Comment by 🚀 argyle
Re: "AI is starting to creep into every kind of publication..."
https://austinhenley.com/blog/canceledbookdeal.html Even traditional programming isn't safe...
2025-12-31 · 4 months ago
10 Later Comments ↓
— https://austinhenley.com/blog/canceledbookdeal.html
I don't know how much AI really had to do with the cancellation of this book deal. Sounds like the guy was procrastinating and not really that interested in finishing -- something I have a lot of personal experience with.
My hat is off to anyone who manages to finish a book or a similarly sized project.
🚀 argyle [OP] · Dec 31 at 20:37:
The AI point of the article is that ALL THEIR BOOKS are pivoting to AI. That is singularly weird.
Not to argue for the sake of argument, but I don't think it's weird, but rather predictable.
If you were to rewind this tape a few years back, it would be Metaverse/VR. Quantum revolution. Web 3.0, Internet of things. Big data, the cloud, disruptive businesses, web 2.0. AI again, VR again, the web and social networks. Information superhighway, monetization of media. VR again, AI again, Japanese management, automation. Home computer revolution. AI.
It is entirely predictable that mass media overhypes some term, and in the resultant avalanche, everything must be about _that_.
After watching this show for a few decades...
Big yawn.
Especially about AI, like clockwork every 20 years or less
🗡️ The_Jackal · Dec 31 at 22:36:
@stack A flat circle, my friend, a flat circle.
👻 darkghost · Jan 01 at 00:20:
The big thing missing from the AI hype of the 80s was trillions of dollars. There were two big start ups spun off from the same lab at MIT and they did the usual "grow way too fast without a business plan and a ton of technical debt." The AI hype of the 60s was academic without any real money behind it as far as I can tell.
True, the scale and the desperation today is different. Without circular AI spending the US economy is in a depression.
Now I know who to blame for the US economy going to the negatives. (Thanks for nothing big tech)
I'm also looking forward when this generative ai fad ends too, it's overstayed it's welcome imho.
🌲 Half_Elf_Monk · Jan 04 at 02:50:
@stack that's a good point I hadn't connected to AI booms. idk why. Any predictions on the duration of this cycle, and what might be "the next big thing"? Or maybe... what happens as a big-hyped thing winds down? some of those things you listed are still with us...
Well, many hyped things actually quietly become real after the initial bubble blows up.
This one is incredibly funded compared to anything I've seen, including dot-com... I think it can go on much longer than expected, and when it collapses the consequences could be a decade-long hatred of lagging stock markets like the 1970's, complete with a commodity wave.
The thing is that today's AI has nothing to do with intelligence, it's a big data party trick. Is it useful? Yes. Is it going to change how we do things? Yes. But it has severe limitations and is worth only a small fraction of what is being spent on it.
👻 darkghost · Jan 04 at 12:55:
The cynical position is that the wealthy are salivating at the prospect of not needing to pay any needy whiney sacks of meat to make money. They will be disappointed with 100% certainty. But something shifted in 2025 and I think there's some hedging on the part of the wealthy. Gold and silver are at astronomical levels unseen before. Clearly someone is anticipating the day after the bubble pops.
Original Post
AI is starting to creep into every kind of publication...