’ve never experienced it.

Younger folks don’t realize their abundant QUANTITY of material goods is crap, because they’ve never experienced a smaller QUANTITY of higher QUALITY machines and devices.

One hidden aspect of the old high quality is REPLACEABLE AND REPAIRABLE PARTS. Gaining a bit of skill with screwdrivers and hammers was worth the trouble because simple repairs and replacements were possible and productive and legal.

An immediate example: The 1928 inmates described by 52607 were building their own crystal sets and one-tube receivers IN PRISON. They shared learning and shared the pleasant results. There’s ABSOLUTELY NO WAY for one man, no matter how much skill and tools and time he has, to assemble or repair or modify an iPhone. Modern devices absolutely require an infinite superstructure of layered billion-dollar factories in China, and repair is absolutely impossible.