What We Misunderstand About Pre-Industrial Craftsmanship by Vic Tesolin
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What We Misunderstand About Pre-Industrial Craftsmanship by Vic Tesolin
https://victesolin.substack.com/p/what-we-misunderstand-about-pre-industrial
"Craft has always been about problem solving. Tools are just solutions with handles"
"The problem starts when personal preference gets dressed up as moral superiority"
From a woodworker
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What We Misunderstand About Pre-Industrial Craftsmanship by Vic Tesolin
https://victesolin.substack.com/p/what-we-misunderstand-about-pre-industrial
"Craft has always been about problem solving. Tools are just solutions with handles"
"The problem starts when personal preference gets dressed up as moral superiority"
From a woodworker
The basis of comparison matters though
AI for example is used to devalue human expertise. Wage suppression is part of it, but also valuation & performance
We used to be compared to other people with the better education, connections, people skills, personality, sexual attraction, wealth etc
Now, on top of that humans are being compared & evaluated based on a machine or algorithm
Something that works 24×7 without food, water, sleep, distractions, boredom, or human contact
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The basis of comparison matters though
AI for example is used to devalue human expertise. Wage suppression is part of it, but also valuation & performance
We used to be compared to other people with the better education, connections, people skills, personality, sexual attraction, wealth etc
Now, on top of that humans are being compared & evaluated based on a machine or algorithm
Something that works 24×7 without food, water, sleep, distractions, boredom, or human contact
@Npars01 Yeah I agree, what do you think is the solution forward if AI is here to stay and it becomes ubiquitous
What do you think should be that small unit of practice one can repeat daily to get better at even with AI use, that will always hold value and amplify our expertise rather than decrease it
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@Npars01 Yeah I agree, what do you think is the solution forward if AI is here to stay and it becomes ubiquitous
What do you think should be that small unit of practice one can repeat daily to get better at even with AI use, that will always hold value and amplify our expertise rather than decrease it
AI is like a crutch you get addicted to using, long after the broken leg is healed
Something that weakens, never strengthens
AI is built on stolen intellectual property, it can never be better than its origins. It can't create original work, only copy other's work
As #pluralistic describes it, it's spicy autocomplete
Overreliance on such tools means people forget how to spell on their own. They make obvious grammatical errors because they're not really doing the writing
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AI is like a crutch you get addicted to using, long after the broken leg is healed
Something that weakens, never strengthens
AI is built on stolen intellectual property, it can never be better than its origins. It can't create original work, only copy other's work
As #pluralistic describes it, it's spicy autocomplete
Overreliance on such tools means people forget how to spell on their own. They make obvious grammatical errors because they're not really doing the writing
@Npars01 Sure, so what can be done about it? Assume the technology is here to stay, and its use becomes ubiquitous even in job tasks, workflows and duties to get paid how should one adapt to its use?
Its a crutch, spicy autocomplete, its bad yes, it weakens us, atrophies our cognitive abilities okay and yet its forced upon us so we have to figure out a way to use it that doesn't weaken but strengthen us.
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@Npars01 Sure, so what can be done about it? Assume the technology is here to stay, and its use becomes ubiquitous even in job tasks, workflows and duties to get paid how should one adapt to its use?
Its a crutch, spicy autocomplete, its bad yes, it weakens us, atrophies our cognitive abilities okay and yet its forced upon us so we have to figure out a way to use it that doesn't weaken but strengthen us.
@Npars01 basically no point in crying over spilled milk
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@Npars01 basically no point in crying over spilled milk
My prediction?
The fossil fuel cash funding AI will dry up.
OPEC & Russia will have laundered sufficient money through Silicon Valley.
The flight of capital will move on to something real like automated warfare or state surveillance platforms with guaranteed government contracts & a constant cash flow. It'll make AI too expensive.The data centers won't get built because the speculators will move elsewhere.
Bosses will abandon AI implementation because the ROI is too poor.
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My prediction?
The fossil fuel cash funding AI will dry up.
OPEC & Russia will have laundered sufficient money through Silicon Valley.
The flight of capital will move on to something real like automated warfare or state surveillance platforms with guaranteed government contracts & a constant cash flow. It'll make AI too expensive.The data centers won't get built because the speculators will move elsewhere.
Bosses will abandon AI implementation because the ROI is too poor.
@Npars01 My prediction?
Enterprises will figure out a way to make it as small in scope and deterministic as possible to protect margins, equivalent to sprinkling salt or seasoning on an almost cooked dish.
They will figure out a way to make token usage more efficient, Tokens saved would be the new KPI
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@Npars01 My prediction?
Enterprises will figure out a way to make it as small in scope and deterministic as possible to protect margins, equivalent to sprinkling salt or seasoning on an almost cooked dish.
They will figure out a way to make token usage more efficient, Tokens saved would be the new KPI
@Npars01 So for example reusing existing prompts that are tested for cost and reliability, middleware solutions that help you make your prompts precise and thinking explicit, for example a friend is making a tool that elicits designers to think of the structure (IA) of the application, so that all the thinking is done by them before hand and then it outputs a prompt
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@Npars01 Yeah I agree, what do you think is the solution forward if AI is here to stay and it becomes ubiquitous
What do you think should be that small unit of practice one can repeat daily to get better at even with AI use, that will always hold value and amplify our expertise rather than decrease it
@impactology @Npars01 Kindness to other people. Everybody needs to practice this and it is something AI will never understand.
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@impactology @Npars01 Kindness to other people. Everybody needs to practice this and it is something AI will never understand.
Agreed! GenZ especially needs to learn this, very foul mouthed they are becoming
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Agreed! GenZ especially needs to learn this, very foul mouthed they are becoming
AI has found a few niches.
1. Stock market manipulation
"Markets are full of predatory trading algorithms. They’ve evolved to hunt in packs." William Gibson
2. Election meddling
3. Automated disinformation
4. Union busting
5. Malign influence campaigns
6. Jailbreaking IP
7. Surveillance capitalism
8. Price fixing & rent fixing
9. Monopolization -
My prediction?
The fossil fuel cash funding AI will dry up.
OPEC & Russia will have laundered sufficient money through Silicon Valley.
The flight of capital will move on to something real like automated warfare or state surveillance platforms with guaranteed government contracts & a constant cash flow. It'll make AI too expensive.The data centers won't get built because the speculators will move elsewhere.
Bosses will abandon AI implementation because the ROI is too poor.
@Npars01 agree with this. Its primary use will be the imposition of surveillance and oppression, which will be much in demand as the reality of a future with less affordable energy and resources bites down on distracted polities. At some point though that falls over too as the supply chains for it become impossible to sustain.
So it is most definitely not “here to stay”, along with much of modernity
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AI has found a few niches.
1. Stock market manipulation
"Markets are full of predatory trading algorithms. They’ve evolved to hunt in packs." William Gibson
2. Election meddling
3. Automated disinformation
4. Union busting
5. Malign influence campaigns
6. Jailbreaking IP
7. Surveillance capitalism
8. Price fixing & rent fixing
9. MonopolizationFor businesses its really simple to judge its value : if it saves more money than it costs to use it, otherwise dump it
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@Npars01 agree with this. Its primary use will be the imposition of surveillance and oppression, which will be much in demand as the reality of a future with less affordable energy and resources bites down on distracted polities. At some point though that falls over too as the supply chains for it become impossible to sustain.
So it is most definitely not “here to stay”, along with much of modernity
Its here to stay as long as VCs are okay with burning their cash on it, seems like they have a lot to be okay with running on loss making AI products
https://www.a16z.news/p/we-raised-15b-why
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/07/anthropic-funding-term-sheet-valuation.html
They have a comfortable runway to change workplace habits, practices and hiring for the next five years.
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Its here to stay as long as VCs are okay with burning their cash on it, seems like they have a lot to be okay with running on loss making AI products
https://www.a16z.news/p/we-raised-15b-why
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/07/anthropic-funding-term-sheet-valuation.html
They have a comfortable runway to change workplace habits, practices and hiring for the next five years.
@impactology capital evaporated in 2008. It will do so again
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AI has found a few niches.
1. Stock market manipulation
"Markets are full of predatory trading algorithms. They’ve evolved to hunt in packs." William Gibson
2. Election meddling
3. Automated disinformation
4. Union busting
5. Malign influence campaigns
6. Jailbreaking IP
7. Surveillance capitalism
8. Price fixing & rent fixing
9. Monopolization@Npars01 @impactology Automated trading on various markets makes use of AI. I learned a bit about this when I had consulted for a major investment house on their AI tech. They told me 11% of all trades were automatic. It is very complicated to explain how it worked, but it was extremely alarming to me because there were no effective guardrails to prevent emergent escalation effects and market collapse. This was over 10 years ago so maybe it is safer, but I don’t think so.
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@impactology capital evaporated in 2008. It will do so again
@urlyman @Npars01 By then the damage will be done, people can't stop their lives and wait for that. You have to live and adapt
Already recruiters and hiring mangers are clueless on evaluating skills, its going to get even worse when they insist on evaluating AI tool use. Ones who already are senior level don't have to worry because they already have a track record and prestige, ones that are entering the field now are scrambling
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For businesses its really simple to judge its value : if it saves more money than it costs to use it, otherwise dump it
@impactology @Npars01 There are some domains where decision-making requires processing massive amounts of data and/or require decisions in fractions of a second. People cannot handle this work, they can’t even be in the loop. These are the problem domains most suited to AI-based automation. The value depends a lot on what the problem is that AI is solving. There is no question AI is delivering value well above its cost. That means it will be adopted more and more widely. No doubt in my mind.
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@urlyman @Npars01 By then the damage will be done, people can't stop their lives and wait for that. You have to live and adapt
Already recruiters and hiring mangers are clueless on evaluating skills, its going to get even worse when they insist on evaluating AI tool use. Ones who already are senior level don't have to worry because they already have a track record and prestige, ones that are entering the field now are scrambling
@impactology I’m lucky in that I don’t because I’m in my 60s. My generation and the one after me is pumping a huge river of shit on young people. I hope they find ways to stay out of its strongest currents, because submitting to them will wash them away
