AI Hasn’t Ruined How Humanity Works, But It Has Ruined How Computers Do!
In episode 282 of Heavy Metal Philosophy, Jon Barbas explains how AI is ruining computers using a tape measure as an analogy. Personal Computers are one of the most important pieces of technology ever invented, and AI is ruining the very thing that makes them so useful. What does a tape measure, a map of Africa, and the Matrix have to do with AI and computers? Join the conversation!
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@Gunters_ArtClass
August 5, 2026 at 8:03 pm
I love this channel. Some of the best content on the interwebs. I would like to reccomend two books, not necessarily on AI, but on technology in general and the societal affects. Both books by Johann Hari; "Stolen Focus" and "Lost Connections". Makes you think we may have taken this technology thing a little too far. I found these books from an amazing episode of Soft White Underbelly with a talk with Jared Cooney Horvath, a neuroscientist and educator specializing in human development. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdhuHg1juAs
@nuclear.musicaddict
August 5, 2026 at 8:03 pm
A solution that doesn't work for a problem that doesn't exist. Thank you Jon for explaining it better than I could have. I hate all of this crap. Open source software saves me from a lot of it, but not all.
@tsalagi78
August 5, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Murder face was right! Planet piss
@briankessler3501
August 5, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Don't worry about the future it's coming soon enough.
Not knowing shit about computers (other than logging on to Import CDs and/or Bandcamp for buying cds) and like being blissfully underwhelmed by technology.
Thanks Jon.😂
Edit #1: as a licensed journeyman plumber and know for a fact that the tape measure never lies
@JohnnoBogan
August 5, 2026 at 8:03 pm
All this AI slop is just piss for our eyes before it seeps into our souls. A potentially great tool ruined by greed and power games.
@andyWalks22
August 5, 2026 at 8:03 pm
As someone who works with computers everyday building websites I'm absolutely with you, I do use "AI" (LLMs) as part of my work these days but I would have absolutely no problem with all that disappearing and no longer having "AI".
Not a fan of how these big tech companies are pushing it into everything regardless of whether it's needed or wanted
Good man, keep it up 💪
@Admiral_Bongo
August 5, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Moved to Linux 2 years ago. No regrets, don't wanna touch Windows or MacOS with a 10 foot pole. No AI, proper privacy, full control of my OS.
@demongoat
August 5, 2026 at 8:03 pm
As someone who has been obsessed with the computer since the Apple IIe and the Atari 2600, It's crushed my soul to finally just admit computing is just another enshitified product that does us no actual good anymore.
Computers suck. They are garbage in comparison to what we had 20 years ago, and I don't say that because I'm old but because they actually suck due to the choices by the companies. This is what Capitalism has done to us, made everything that should advance us as a species into a tool to only make money for idiots who don't care about the rest of us.
I don't even care what the new tech coming out is, why bother caring when they have priced us out of the market? Especially when it's AI trash that is only there to steal information and make money off us? Why bother anymore.
The world just feels more insane by the day.
@TheAlderbaran
August 5, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Well informed video Jon! And no, you're not pissed about AI like a lot of us are, you're just scratching your head as to why there are people out there that are literally treating it like a god – and you don't need to read science fiction to see how that will turn out. Also this should have a disclaimer: "don't drink any liquids (specifically beer) and have something to eat. You may be grossed out." Haha
@PilotOfBT7274
August 5, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Not the type of video I was expecting but I mean just based on the title I agree wholeheartedly. No one worse seems to though.
@Shibby27ify
August 5, 2026 at 8:03 pm
I'm into linguistics as hobby. I had chatgpt color code eat letter from some English sentences according to the four main languages of which forms English. (Agnlo Saxon, Old Norse, French and Latin). Chat GPT thought that "the" came from French. Among other errors. How can I trust anythying it poops out and acts like it's truth if it gets THAT wrong!!
@danieldavid7373
August 5, 2026 at 8:03 pm
I now just want a shirt that says “some humans just want to drink piss 🤷♂️.” Lol
@smark667
August 5, 2026 at 8:03 pm
AI is wasted on artistic generation, but in fields like advanced mathematics that are beyond me to even describe and pattern recognition in medicine and diagnosis it's actually way ahead of projections. The people building it are making a bad name for themselves by rushing the paperwork and corrupting local politicians. I also think they have made a mistake by alienating the average tech fan who can't afford to just buy the best kit regardless of inflated cost, because tech fans are usually first adopters for new tech,
@SoloGetHykt
August 5, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Yup. You said it. Their Ego. Would say, social media is what flared everyone’s off.
@TheEnd-c3v
August 5, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Does anyone else think video quality is too good. I am watching this super polished video of this guy and it looks like video game footage, nothing like an old school analog video. Where the video actually looked the people.
@fed666
August 5, 2026 at 8:03 pm
I think the problem is how humans use the technology, not in technology itself… And sorry, but it's really fuck up. It's just a change in the core of society, like the industrial revolution, or every new technology who change the course of history. Who will master this new thing will survive, the order will be swept away. Sadly, we don't learn anything from history…
@letstalkmetal
August 5, 2026 at 8:03 pm
I appreciate your measured take on this subject 🙂
Sorry, couldn't resist.
@Igor.J.Delgado
August 5, 2026 at 8:03 pm
You are spot on. I hate the inherent lack of accuracy and reliability of the so-called AI tech. It used to be that x input would result in y output, and you could trust in that predictability. Nothing before was as accurate and predictable like digital, completely linear processing, bit-by-bit identical replication of media, and so on. And now you are force-fed hallucinations every time you do a web search 🙄I remember hearing a song a while ago, and googling it by writing the lyrics I could remember. The first result (the AI summary) was a made-up song from a made-up record by a real, famous band, that of course wasn't even the band that plays the song I heard.
@YouTubdotCub
August 5, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Could not agree more, I'm a programmer and I don't know that I know any other programmers in the trenches at this point who want anything to do with neural net/LLM garbage. There's minor ways it can be useful in SOME tasks and workflows, but nothing that justifies the rest of the shitpile that everyone has to deal with, would gladly sacrifice all those minor use-cases to be rid of the majority of it. And we probably wouldn't have to! If there were proper regulations and STIFF penalties for some of the more egregious b.s. that's just normalized and accepted now that ought to be illegal or REALLY strictly regulated into a less insane form, we could probably have our cake and eat it too regarding the minor use-cases hangin' around to make some tasks easier, but at this point I'd take nuking the whole thing just to be rid of the worst of it.
I mean, hyperscaler data centers alone are a blight on this Earth. Regular data centers, no problem, no objections to normal data centers. But these hyperscalers are putting strains on electrical resources and energy grids, water resources, etc at a time when every summer is both breaking all previous records AND the least hot summer of the rest of our lives. We ALREADY are seeing, even in the global north/imperial core like Europe these past few months, figures like tens of thousands of people dying from heat-related factors in the summertime largely in ways that could be addressed if homes and community spaces (especially ones accessible to unhoused folks) were properly air conditioned and powered sufficient to maintain that proper air conditioning, and you wanna plug hyperscalers into the grid KNOWING the kinda summers we have ahead?? AND suck up all our water as wildfires go nutso mode every single year???
Bruh.
@gillie-gils
August 5, 2026 at 8:03 pm
AI hype is so silly, how can a technology be considered groundbreaking if all it can do is recombine and regurgitate it's training data. Pass the piss! 🍻
@tntmmm
August 5, 2026 at 8:03 pm
I remember when i bought Obsolete cassete tape in highschool,one of the best sounding albums i ever heard to this day
@markstewart515
August 5, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Good video Jon
@Jon_Zaremba
August 5, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Couldn't agree with you more. And once this trust is broken (as it had been) it will never be regained…even if AI improves as we are promised.
@JustAnotherFallenAngel
August 5, 2026 at 8:03 pm
AI will replace everything but the soul. Art, music and philosophy is nothing without the human soul.
@HenryFondlelini
August 5, 2026 at 8:03 pm
I have Mini ITX build that's sitting RAM-less on my shelf for a almost a year now. They can call me all kinds of luddite or whatever but this whole AI thing can drown in it's own feces. It's useful when it is but the amount of resource and thievery this technology was built on is disgusting.
@loonyman83
August 5, 2026 at 8:03 pm
I just want my RAM and Hard Drive prices to go back down lol. I despise AI. For every small good it does is overshadowed by the mountain of bad it is responsible for.
@Tarkanaf_Rey
August 5, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Bruh, that was a dark and comedic take on where we are with AI. I couldn't agree more. Anytime i'm landed with information on the internet now. I end up spending more time proving that the information is valid more than ever. Great video! 🤘
@romcacymbal112
August 5, 2026 at 8:03 pm
People got so confused on who Luddites really were that it became a swear word.
@neogotham2k39
August 5, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Uh oh, Terminator is coming!