The mental toll of deliberately not joining the party, not joining the fun, is high. It's stressful. Sleepless nights. Worries about your future. It would be so much easier to not give a damn about all the consequences.
But we do give a damn.
So, while we wait for the bubble to burst, let's instead have our own party.
Welcome to:
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The Naysayers Club is a loosely organised group of people making a living from working with computers in various ways, who did not drink the Kool-Aid and jumped on the "AI" hype train. We are those that big brain "AI" evangelists for several years now have predicted will very soon be "left behind in the dust".
The Naysayers Club is a place for people not excited about "AI" to find like-minded friends in an alienating world that often makes them feel very alone with their beliefs and gut feelings about "AI".
You are not alone.
The Naysayers Club is a place to share experiences, ideas, fears, tactics. It's where you ask for advice when external factors try to impose the use of "AI" on your daily work, or expose you to "AI" in other unwelcome and undesired ways, while all you want is just to do your damn job in a meaningful way.
The Naysayers Club can be a shoulder to cry on. But it's also a counter-party for the people who decided not to redeem the voucher giving access to the hype fueled slop party orchestrated by big tech surveillance capitalism and soulless disrupters backed by a suspiciously endless amount of money.
The Naysayers Club is where we organise and plan another future than the one we're constantly told is inevitable.
Naysayers are people.
Naysayers write code to express themselves.
Naysayers understand that code is not just instructions for a computer, but also – and more importantly – an onging, ever evolving conversation with people working on the same codebase. Even when that conversation is with yourself only.
Naysayers are IT workers who in their hearts feel that what they do is an artisanal craft.
Naysayers do not find any joy in letting a computer take over the creative part of their work. Naysayers do not find joy in the supposedly creative process that replaces writing code: Having conversations with computers.
Naysayers see the value in code not written.
Naysayers are not opposed to new tools.
Naysayers think about the consequences and hidden costs of the tools they use.
Naysayers are in favor of diversity in tools and in favor of different people using different tools.
Naysayers expect others to respect their choice of tools like they themselves respect other people's right to choose for themselves.
Naysayers are waiting out the storm. Some of them have lived through blockchain, VR and other so called inevitable technology that were supposed to completely change the world and the way the Naysayers work, but never fulfilled the promise. Naysayers believe that the "AI" hype is just another tech fad, as we've seen them come and go through decades.
Naysayers have doubts about their beliefs. They know that it's a natural part of being human.
With Big Slop weaponising our code against us, members of The Naysayers Club increasingly consider following the ancient advice from Wargames:
A strange game. The only winning move is not to play.
Do you know of great nay that has been said but not found on the list below? Let us know via e-mail or in the in the Fediverse.
