a day ago
Author here.
I like Doctorow a lot, and I always read his stuff.
I think his assessment is pretty good. I think the issue is how he is perceiving it and therefore what he is recommending to do about it.
It all hinges on him thinking AI is basically an autocomplete fad that will blow over and require companies to hire all the people back.
And he's just wrong about that. And because he's wrong about that, the rest of his advice is worse than unhelpful.
a day ago
a day ago
misguided = unreasonable or unsuitable because of being based on bad judgment or on wrong information or beliefs:
absolutely not!
from what I have read of his work, he seems very capable, competent and knows what he is talking about.
He has a huge Curriculum vitae of working in the tech industry.
he is qualified enough to offer opinions.
European Affairs Coordinator for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) for four years, helping to establish the Open Rights Group, before leaving the EFF to pursue writing full-time in January 2006; Doctorow remained a Fellow of the EFF for some time after his departure from the EFF Staff.
He was named the 2006–2007 Canadian Fulbright Chair for Public Diplomacy at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy, sponsored jointly by the Royal Fulbright Commission, the Integrated Media Systems Center, and the University of Southern California (USC) Center on Public Diplomacy. The professorship included a one-year writing and teaching residency at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, United States.
He then returned to London, but remained a frequent public speaker on copyright issues.
a day ago
If you read the original post, the author actually gives the sort of credit to Doctorow that you're providing here, and says it is precisely because he is so well-liked (justifiably) that it's important for him to offer better prescriptions to his followers. I myself am a huge Doctorow fan but agree with the linked author's claim that "AI isn't going away" in the way Doctorow and other public thinkers making similar claim have been saying. Their words ultimately come from a good place, but what to do about it will likely be different than what's recommended so far.