Why I don't want to be in a WhatsApp group with boomers
Almost everyone I know is in at least a couple of group chats on messaging apps. Here in Europe, WhatsApp (by Meta) is still the most popular choice to run a group chat. My second orchestra also put every member in a WhatsApp group, but unlike my main orchestra, they didn't set the group to "only admins can send messages". Sadly for me, the orchestra mainly consists of boomers and oh boy, did I find that out last weekend.
I thought the group was for things that mattered for the orchestra, but some boomer decided to drop an AI generated meme video on there. It filled me with such rage!
Even more rage inducing, other boomers starting reacting positively to this shared video. One message down, someone even shared the original post, and it was indeed from Facebook, aka AI Slop Town for Boomers.
This is why I don't want to share an online space with boomers. They are such gullible idiots when it comes to stuff on the internet.
I debated speaking up in the group app and asking to please not share this sort of thing, but I can 100% tell you that the response would have been something among the lines of "it's just harmless fun".
It makes me want to scream. All this is NOT harmless fun.
The irony of it all is right there! Why would we, as an orchestra, even make music if a machine can do it for us? Silly humans making art!
But yeah, why is "AI" used primarily to make horrible "art" and "music" and "books"; endeavours that should be human only?
Oh, I know why. Because it makes some asshole's money.
404media described it better than I ever can:
Jason Koebler
Since most people seem to have the critical thinking ability of a potato, boomers and similarly gullible people gobble this AI crap up and share it in group chats such as the one I am in.
Soon, the entire internet, save for a couple of AI- and algorithm free conclaves (personal websites, Mastodon), will be entirely filled with engagement farming crap. And many people fall for it. Even if you comment that you "hate it", you're still feeding the beast.
I already don't browse Instagram Reels any more. There's no point. I don't have Facebook. I don't use TikTok. I only read articles via my RSS feeds, and I follow people on Mastodon. May I suggest you do the same and carefully curate where you spend your time on the internet?
RIP the Internet as we, millennials, have known it. You were great while you lasted, until the big tech companies came along and fucked everything up with SEO and ads. "AI" is just the thing that finally tips the balance over to "most of the internet is unusable", but all this bullshit was in the making for years.
If you send me an AI generated image or video, you're dead to me. Yes, I'm really that angry that this is where the world is heading. We, humanity, could have been so much more. But look where we are: misinformation engagement hell. Fuck all of it.
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