When USSR was crumbling, factories were also paying workers in products they manufactured.
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@rysiek tempted to riff on this for a video
they've tried so hard to turn AI tokens into a commodity - tokens (AI) in the manner of tokens (crypto)
even tho tokens are incommensurable between models
@davidgerard please go right ahead!
Every AI company wants to have their own private monopoly money they themselves issue.
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RE: https://mas.to/@trendsbot/116211553284922724
When USSR was crumbling, factories were also paying workers in products they manufactured.
This is AI bubble companies trying to print own money. Printing your own money only works if you find a way to make it necessary. That's what taxes do, for example (recommended reading: David Graeber's "Debt").
Here:
"printing money" part is paying employees in tokens "taxes" part is requiring employees to use AI in their day to day work (thus making tokens necessary)
@rysiek Connect this with the idea of startup cities and we get banana republics all over again. Crazy times.
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@davidgerard please go right ahead!
Every AI company wants to have their own private monopoly money they themselves issue.
@rysiek you'd almost think sam altman was some sorta crypto guy
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@rysiek you'd almost think sam altman was some sorta crypto guy
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RE: https://mas.to/@trendsbot/116211553284922724
When USSR was crumbling, factories were also paying workers in products they manufactured.
This is AI bubble companies trying to print own money. Printing your own money only works if you find a way to make it necessary. That's what taxes do, for example (recommended reading: David Graeber's "Debt").
Here:
"printing money" part is paying employees in tokens "taxes" part is requiring employees to use AI in their day to day work (thus making tokens necessary) @rysiek This is like paying TV evangelists in prayers.
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RE: https://mas.to/@trendsbot/116211553284922724
When USSR was crumbling, factories were also paying workers in products they manufactured.
This is AI bubble companies trying to print own money. Printing your own money only works if you find a way to make it necessary. That's what taxes do, for example (recommended reading: David Graeber's "Debt").
Here:
"printing money" part is paying employees in tokens "taxes" part is requiring employees to use AI in their day to day work (thus making tokens necessary) @rysiek It's not that. It's much more sinister. They want to pay you in tokens AND expect you to use them for the work they pay you for. Therefore, part of your payment is required for you to work.
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If employees are paid in tokens that means employees are *paying* for tokens out of their own pockets.
No different than mining company town folks having to buy (or rent!) boots and work clothing from the company that employs them. At "special" rates, no doubt.
By the way this should tell you all you need to know what class "white collar" vibe coders and broader IT folks are.
Hint: no, you're not running the company town, you're renting your tools from your factory owner.
@rysiek Can you pay the bills with LLM tokens? -
@rysiek you'd almost think sam altman was some sorta crypto guy
@davidgerard Apropos of nothing. How is Worldcoin doing?
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@davidgerard please go right ahead!
Every AI company wants to have their own private monopoly money they themselves issue.
@rysiek @davidgerard Most of them have people involved who were in Crypto so it's not surprising, or ties to Elon and Thiel who dreamed of controlling the money supply back in the 90s. We're going to see them all take another crack at making ICOs a thing soon, I'm sure.
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RE: https://mas.to/@trendsbot/116211553284922724
When USSR was crumbling, factories were also paying workers in products they manufactured.
This is AI bubble companies trying to print own money. Printing your own money only works if you find a way to make it necessary. That's what taxes do, for example (recommended reading: David Graeber's "Debt").
Here:
"printing money" part is paying employees in tokens "taxes" part is requiring employees to use AI in their day to day work (thus making tokens necessary) Cryptocurrency and AI compute share the same goals; fobbing a fraud onto the gullible .
They're both fool's gold.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/07/the-guardian-view-on-cryptocurrencies-a-greater-fools-gold
Fool’s gold: Trump’s crypto scam – a U.S. trademark
By António Santos The author often covers developments in the U.S. for Avante, the weekly newspaper of the Portuguese Communist Party, this one from the May 29 issue. Translation: John Catalinotto. The U.S. is the most advanced and developed capitalist country in the world: historically sp
Workers World (www.workers.org)
Senior economics professor says Bitcoin is ‘fool’s gold’
A senior economics professor has said market performance reinforces his view that Bitcoin is ‘fool’s gold’ rather than a store of value.
Finbold (finbold.com)
Peter Schiff Argues Bitcoin Is 'Fool's Gold,' Not the Real Thing
Peter Schiff discusses the contrast between gold and bitcoin after a recent Federal Reserve rate cut. Learn more about his views.
Bitcoin News (news.bitcoin.com)
Company scrip as employee wages was outlawed nearly a century ago and for good reasons.
https://medium.com/financial-times/cryptocurrency-salaries-are-a-bad-flashback-to-company-scrip-392f4160bbdaIt often was disguised debt.
Coal company scrip paid to miners often left them deep in debt - ADP ReThink Q
The tokens paid in lieu of cash were abundant in remote areas of the U.S. until the mid-20th century, explains history professor Lou Martin.
ADP ReThink Q (rethinkq.adp.com)
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@rysiek It's not that. It's much more sinister. They want to pay you in tokens AND expect you to use them for the work they pay you for. Therefore, part of your payment is required for you to work.
@mms I get into that a bit later in the thread
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If employees are paid in tokens that means employees are *paying* for tokens out of their own pockets.
No different than mining company town folks having to buy (or rent!) boots and work clothing from the company that employs them. At "special" rates, no doubt.
By the way this should tell you all you need to know what class "white collar" vibe coders and broader IT folks are.
Hint: no, you're not running the company town, you're renting your tools from your factory owner.
The only man who made money in the gold rush was the one who sold clothes and pickaxes.
Serfs, the lot of us.
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R relay@relay.publicsquare.global shared this topic
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@rysiek currently tracking down Altman touting this idea of tokens as money in 2024 and again in 2025 on podcasts, lotta excerpts
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If employees are paid in tokens that means employees are *paying* for tokens out of their own pockets.
No different than mining company town folks having to buy (or rent!) boots and work clothing from the company that employs them. At "special" rates, no doubt.
By the way this should tell you all you need to know what class "white collar" vibe coders and broader IT folks are.
Hint: no, you're not running the company town, you're renting your tools from your factory owner.
@rysiek I am constantly thrown off by the "journalism" around the subject.
I can't remember if I have ever read about a "success AI story" that is not narrated by openAI or Anthropic. -
RE: https://mas.to/@trendsbot/116211553284922724
When USSR was crumbling, factories were also paying workers in products they manufactured.
This is AI bubble companies trying to print own money. Printing your own money only works if you find a way to make it necessary. That's what taxes do, for example (recommended reading: David Graeber's "Debt").
Here:
"printing money" part is paying employees in tokens "taxes" part is requiring employees to use AI in their day to day work (thus making tokens necessary) @rysiek Did Disney ever pay it's staff in Disney Dollars? Wouldn't surprise me. If they didn't then there's probably a law against it, only reason I could think might work. Or unions.
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@rysiek currently tracking down Altman touting this idea of tokens as money in 2024 and again in 2025 on podcasts, lotta excerpts
@davidgerard oh good. Looking forward to reading about it!
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@montar @rysiek ...you must not be from that region and that time.
We even had jokes about stuff we bought and then had to actually make it work.
One was about USA stealing the plans for a rocket, and building truck / train engine / whatever out of it. And then somebody from the USSR would go "oh, you just have to hammer it in shape!". -
@rysiek Can you pay the bills with LLM tokens?
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@montar @rysiek ...you must not be from that region and that time.
We even had jokes about stuff we bought and then had to actually make it work.
One was about USA stealing the plans for a rocket, and building truck / train engine / whatever out of it. And then somebody from the USSR would go "oh, you just have to hammer it in shape!".Q: What is it: does not glow and does not fit in one's arse?
A: Soviet device to glow inside an arse.But I think @montar's point was more about how stuff produced in those factories was at least ostensibly useful.
As in: a washing machine is a useful thing in general, even if a particular washing machine happens to be broken.
Which is not really the case with "AI" tokens.
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RE: https://mas.to/@trendsbot/116211553284922724
When USSR was crumbling, factories were also paying workers in products they manufactured.
This is AI bubble companies trying to print own money. Printing your own money only works if you find a way to make it necessary. That's what taxes do, for example (recommended reading: David Graeber's "Debt").
Here:
"printing money" part is paying employees in tokens "taxes" part is requiring employees to use AI in their day to day work (thus making tokens necessary) @rysiek aside from the whole "maybe your product sucks if you have to force the employees that make it possible to use it" thing, company town behaviour is also maybe not the best sign of a healthy company or economy
